Free spotlight gig by the duo Red Note Ensemble, with new works by emerging Scottish composers and a world premiere, within soundFestival 2026.
Red Note Ensemble are playing at Aberdeen Art Gallery on Saturday 31 October, the final day of soundFestival 2026. It's a lunchtime gig, running from 12:30 to 13:00, and it's free to attend.
The performance is a world première of new works by six Scottish-based composers: Gemma Docherty, Robert Brady, Jess Blinkhorn, Eldon Bradfield, Flynn Butler Fraser and Edo Hannah Morrison. These pieces are the result of a three-month composer development opportunity, so this is the first time they're being heard live. On stage, the Red Note Ensemble is represented by Ruth Morley on alto flute and Tom Hunter on percussion, the two of them working through the set as a duo.
The gig sits within soundFestival 2026, a festival of new music and sound art across Aberdeen and the North East that runs from 22 to 31 October. This year's festival returns to the idea of 'Listening', inviting audiences, performers and composers to explore what it means to listen differently. There's a strong emphasis on local and emerging composers throughout the programme, and this spotlight gig fits right into that — it's a direct showcase for a group of composers just starting out, with their work premiered by the festival's associate artists.
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Red Note Ensemble are the associate artists for the whole festival, and they're playing more than just this one session. They also have an evening concert at King's Pavilion on 29 October, where they'll perform premieres by Bekah Simms, Gillian Walker and Kate Sagovsky, alongside a collaboration with the French electro-acoustic collective Les Harmoniques du Néon. If you're around that weekend, you could catch them twice: once in the evening at the Pavilion and then again the following Saturday at the gallery. The Art Gallery gig is at 63 Hilton Street, AB24 4QR, from 12:30 to 13:00, and it's free.
