"When I grew up my grandmother told me the story about her Grandfather who, whenever he was unwell, or feeling low, instead of going to the doctors, he would go to the Opera to be healed... music really is for uplifting and healing us"
Christina McMaster
About Lie Down and Listen
“De-stress and get your culture fix in one”
The Evening Standard
“If everyone practised this - the world would be a better place”
Lie Down and Listen attendee
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Lie Down and Listen is a blissful Tibetan bowl sound healing and lying down classical concert experience offered in extraordinary spaces that have unique and fascinating stories and heritage.
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Regular collaborations and partnerships with special heritage spaces, including Dulwich Picture Gallery, Asthall Manor, the Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich and a forthcoming experiences at the Natural History Museum, Highgrove House and Gardens and the Gibbes Museum in South Carolina.
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The deeply healing experience guides guests to listen and connect with sound, music and vibrations with their entire being. Bringing them into the now, enabling connection, deep relaxation resulting in creativity, expansion and access to a deeper and wider consciousness.
“I slept better that night then I have in 20 years” Mrs Andersen, Cotswolds
“Utterly blissed out”
The Financial Times
How Lie Down and Listen began
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Lie Down and Listen was founded by Classical Pianist, composer and sound healer Christina McMaster who noticed that it wasn't only the rituals of classical music concert halls that led to a disconnected listening experience, but in daily life, we are experiencing more disconnection than ever, leading to loneliness, anxiety, stress, sense of emptiness etc.
The story really began when Christina was very young and her grandmother would tell her the story about how her grandfather, when he was unwell or down wouldn’t go to the doctors but instead, went to the Opera to be uplifted and healed.
The experience evolved after a chance meeting with in the café of the MoMA in New New York with Prof. Sir John Strang. They then went on to create a series of events at Kings College London with Dr Sally Marlow to recreate the wellbeing benefits of a hallucinogenic experience without hallucinogenics - by using a certain combination of music in a lying down concert experience similar to the happenings in 1970’s downtown New York loft apartments where music of Philip Glass, Terry Riley, Steve Reich was played - also known as the New York Hypnotic School.
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After training in sound healing in Andalusia, Christina then evolved the meditation, sound healing and lying down concert experience of today which creates space for deep relaxation and for listeners to reconnect within.
About Christina
Christina McMaster is a pianist, composer and founder of Lie Down & Listen – a truly creative spirit fascinated by deep listening and sound. She has performed at numerous festivals U.K and worldwide, featured on BBC Radio 4, Radio 3, Classic FM.
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She attended the Purcell School and was selected as a young artist in residence at St John’s Smith square. She studied with Joanna MacGregor at The Royal Academy of Music and was later appointed an Associate. She has been a mentor for Geneva International Music Competition, UNESCO Day of the Girl, and given talks at Universities in the U.K and U.S, including at Cambridge and Oxford Universities. Christina has collaborated with numerous visual artists, leading composers and artists - including composers Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Ayanna Witter-Johnson, Freya Waley-Cohen, Folk music legend Peggy Seeger and electronic artist Tom Middleton.
She was a Visiting Associate at Kings College in London, developing the ‘Sound Mind’ project with Dr Sally Marlow which evolved into Lie down & Listen.
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“An incredibly sensitive intuitive player who brings out the mystery and beauty of these pieces”
Sarah Walker BBC Radio 3
"One of the most talked about concerts of our festival."
Alistair MacGowan, Artistic Director of
Ludlow Piano Festival
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In April 2023, Christina premiered ‘Inner Temple’ - her own composition/live improvisation for ‘‘Sound Unwrapped’ at Kings Place. Inner Temple was inspired by 12th Century Sonic Visionary and Priestess Hildegard Von Bingen’s vision ‘The Universe’ and created in collaboration with electronic and wellness music pioneer Tom Middleton. This composition was supported by Help Musicians UK.
Thanks to the generous support of the Marchus Trust, in December 2024, Christina premiered her original composition - ‘Sound Journey to Mars’ - a 60mins work specifically created for Artist Luke Jerram’s Mars installation at the Painted Hall. The work featured electronics created by artist and wellness music pioneer, Tom Middleton, violinist Philippa Mo, lyre player Dimitris Menexopoulos and sound therapist Michele Cade.
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Christina has a particular interest in 20th Century French Music – and spent many summers studying in Aix-en-Provence with Bernard Flavigny – student of Alfred Cortot and Walter Gieseking.