Soundfestival

The idea came out of a conversation in 2004 between Mark Hope of Woodend Barn and Pete Stollery of the University of Aberdeen, who both wanted more new music in the north east. A four day pilot called Upbeat! ran that November. The first soundfestival followed in 2005 and sprawled over 20 days, with Evelyn Glennie and the BBC SSO among the performers. It has been as long as five weeks and as short as ten days since. The 2026 edition runs from 22 to 31 October. Two of the programmes are put together by early career artists, Tom Macfadyen and Hadrian Gray.