Celebrate song

The 2026 Darwin College Lecture Series kicks off on Friday 23^rd January and this year each talk will have a highly performative element. The theme for this year’s series is 'Song'. It will be explored in a number of settings spanning the physical, biological and social sciences and culture. There’ll be the chance to learn about song in ancient times, how song influences child development and how song, or sound resembling song, bounces around the universe from star to star.

The curators of this year’s series are Professor Fiona Karet and Dr Edwin Rose, both of whom are Fellows at Darwin College (Fiona is also a Vice-Master).

Fiona says she first thought of the idea of 'Song' as a theme back in 2022:

"During a discussion with the Master I observed that many of the lecture series seemed to have more of a science bent than an arts and humanities one and although I’m a biomedical scientist by trade I’ve been involved with music all my life and it wasn’t difficult for me to come up with a one word theme - 'Song'. I submitted the idea for the series of lectures for 2024 but it wasn’t selected. Edwin then told me he had organised a successful concert of Darwin family music and he suggested if we were going to look at Song, then Carola Darwin would make an ideal speaker. So, Edwin and I started talking about subjects for other lectures. We put our ideas together early in 2024 and the theme was announced at the end of the 2025 series. We had so many ideas it was difficult whittling them down to eight."

Edwin: "When Fiona mentioned Song I thought…mmm…but it didn’t take very long to come up with diverse topics ranging from theoretical physics to more traditional representations of song in cultural settings."

"It’s turned out to be a rich area to explore and the performative element of the lecture series will be both culturally and intellectually rewarding for the weekly audiences."

As ever, those attending the lectures will be able to learn from leading experts in their fields, some of whom will be travelling to the UK especially to deliver them. It’s not the first time music will have featured in a Darwin lecture. As part of the 2025 series, Syrian musician, Maya Youseff, played the qanun. But it will be the first time music has featured so prominently in each lecture.

Fiona: "Two are lecture demonstrations while the rest will contain audio and video clips. Carola Darwin, a great-great granddaughter of the naturalist Charles Darwin, is a singer, a soprano, and will be giving examples of the work of female song composers in early twentieth century Vienna. She’ll be accompanied by Cambridge based pianist, Marie-Noelle Kendall. Issa Boulos will be playing an Oud and talking about how song helped shape Palestinian identity in the 1930s and 40s."

Audiences will be treated to a varied aural experience. Dr Carole Pegg, a Cambridge social anthropologist, will be exploring Mongolian throat-singing, a subject she has researched over many years.

Hans Slabbekoorn, a professor in Acoustic Behaviour and Ecology at Leiden University in the Netherlands, will discuss how birds can adapt their throats to compete with the day-to-day sounds in towns and cities and how whales and dolphins communicate with each other using underwater song.

Professor Conny Aerts, from Leuven’s Institute of Astronomy in Belgium, will talk about the way stars vibrate and create noises that are picked up by astrophysicists.

The series ends with Times journalist, Richard Morrison, MBE, talking about how music and song can bind societies and communities together. He’ll also be analysing how song has been used in protest movements.

Many of the lectures will also contain embedded video clips.

Edwin believes it’ll make for an exciting mix:

"People are really looking forward to this series. The lectures are a major asset and a benefit that Darwin College gives to the wider community. They’ll be a vehicle for getting this knowledge and information out there and I think the public really appreciate that. Some come from miles away to attend these lectures."

The Darwin College lectures take place each Friday at 5.30 pm from 23rd Jan through to 13th March.