The Dutch New European Ensemble plays new music by four female composers to accompany a reading by Ali Smith of her Seasonal Quartet novels, in soundfestival.
New European Ensemble are playing Cowdray Hall on Friday 30 October, as part of soundfestival 2026. They've come over from the Netherlands for this one, and they're bringing Scottish writer Ali Smith with them. The whole thing is built around her Seasonal Quartet—the four novels that make up one of the most prominent bodies of contemporary British fiction—and Smith will be reading from them throughout the night.
To go with her reading, the ensemble has commissioned new music from four female composers from around the world: Kate Moore from Australia, Alice Yeung from Hong Kong, Seung-Won Oh from South Korea, and Sara Zamboni from Italy. The pieces are written to illuminate the quartet's themes, which range from climate and ecology to migration, social media, Brexit, war and populism, so you'll hear the music and the reading running alongside each other. There's also an excerpt of Anna Thorvaldsdottir's Spectra in the mix.
The ensemble itself is a seven-piece: Felicia van den End on flute, James Meldrum on clarinet, Hanna Shybayeva on piano, Rada Ovcharova on first violin, Alva Holm on second violin, Emlyn Stam on viola, and Willem Stam on cello. It's part of soundfestival, Northeast Scotland's 'generous, all-inclusive' celebration of new music, which they shape around the idea of attentive listening. This particular concert is supported by Fonds Podiumkunsten and the Municipality of Den Haag.
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It runs from 8:00pm to 9:00pm, so it's a single hour rather than a full evening. Tickets are £14, with concessions for over 60s at £10, and registered disabled, registered unemployed and students at £6; under 18s go in free. There's also a Pay What You Can option with tiers at £0, £3, £5, £10 and £20.
