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Sonorities Festival Belfast, a celebration of experimental music and sound by global artists, celebrates its 45^th anniversary this year, with a four-day long of events starting on April 15^th. 

The festival, organised by Queen’s University, began in Belfast in 1981 and showcases experimental musicians, composers and sound artists across a range of musical genres, from jazz to Irish traditional music.  

This year’s programme includes gigs, sound walks, audio installations, a mobile sound lab in various venues around Belfast including Queen’s University’s Sonic Lab at SARC, described as a ‘cinema for the ear.’ 

In total more than 100 acts will perform in 40 events over the course of the festival between the 15^th and 18^th April.  

This year’s acts include a double bill with RÓIS  & Brìdghe Chaimbeul, two of the most boundary-pushing artists in traditional music.  Brìghde Chaimbeul has been described by The New Yorker as one of the most skilful and interesting bagpipe players in the world, who has helped bring this traditional instrument into the avant-garde. RÓIS’s 2024 release MO LÉAN has swept the board winning the 2025 RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards: Best Emerging Artist and Best Original Folk Track, and the 2025 NI Music Prize for Best Live act and Best Album.  

Others include American electronic musician Rrose, known globally for their DJ and live sets, as well as jazz, hardcore punk and contemporary fusion Robocobra Quartet, returning to SARC’s Sonic Lab where they were founded. 

 Sonorities will also feature SARC’s Magnetic Resonator Piano, an augmented piano created by Andrew McPherson, which uses electormagnets to elicit new sounds from the strings of a grand piano – one of less than ten in the world. 

Professor Paul Stapleton, Head of Arts at Â鶹Íø and Director of Sonorities said: 

‘’Sonorities has been making a joyful commotion in Belfast since 1981, featuring a large range of local and international acts making risky music at the edges of many different genres. I’m particularly delighted by the great diversity of artists in this year’s festival programme, representing a radically open view of the future that the arts can help bring about.’’  

For the first time, this year’s Sonorities Festival will run in collaboration with Canada’s Improvisation Festival, which will see 24/7 live streaming for global audiences to enjoy. 

All but four of the events are free. 

Other acts performing this year include visionary electronic music producer Loraine James for a special live presentation of her hypnotic-ambient alias Whatever The Weather, Yeah You – a nomadic father/daughter duo, and a double bill with Adjunct Ensemble and Bill Orcutt, who pull musical influences from jazz, spoken-word, electronics and the blues. 

 A full list of acts and venues can be found on the website –  

Media

For media enquiries please contact Colm Heatley at c.heatley@qub.ac.uk