Listening together: UNESCO Week of Sound returns to ECA

The Sculpture Court, beautifully lit. At one end is an orchestra; standing along the balcony on three sides of the room, is a choir. The conductor's arms are raised.

The opening night event, entitled 'The City Sings/900 Voices', saw a large community choir and orchestra perform live (The City Sings), interwoven with the evolving multichannel spatial sound piece (900 Voices). Image: Mike Newton

In this article, ECA’s Head of Music Dr Mike Newton reviews this year’s Week of Sound and explains why wide-ranging events like this are important to students and wider society. The Week of Sound is funded via the Barry Wright bequest to the Reid School of Music.

In February, the Reid School of Music at Edinburgh College of Art hosted the 2026 UNESCO Week of Sound in Edinburgh — a week of concerts, talks, workshops, and installations exploring the theme of music, technology, and society. With technology increasingly shaping how we create, listen, and communicate, this year’s Week of Sound offered a timely opportunity to reflect on what this means for music, for our students, and for society.

The UNESCO Week of Sound, established internationally in 2004, exists to raise awareness of the role sound plays in our lives: in our environment, our health, our cultural expression, and our relationship with technology. A university is a natural home for this kind of inquiry. Sound is inherently interdisciplinary — it sits at the intersection of science and culture, engineering and art, tradition and innovation — and a week like this gives us a chance to celebrate that breadth.

This year's programme reflected that spirit. Events ranged from a talk on the technologies of guitars, drawing on instruments from the University's own historic collections, to a hands-on electronics workshop; from a workshop on the use of technology to improve access to music making for people with disabilities, to a panel discussion on authenticity and AI in music.

Our opening concert filled ECA’s Sculpture Court with the contrasting sounds of 900 Voices, a multichannel spatial sound installation originally commissioned for St Giles' Cathedral, and the warmth of a community orchestra and choir made up of volunteer musicians and singers from across the city. Alongside these, three sound installations ran throughout the week, including a community co-created piece in collaboration with Edinburgh’s Chinese community, and an audio-visual exploration of the hidden sounds of wristwatch mechanisms.

A listener leans in towards a loudspeaker on a pedestal, listening intently.

The Week of Sound set up included sound installations. Image: Sally Jubb

Several people lean down to place glowing lanterns on the floor of the Sculpture Court. The lanterns are decorated with images of Edinburgh.

Audience members put glowing lanterns decorated with images of Edinburgh around the Sculpture Court on the opening night. Image: Sally Jubb

A group of people are standing behind Taiko drums in the Reid Concert Hall. They are holding drumsticks and have their arms raised.

A lecture, demonstration and workshop Japanese Taiko drum technology took place in the Reid Concert Hall. Image: Mike Newton

A glowing TV screen illuminates a dark room. People are sitting facing the screens.

A dedicated audiovisual installation space hosted the pieces "Movements" (by Roderick Buchanan-Dunlop), and "Sound of Southside" (by Elaine Cheng) throughout Week of Sound. Image: Mike Newton

A group of singers are performing alongside a group of musicians.

Singers and musicians performed in the Reid Concert Hall. Image: Mike Newton

A person is seated and speaking while gesturing with their hands in front of an audience. They are listening intently.

A panel discussion took place in ECA's West Court. Image: Mike Newton

For our students, this is more than a programme of events. It is an opportunity to see how their studies connect to wider cultural and technological questions, and to experience music and sound in contexts beyond their usual teaching environments. Events on accessibility, on instrument technology, and on AI and creative practice all speak directly to the kinds of challenges our graduates will face now and in the years to come.

Now in its fourth year, the Edinburgh edition remains the only locally hosted Week of Sound in the UK, and we were proud once again to open our doors to students, staff, and the wider city. Above all, the Week of Sound is an invitation — to students across the University, and to the people of Edinburgh — to stop and listen. In a city already rich with musical heritage, we are glad to add another voice to the conversation.