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​Music of Earth and Space:
​Milton Mermikides


​Milton Mermikides understands deeply that the Earth, the cosmos, and music belong together. He demonstrates this vividly in the video on this page. As the 37th Gresham Professor of Music, Professor of Music at the University of Surrey, Professor of Jazz Guitar at the Royal College of Music, Professor of Research at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Senior Research Fellow and Composer-in-Residence at the Centre of Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing (Linacre College, Oxford), Ableton Certified Trainer, and Deputy Director of the International Guitar Research Centre, his work moves fluidly across disciplines. He is especially passionate about using music as a bridge between art, science, and technology. This passion is exemplified in his work in data sonification, where scientific and mathematical data are translated into musical forms that are not only informative but also aesthetically compelling.
00:00 // Introduction & Welcome
00:15 // Music and the Cosmos: Ancient Ideas
00:48 // Nada Brahma: The Universe Is Sound (Vedic Tradition)
01:23 // Ancient Chinese Philosophy & the Master Zither Player
01:54 // Pythagoras, Number, and the Music of the Spheres
03:02 // Tuvan Throat Singing: Harmonics from Nature
04:50 // Japanese Shakuhachi: Imitating Nature with Sound
05:24 // Cosmic Rays, CERN & a Personal Connection to Music
06:26 // Aboriginal Songlines: 65,000 Years of Sound as Memory
07:36 // How Acoustic Environments Shape Music (Forest, Cathedral, Flamenco)
10:00 // Impulse Responses: Capturing the Sound of the Pyramids
11:25 // Whale Song and the SOFAR Channel 12:18 // Water as Music: South Pacific Rituals & Congo Children
13:36 // Rachmaninoff's Isle of the Dead: Waveforms in Music
15:12 // A Choir Imitates a Thunderstorm 16:43 // Beethoven's Storm: Scientific Accuracy in Symphony No. 6
19:23 // Climate Data Turned Into Music
20:06 // Seismic Waves: The Earth's Own Resonance 20:49 // Villa-Lobos and the Mountains of Brazil
22:15 // Tracing Skylines: Mountains as Melodies
26:10 // Liquid Skylines: Turning Cityscapes into Music
29:41 // Music Has Its Own Architecture
30:47 // Visual Representations of Musical Structure 31:59 // The Earth's Spherical Harmonics
32:34 // Is Space Silent? Sound on Venus, Titan & Mars
35:27 // Sounds from Mars: The Curiosity Rover's Legacy
36:35 // How Sci-Fi Composers Represent Outer Space 37:46 // Communicating Intelligence Through Music (Close Encounters, 2001)
​39:10 // Harmonic Distance: Mapping Musical Space
40:39 // Space Music Techniques: Tritones, Wormholes & Uplift
44:52 // Translating Planets into Music: Kepler & Orbital Scales
47:07 // The Solar System as a Chord: Speedng Up Planetary Orbits
48:37 // Trappist-1 and Harmonic Ratios in Exoplanet Systems
49:51 // Jupiter's Moons & Cosmic Countdown Rhythms
50:56 // Black Holes, Pulsars & Sonification of the Universe
51:57 // The Big Bang's Sound: Cosmic Microwave Background
53:14 // Conclusion: Tuning In to the Original Sound

Since Pythagoras, we have imagined the universe as a vast, resonant instrument—a cosmic harmony waiting to be heard. From Holst’s orchestral visions of the planets to Tuvan throat singing echoing the murmur of rivers, composers have long sought to capture the music of nature and the heavens. Villa-Lobos shaped melodies from landscapes and architecture, just as scientists now transform earthquake tremors and celestial frequencies into sound.

This lecture explores the deep connection between music and the cosmos, where all existence vibrates in frequencies—the very essence of pitch, resonance, and melody. This lecture was recorded by Milton Mermikides on 25th February 2026 at LSO, London

Milton Mermikides is a composer, guitarist, technologist, academic and educator in a wide range of musical styles and has collaborated with artists and scientists as diverse as Evelyn Glennie, Tim Minchin, Pat Martino, Peter Zinovieff, John Williams and Brian Eno.

Son of a CERN nuclear physicist, he was raised with an enthusiasm for both the arts and sciences, an eclecticism which has been maintained throughout his teaching, research and creative career.


​Milton Mermikides

PDF of Lecture
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Open Horizons