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.

Gill Graham - Artistic Director
gill@lifem.org

As Group Head of Promotion for the international family of music publishers Wise Music Group, Gill works with today’s leading composers and presenters across all genres. Her work as a creative producer, bringing composers together with artists and performers has seeded collaborations with artists such as Kim Brandstrup, Dame Sarah Connolly, Martin Creed, Wayne McGregor, Sir Michael Morpurgo, Rachel Portman, The Brothers Quay, Mark Ravenhill, Joby Talbot, Rufus Wainwright and Christopher Wheeldon.

Gill was appointed Inaugural Artistic Director of LIFEM in February 2020 and looks forward to sharing the 2021 festival with LIFEM’s audience.

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.