About Us

Our annual festival takes place in St Michael & All Angels church in Blackheath, London. For more information read Our Story.

If you have any questions or queries regarding the festival please don’t hesitate to get in touch with one of our team.

Meet the Team

Chris Butler - Festival Director
chris@lifem.org

Chris Butler is a career music publisher who holds multiple directorships including Wise Music Group and the Performing Right Society. He is a past chairman of the UK Music Publishers’ Association, MCPS and ICMP.

He acquired The Early Music Shop, LIFEM’s principal supporter, in 2018 and created LIFEM as a CIO in 2020.

Ann Barkway - Executive Producer
ann@lifem.org

Having come from a music publishing background, for the past ten years Ann has run her own company as a freelance Music Education project manager and producer. She has led on Aldeburgh Music’s Friday Afternoons project as part of the Britten Centenary, produced Snappy Operas for Mahogany Opera, and is a consultant for BBC Learning’s Ten Pieces.

She is now Executive Producer for LIFEM, as well as Development Director for The Early Music Shop.