Music, Mourning and Creativity; a psychoanalytic exploration.

We look forward to seeing you on Saturday, January the 14th at this in-person conference, the first to be organized following the online conferences during the pandemic. The venue is the beautiful Bar Convent, a Historic Heritage Centre in York, and the oldest living convent in England. We also plan a live streaming option for those who cannot attend in person and the event will be recorded.

Psychoanalysis, with its explorations into the unconscious workings of the earliest manifestations of psychic life has the unique capacity to imaginatively enter the world of music and its creative productions. Music on its side, can inform the work of Psychoanalysis, sharing the same emotional fabric and temporal qualities as psychic life and acting as a container for previously unsymbolized experience.

In a rich and thought provoking paper, the psychoanalyst Anthea Gomez explores the links between the two, using Bach’s Chaconne from the Partita in D minor for solo violin, Hanna Segal’s Theory of Aesthetics and contemporary writings on music and the Unconscious.

Musical illustrations of these explorations will be played by violinist Sara Trickey, who will then perform the Chaconne in its entirety.

The conversation will continue in the Panel where we will be joined by Francis Grier. The audience will be invited to participate and ask questions.

Anthea Gomez is a Training analyst and Fellow of the British Psychoanalytical Society,living in York and was an in-house composer for BBC radio drama.

Sara Trickey is a concert violinist and chamber music player.

Francis Grier is a Training analyst in the British Psychoanalytical Society, composer and performer. He is Editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis and has written widely on Music and Psychoanalysis.

Chris Douglas is a Consultant in Adult psychiatry in Southwest Yorkshire and the Chair of the Harry Guntrip Psychotherapy Trust.