Live soundscape evening in which musicians play pieces inspired by a field recording of a sound from Oxford, with free entry to the museum and the 'Sounds of the City' exhibition.
Oxford's Sounds: Reimagined is at the Museum of Oxford on Friday 11 December, a live soundscape show that takes field recordings of the city and builds them into something more. The evening is presented in collaboration with Cities and Memory and sits within the museum's Sounds of the City: LIVE programme, which runs from October to December.
The format is straightforward: musicians perform pieces built around a field recording of a sound from the city. Each one starts with a piece of Oxford as it is, and then works it out into a full performance. The line-up brings together Kid Kin, Aphra Taylor, Water Pageant, Headphones Wasp and James Warburton, so you'll hear five different takes on the same city, each one starting from a different recording.
It's part of a wider project. The Sounds of the City exhibition opened in July and runs until 13 March 2027, and it's a collection of objects, memorabilia and stories celebrating Oxford's music scene and its impact on local and worldwide stages. That was curated by Beth Jones and guest curator Autumn Neagle with Arts Council England funding, and the live show is the musical side of that same thread. The Museum of Oxford itself is the only museum dedicated to the city, telling the story of Oxford and its people through social history objects and interactive displays across two galleries.
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Doors open at 18:00 and performances start at 18:30, with the whole thing running until 21:00. Tickets are £8 pay less, £10 standard, or £12 pay more, and each one includes free entry to the museum and the Sounds of the City exhibition, so you can see the display before or after the show. The museum is on St Aldate's, OX1 1BX.
