A packed weekend of concerts and workshops exploring new music with some of the UK’s most exciting contemporary music ensembles.

Saturday 1 March

Open Workshop – ‘Meadow’

10am-12pm: Create a sonic meadow and sing the wind in this special interactive workshop inspired by the natural world, with composer James Weeks. All voices and instruments, any level, welcome! Free, booking requested. Location: Elvet Methodist Church

Riot Ensemble – ‘Changing Light’

1pm-2pm: Sarah Dacey (soprano) and Marie Schreer (violin) meander through light and silhouette, sound and silence, sensation and memory with music by Naomi Pinnock, Marie Schreer, Ashkan Behzadi, Salina Fisher, Sarah Dacey, Kaija Saariaho and Eric Egan.

Plus-Minus Ensemble 1 – ‘Musical Intelligence’

4.30pm-5.15pm:The young composer Zhouer Zhou imagines a fantastical scenario, while Michael Finnissy’s polemical new work questions the limits of AI.

David Lumsdaine: Big Meeting (1971-8)

6.45 – 7.30: Pre-concert talk with James Weeks and Nicola LeFanu on the life and work of David Lumsdaine (1931-2024), composer, teacher, electroacoustic pioneer and founder of MUSICON..

7.30 – 8.30 Big Meeting: A classic electroacoustic work, made in Durham’s Electronic Music Studio, collaging recordings of Durham’s Big Meeting (Miners’ Gala) from the 1970s.

Sunday 2 March

Sound Walk

10.30am-11.15am Meet at Music Department, Durham University, Palace Green
Open your ears to the sonic landscape of Durham’s riverbank, pausing to listen underwater through the hydrophones of sound artist David de la Haye. Free, no ticket required.

Plus-Minus Ensemble 2 – The Journey

11.30am-12.30pm: Two works evoking the journey: Laurence Crane’s moving panels and bumpy textures Cobbled Section After Cobbled Section are followed by Cassandra Miller’s Traveller Song, an overwriting of an Italian cartier’s folksong.

Workshop: Plus-Minus Ensemble

1.30-3.30pm: Listen to work in progress by Masters and PhD students from Durham University with Plus-Minus Ensemble. Free, no ticket required.

All events take place in the Music Department, Durham University, Palace Green except for the Meadow workshop

Full weekend pass £10, individual tickted concerts £5. To buy a weekend pass, select a concert from the booking page and the weekend pass is offered under the options when you book.

Kindly supported by funding from Vaughan Williams Foundation and Hinrichsen Foundation.