This year’s festival offers a stellar ensemble of events organised around the theme of ocean and sound waves.
Enlightening presentations inspired by the sounds of marine life – including whales, fish and crabs – a concert of newly composed short operas, and a finale blending music composition and AI are among the highlights.
The UNESCO Week of Sound – which runs from 17-21 February – has been organised by researchers at the Reid School of Music, based at the University’s Edinburgh College of Art (ECA).
Inspiring events
The week showcases 10 inspiring events with a blend of presentations from renowned musicians, composers, sound artists and students and researchers. It is the second time the event has been hosted by the University.
All events are free and tickets are available from the UNESCO Week of Sound website.
An entertaining concert inspired by ocean sounds and marine life captured using sound detection and recording technologies will launch the week.
Ocean sounds
The event includes presentations from scientists to explain their research into the sounds of the ocean and its potential for understanding and protecting marine environments.
This year’s programme also includes a series of events celebrating the life of Dr Rebecca Collins (1982-2024), formerly a lecturer at Edinburgh College of Art, whose work as a sound artist and researcher included promoting collaborations between artists and scientists.
Rebecca’s work will feature in a concert of electroacoustic music and sound art. Her collaborator Johanna Linsley will also give a lecture-performance based on their work.
Gaelic stories
Elsewhere musician and researcher Margaret Bennett will explore Gaelic stories and songs from the sea.
The workshop, at St Cecilia’s Hall, includes an invitation to learn ‘iorram’ or boat song, traditionally used to make the job of rowing boats easier.
Dr Jenny Nex, Curator of the Musical Instrument Collection and Lecturer in Musical Instruments, will lead a tour through St Cecilia’s Hall sharing the purposes of the different parts of musical instruments and how sounds are made.
A second tour led by Dr Nex will focus on the significance of water, from transporting materials by boat to using parts of marine animals in the construction and decoration of instruments.
Elsewhere a workshop centred around Alvin Lucier’s 1972 piece The Queen of the South invites performers to explore the musical potential of a technique developed by the eighteenth-century German physicist Ernst Chladni, who was known as the ‘father of acoustics for his research into vibrations.
Sound waves
The event at the Reid Concert Hall provides a chance for performers to learn about the science behind sound vibrations on physical objects.
Creative writing and musical composition students will create and present a series of new short operas.
Mentored through the process by Jane McKie of the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures and Gareth Williams of the Reid School of Music, they will devise initial ideas and sketches on the Monday, with live performances of the completed operas the following Friday.
Rousing finale
As a rousing finale to the week, the University’s ensemble in residence Plus-Minus brings to life mirror-shift, a new work by composer and ECA academic Martin Parker.
The work combines AI music creation, development and performance tools to present a concert of contemporary experimental music.
The concert concludes with the premiere of American composer Aaron Wyanski’s arrangement of Arnold Schoenberg’s Variations for Orchestra, the latest instalment in his ‘Schoenberg in Hi-Fi’ series.
The Week of Sound in Edinburgh is part of a global series of events promoted by UNESCO to raise awareness of the importance of the sounding environment.
Registration is required for all of the events.
Image credit - Humpback whales off the coast of Queensland - courtesy of Alex South
