The year-long project culminates in a special event at Culture House.

“SonOrbitUs has been an extraordinary experiment in listening to our city. For an entire year, Sunderland has effectively been composing through its people, its weather, its movement and its everyday sounds,” says one of the Sunderland Music City officers as a unique project to create a musical portrait of the city draws to a close.

Ed Carter, left, and Peter Brewis have been working on the project for the past year | Submitted

placeholder image — Ed Carter, left, and Peter Brewis have been working on the project for the past year | Submitted

After a year of listening to Sunderland, SonOrbitUs, the ambitious year-long musical project created from the sounds, movement and data of the city, is coming to its conclusion - and people are being invited to celebrate its finale at Culture House.

Commissioned by Sunderland Music City and funded by Arts Council England, SonOrbitUs has transformed Sunderland's everyday life into an evolving piece of music, changing continuously in response to its people, environment and activity.

Created by Sunderland musicians and artists including Peter Brewis, Ed Carter and Tim Shaw, with research and technical input from Becky Allen, SonOrbitUs draws on sounds recorded around Sunderland alongside live city data.

The project will be celebrated at a special Closing Event on Saturday, October 17 in The Exchange on floor 1 of the newly opened Culture House in Keel Square with free tickets available at eventbrite.

From 11am to 1pm there will be an improvisation on workshop led by Faye McCallman.

Musicians of all abilities are invited to join this workshop where there will be a range of instruments on the day to use and interact with.

After a break between 1pm and 2pm, a collective improvised performance will take place between 2pm - 5pm, following a short introduction from Peter Brewis.

The project will culminate in an improvisation workshop and collective performance. | Submitted

For this part of the event, residents of Sunderland can come along to compose (or simply observe!) the final hours of SonOrbitUs before it turns off at 5pm.

Attendees who have claimed a ticket for this second session can come along anytime between 2pm and 5pm to experience live the ebbs and flows of this special piece coming to an end.

Everyone is encouraged to claim a ticket online, but Sunderland Music City welcomes people to turn up on the day too so long as the room capacity isn’t reached.

Peter Brewis, SonOrbitUs producer, said: “It’s been amazing to make a changing Sunderland audible over the of a year. Everything has been in flux - the seasons, the tides, the people. For the last few hours we’d like people to actually come and play alongside SonOrbitUs.”

SonOrbitUs forms part of Sunderland's wider transformation into a recognised Music City, following Sunderland's admission to the international Music Cities Network in January 2025 and the city's inaugural Year of Music 2025–26 which ended earlier this summer on June 21.

The Year of Music has seen more than 600 music events, projects and activities take place across Sunderland, celebrating the city's musical heritage while creating new opportunities for artists, communities, audiences and the wider creative economy.

SonOrbitUs represents another side of that ambition: not simply bringing music to Sunderland but creating music from Sunderland itself.

Frankie Francis, Sunderland Music City Music Officer said: “SonOrbitUs has been an extraordinary experiment in listening to our city. For an entire year, Sunderland has e]ectively been composing through its people, its weather, its movement and its everyday sounds.

The closing event is an opportunity to come together, hear the project in its final form and celebrate everyone who has contributed to making this remarkable piece of work.”