City of Floating Sounds is a symphonic project designed to respond to different cityscapes around the globe. Integrating live orchestra, technology and the movement of people, composer Huang Ruo expands the boundaries of orchestral music far beyond the walls of a venue and out into the urban landscape – beginning with a world premiere in Manchester.

Audiences can experience a journey around Manchester guided by fragments of sound which coalesce and build as those listening come together – culminating in an immersive orchestral performance at Aviva Studios, performed by the BBC Philharmonic.

City of Floating Sounds is a kinetic response to and celebration of the contemporary urban environment and a welcoming ritual – encouraging people to interact with music, their surroundings and each other.

Known for his distinctive style, composer and conceptualist Huang Ruo’s vibrant and inventive musical voice draws equal inspiration from Chinese ancient and folk music, Western avant-garde, experimental, noise, natural and processed sound, rock, and jazz to create a seamless, organic integration using a compositional technique he calls ‘dimensionalism’.