Wednesday

––– Morning (talk) –––

Talk: Technologies of Guitars

An exploration of some of the technologies found in guitars from the University of Edinburgh’s Musical Instrument Collection.

  • Time: Wednesday 18 February, 11am – 12pm
  • Location: Centre for Research Collections (Collections Space), 6th floor of the University of Edinburgh Main Library (George Square)
  • Tickets: Eventbrite (Technologies of Guitars)

Musical instruments are technologies that are positioned within the wider technological frameworks of any time and place. This session focuses on guitars, drawing on the world-renowned expertise of Edinburgh’s St Cecilia’s Hall and its Musical Instrument Museum.

People involved: Dr Esteban Garza, Dr Jenny Nex

––– Morning+afternoon (workshop) –––

Workshop: Dirty Electronics

This hands-on electronic music and sound art workshop will explore DIY sound synthesis using mini microprocessors.

  • Time: Wednesday 18 February, 10am – 5pm
  • Location: ECA West Court (ECA Main Building, Lauriston Place)
  • Tickets: Eventbrite (Dirty Electronics)
    Please note: Tickets are limited to 18 attendees (first come, first served!)

This electronic music and sound art workshop explores DIY synthesis using a mini microprocessor as critical reflection on music, technology and society. John Richards, known under his artistic name Dirty Electronics, will lead a workshop that will focus on the idea of critical sound synthesis that follows in the critical design and critical making line of thought. The critical synthesis workshop explores a DIY version of a digital synthesiser with opportunities to experiment with different sounds that can be made, from gritty digital sounds and extreme noise to pure tones. This workshop works with sound at the fundamental level through practical experiments and assembly. A communal process of making and musicking will be explored simultaneously, often leading to improbable and ridiculous collisions of electronic sound and the technological unknown.

John Richards is best known for his work as Dirty Electronics that focuses on shared experiences, social interaction and critical making. He is concerned with the performance of large-group electronic music and DIY electronics, and he has come to consider these activities as a holistic action. It is a fluid, live practice associated with the ideas of workshop-installation and performance-installation. His work pushes the boundaries between music, performance art, electronics, and graphic design and is trans-disciplinary as well as having a socio-political dimension. He has also written numerous texts on DIY practices, performance of electronic music, and object-orientated and material approaches in relation to sound art. Dirty Electronics has been commissioned to create sound devices, performances and installations for various arts organisations and festivals and has released a series of hand-held synths on Mute Records.

No prior knowledge needed.

People involved: John Richards, Dr Jules Rawlinson

Access

Please note that this workshop requires dexterity and may be unsuitable for those with limited mobility. If you have any questions regarding suitability for this workshop, please email eca.events@ed.ac.uk.

If you require any support accessing this event please get in touch in advance by emailing eca.events@ed.ac.uk.

––– Evening (concert) –––

Concert: Revolution

Revolution is a bold, genre-spanning concert created by the Reid School of Music’s Ensemble in Residence, Sequoia, in collaboration with Music performance students.

Presented as part of the technology-themed Week of Sound 2026, the programme explores the many meanings of ‘revolution’, from repeating motifs and circular musical forms, to the swirling gyres of nature.

Moving seamlessly between baroque, folk, music theatre, and contemporary sound worlds, the concert traces revolutions both natural and human-made, offering a vivid exploration of how sound, like nature, evolves through cycles of change.

Repertoire

  • Songbirds – Wesley Hua
  • Emily’s calling – Savourna Stevenson
  • Tongue-tied – Emily Portman
  • Don’t Cry for Me Argentina – Andrew Lloyd Webber
  • Boris Kerner – Caroline Shaw
  • Sonata for Violin and Cello Mov I – Maurice Ravel
  • Attica – Frederic Rzewski
  • La Folia – William McGibbon
  • Gyre – Joanna Nicholson
  • Flower of Finae – Thomas Osbourne Davis

Performers

  • Violin – Alice Rickards (part of Sequoia)
  • Cello – Sonia Cromarty (part of Sequoia)
  • Percussion – Valérie Thibault
  • Voice – Lucy Good and Maébh Downey
  • Clarsach – Catriona Kane
  • Clarinet – Katie Rawson
  • Classical Guitar – Wesley Hua