Where have the rivers gone?

A sonic exploration of the Sheaf and Porter rivers

This project was a collaboration between The University of Sheffield Department of Music and The Sheaf and Porter Rivers Trust. It consisted on the exploration of the two Sheffield rivers and the recording of sounds at those specific locations, including the culverts beneath the Sheffield Mainline station. After that, composers from the Department of Music created pieces inspired by said recordings (instrumental and electroacoustic), and they presented these compositions on June 15th at 18:30 at the Persistence Works gallery.

sheaf_and_porter_shortdocumentation.mp4

During the project students and staff began a scoping exercise for a greater understanding of the rewilding and daylighting of the Castlegate development, and the potential for future collaboration between the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, the Sheaf and Porter Rivers Trust, Sheffield Music Hub, and other potential collaborators.

Here is a selection of sounds recorded by the team of staff and students:

Persistance Gallery show

The presentation of the pieces took place at the Persistence Works gallery in a very successful performance on the 15th of June of 2022. It involved the premiere of electroacoustic compositions that were diffused in a six-speaker array, and mixed pieces with vocals, clarinets and electronics.