A Century of Sounds: live

Name: A Century of Sounds: live
Start: 2026-02-27T18:30:00+00:00
Location: Pitt Rivers Museum

Schedule

Fri, 27 Feb, 2026 at 06:30 pm

UTC+00:00

Location

Pitt Rivers Museum | Oxford, EN

Experience reimagined global sound recordings from the Museum's collections through live performance, artist conversations and interactive activities. A unique after-hours event in partnership with the Pitt Rivers Museum, Cities and Memory and Oxford Contemporary Music.
A Century of Sounds: Live is a unique live event, bringing together the Pitt Rivers Museum's extraordinary sound collections with 100 artists from around the world to create a new way of experiencing these incredible, diverse recordings.
The event will feature six live performances reimagining different ethnographic sounds from the Pitt Rivers sound collections, ranging from conch shell performances in Vanuatu to traditional music from Afghanistan, South Sudanese warrior songs and wedding music from the Himalayas.
The live performances will feature ambient electronics, modern composition, songwritten reinterpretations and much more - all performed live on the museum's beautiful balcony space.
As well as the live performances, we will have contributing artists in conversation with the Pitt Rivers curatorial team to discuss creative approaches to ethnographic sound recordings.
The entire Century of Sounds project, featuring 100 compositions from all over the world, will be available to experience in the museum's unique 'sound shower' - and you'll be able to create your own remixes of the Pitt Rivers' sounds with a special sampler setup.
The museum will also be hosting handling sessions with some of its most fascinating instruments.