Preview Sounding the Spui

Sounding the Spui is a project launched by the Royal Conservatoire’s Institute of Sonology in 2020. The project brings together ideas about music, ambient sound, listening, and music in relation to public space. The project aims to temporarily compress the geography of The Hague into a single space at the centre of the city. The project furthermore links up various makers such as composers, sound artists, students and pupils, and addresses various audiences including invitees, random passers-by, experts and amateurs, young people and the elderly.

A complex installation 
For the final presentation in April 2022, loudspeakers will be mounted at several spots around Spuiplein. With this complex installation, Spuiplein will be immersed in other acoustic environments found in The Hague. The recordings will be categorised in overlapping themes such as infrastructure, nature, markets, sports, work, signals, the port, languages and the sea. A number of compositions created or adapted especially for this installation will be played as well. 

Preview during the Open Festival
A ‘preview’ of the project can be heard in the studios and hallway of the Institute of Sonology on the sixth floor during the three-day Open Festival in Amare. On Saturday afternoon there will be a performance with children from the city’s secondary schools that are participating in the project through the educational part of Sounding the Spui. The preview will be combined with explanations and demonstrations by students and instructors in the brand-new studios. 

Institute of Sonology
From 1960 to 1986, the Institute of Sonology was housed in its own building at Utrecht University. Here it pursued a pioneering role in the field of electronic music and computer applications. In 1986 the Institute became part of the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. The relocation of the conservatoire to Amare marks the start of a third phase for Sonology. With five studios for electronic and computer music and a New Music Lab for group lessons, seminars and public presentations, and with 67 students and 18 instructors from 32 countries, plus a significant archive, Sonology is ready for the future! For more information visit www.sonology.org.