The 2013 Sonorities festival takes place in late April

Queen's University Belfast will host the five-day Sonorities festival of new music from 24 to 28 April.

Under the tagline 'Beyond Soundscape', the festival will balance new music from Brazil, Canada, Australia, the USA, Sweden, France, Greece, Austria and more with Irish music, and specifically the work of composers from, or who have studied in, Belfast. It does this through a number of 'Perspectives' concerts, each featuring music from a different country: Wednesday's Polish Perspectives includes works by Lutoslawski, Penderecki and Górecki, and Friday's Italian Perspectives by di Scippio, Nono and Scelsi. Also on the main programme is a concert given by the Ulster Orchestra, led by Darragh Morgan and conducted by David Brophy, performing music by Ryan Molloy, Donnacha Dennehy, Donal Sarsfield and David Fennessy.

The festival also features a number of 'Sonic Labs' each day of the festival. These Labs, taking place at the Sonic Arts Research Centre (SARC), showcase mixed-media works that utilise live instruments, electronics, video and in one case, dancer. A number of sound and video installations and alternative projects, many of which designed to highlight the hidden culture of Belfast, like the 'soundwalk' around the city with an accompanying app and sound map.

At the centre of the festival is a day-long symposium on the topic of 'Beyond Soundscape'. The symposium takes place on Saturday 27 from 9.30 – 17.00 and features a keynote address by Barry Truax, a Canadian composer known for his development of soundscapes with granular synthesis. Also on the panel of talks on the day are: Ely Rosenblum (Music in the Medium: An Ecomusicological Analysis of Field Recordings), Salomé Voegelin (The Soundscape as Possible Life-World), and Maria Papadomanolaki (Joining the dots: a trajectory of processes in search of environmental sound).

Further information: sonorities.co.uk