music and arts

Enchanting Forest - Sussex

Bringing people together to celebrate nature is one of the key goals of Forests Without Frontiers and in 2025 Enchanting Forest, our most ambitious project to date, did just that big time!!

Enchanting Forest brought diverse artists, musicians and conservationists together to celebrate Sussex landscapes and heritage through music and film, culminating in a sold-out show at Brighton Dome Corn Exchange in November.

Funded by Arts Council England and in partnership with the Sussex Wildlife Trust, with support from the University of Sussex, the project was dreamed up and directed by FWF founder Nicoleta Carpineanu who collaborated with a talented community of local creatives and academics.

Those involved included Brighton-based New Note Orchestra (the world’s first orchestra for people recovering from addiction), the Copper family (keepers of Sussex folksong), singer Alice Russell, professor of sonic systems at the University of Sussex Dr Alice Eldridge, and director of conservation at Sussex Wildlife Trust Henri Brockelbank. The Enchanting Forest choir was led by Sophia Efthimiou, while folksinger Elle Osborne, musician Danny Emerson and poet Niall Hollaert  recorded pieces too.

“By bringing people together through music and art we can raise awareness of the amazing diverse landscapes right on our doorstep and help preserve and protect them – and local traditions – for generations to come,” said Nicoleta.

Locations for filming stretched from the Downs to the sea and included Ebernoe Common and its beautiful church; Kingley Vale, home to some of the oldest yew trees in Britain; the Copper family home; and the beach at Rottingdean where Ruth Stothard, a young ambassador for Sussex Underwater talked about kelp restoration. The theme running through the whole project was a love of the natural world and its healing properties, a need to protect it, and the power of creativity and community.

“Restoring wildlife depends on the strength of connection between individuals, communities and nature – and I love what Enchanting Forest is doing, linking the arts to some very special nature,” said Henri Brockelbank.

Filmed by Murray Ballard and edited by Vasil Dzhagalov, the film captures the beauty of the landscape and the artists’ response to it, while the music (an album will follow this year) weaves the sounds of nature with a variety of inspiring performances (sound recordings were by Nicoleta and musician/composer Stefanos Andreas). Among songs already released is the Seeds of Love which draws one of the earliest English folksongs of the same name and the Sussex Waltz, featuring fiddle and vocals by Elle Osborne and the natural soundscapes of Ebernoe Common (listen here).

November’s sold-out show at the Corn Exchange at Brighton Dome was a truly magical and moving evening – and blew us away!!

Hosted by Nicoleta, the Enchanting Forest film premiered and Nico chatted with Alice Eldridge and Henri Brockelbank about the connections between sound, ecology and place. The project was brought to life by the stars of the film who took to the stage: young folk musicians Jack Hogsden and Tobias McEwen joined their heroes the Copper family; the New Note Orchestra performed some breathtaking songs and talked about how music and nature help their healing journeys; Alice Russell wowed with a solo performance accompanied by Ben Jones on keys, and then joined the amazing Enchanting Forest choir. There were welcoming performances too by dancer Florence Leoni and musician Nuala Nova, wearing animal masks by artist John Moore.

With heartfelt thanks to everyone who has helped bring this vision to life.

We would also like to honour David Alexander Yeoman, who dreamed up the project with Nicoleta and created the songs Lady of the Forest and Hymn for the Earth, and sadly passed away in 2022.