Red Note Ensemble

Red Note Ensemble play King's Pavilion on Thursday 29 October, as part of soundfestival 2026. It's an evening of new music, and the programme is built around premieres. Bekah Simms brings Embryonic (2025) for its UK premiere, and the French collective Les Harmoniques du Néon perform La Langue du Perroquet (The Parrot's Tongue). On top of those, there are world premieres by Gillian Walker and Kate Sagovsky, so the whole set is made up of works that haven't been heard here before.

The concert is presented in association with the University of Aberdeen Music Department, and it sits within soundfestival 2026, a festival of contemporary music and sound art running across Aberdeen and the North East from 22 to 31 October. Red Note Ensemble are one of the festival's associate artists this year, alongside Any Enemy. The whole festival runs under the theme of 'Listening', which asks audiences, performers and composers to think about what it means to listen differently. That reaches from concert halls into more unexpected spaces, and it's also meant to give a platform to local North East talent.

If you're following the festival, this isn't the only time the ensemble appears. They're also part of the Composers' Day on Saturday 31 October at Seabury House, and they play a free spotlight gig at Aberdeen Art Gallery before that. So if you're into this kind of thing, you can catch them a few times over the course of the festival.

The concert starts at 7:30pm and runs for an hour. Tickets are £14, with over 60s at £10, and registered disabled, registered unemployed and students at £6. Under 18s go free. There's also a 'Pay What You Can' option with tiers at £0, £3, £5, £10 and £20, so you can pick what works for you. King's Pavilion is on University Road in Old Aberdeen, AB24 3DQ.