Music in the woods - meet Nicoleta Carpineanu

August update: Buy tickets to see the premiere of Enchanting Forest at Brighton Dome in November 2025 here

When we spoke to her in May 2025, Nicoleta Carpineanu was in the process of undertaking a rather special creative project that involves two 'forests' that relate to Sussex Wildlife Trust - the ancient woodland at Ebernoe and the kelp forest that is currently able to recover under the sea.

The project will culminate in a film, which her non-profit organisation, Forests Without Frontiers, hope to show in venues around Sussex in autumn 2025.

Tell me a bit about yourself.

I am a multi-disciplinary artist, working in music and film, as well as producing events. I was born in Romania, but have lived in Brighton for the last 23 years. I love working with people. I was a social worker for many years. I now use my artistic skills to raise funds and awareness to protect and restore nature.

I spent my childhood in the Carpathian forests, the most ancient in Europe, learning how to live in harmony with nature from a young age - the forest was my playground. I loved seeing butterflies and beetles, in particular Stag and Scarab. I remember listening to so many birds, such as Woodpeckers, Nightingales and the Cuckoo - something I've written a song about. Hoopoes are my favourite bird.

And Forests Without Frontiers?

It's a non-profit I founded in 2019 to help protect and preserve forests with the power of music and the arts, with three guiding principles: restore, nurture and inspire. To do this, you must engage local communities. I think restoration and community are totally interlinked. 

What is Enchanting Forest?

It's a multimedia project initially inspired by the wet woodland near Ebernoe nature reserve. The aim of the project is to tell the story of the Sussex landscape from the downs to the sea, and show the loss of habitat. But it's also really important to offer hope, which is why it will be perfect to end with the wonderful Sussex Kelp Recovery Project.

The project features a collaboration of local artists, musicians, and conservationists who are working with me to create an album and short film that merge folklore, electronic music, and natural soundscapes. Proceeds from the album will fund reforestation, rewilding, and environmental education projects in Sussex.

I started working on this project with my friend David Alexander Yeoman during lockdown. I stayed near Ebernoe and walked there morning and evening, then took David. It felt to be a magical land to me. We started to do some sound recordings and created songs especially written for the place. Very sadly, David died in 2022, but his work lives on through this project, and the first single from the album Lady of the Forest written by him is out now.

 I have worked with others to form a Sussex-based choir to perform our songs in Ebernoe woods, under three connected ancient Oaks. 

What's most challenging?

The weather! It's great to connect with so many wonderful artists around Sussex, but coordinating with so many people can be tricky.

What's your favourite part?

When everyone is in nature together. Editing everything and then seeing the final film or song.

Note from our Director of Conservation – Henri Brocklebank

On the recent Saturday that the Enchanting Forest choir were recording in Ebernoe, I was able to join them for an hour. An hour quickly turned to four hours as I was so captivated by what I was witnessing. It was simply magical to hear so many coming together to sing so beautifully. Singing songs chosen to reflect what was a perfectly selected location.

Everyone I know, who has an involvement with Ebernoe Common is passionate about the site. And I love meeting people who feel the same way. Nicoleta and I spoke about her project whilst standing in Furnace Meadow (part of the Ebernoe complex). We had the extraordinary soundtrack of Nightingales trying to out-sing each other. As an artist Nicoleta is interested in the relationship between the arts and nature recovery. The arts, in all their variety, are able to touch audiences in many ways that the nature conservation narrative on its own cannot do. People are key to Nature’s Recovery, and we all have a part to play. Restoring wildlife depends on strength of connection between individuals, communities and nature and I love what Enchanted Forest is doing, linking the arts to some very special nature. I can't wait to hear the results.

More about Forests Without Frontiers here