A major new education initiative
An inspiring, life-changing project exploring themes of electrical & electronic waste through music, songs and imagery, supported by University of Southampton. Bringing together the world-class musicians of SÓN with 85 schoolchildren, the project spans 3 months, leading to a final performance with potentially global reach and lasting legacy.

Electrical & Electronic Waste - eWaste
The fastest-growing single waste stream in the world
Showcase performances
A brand new 25-minute piece filled with songs, music & imagery about eWaste and its impact on the world today.
From Bob the iPhone to the Monster Electric robot rap, SÓN & the 85 youngsters from Otterbourne Primary explore it all.
Saturday 7 March
1:30 pm
Performance 1
SOLD OUT!
2:30 pm
Performance 2
Tickets available HERE
Artistic Team
Robin Browning
Concept, composer & artistic direction
Oliver Downer
Education Officer, arranger & composer
Ricky Tart
Workshops & composer
Performers
Year 3 & 4 students
Otterbourne Primary School, Hampshire
Strings, percussion, synths & keyboards
SÓN Orchestra
Artwork
Susannah Pal
Pick up a ticket!
Tickets for the first of our two performances are sold out, however a small number still remain for the follow-up performance. Book now to avoid disappointment!
12weeks
of school workshops
SÓN musicians & University of Southampton scientists visited students over a period of 12 weeks. Together, they catalysed responses from children about eWaste & its environmental impact, ranging from words & songs to drawings & imagery.
Every song in the eWaste Project features words, ideas & themes created by the children themselves. It truly is their reaction to an absorbing global issue.
Get in touch
Find out more about eWaste
Electrical and electronic waste – also known as eWaste or WEEE – is the fastest-growing single waste stream in the world. By the end of 2020, there could be as many as 50 billion electronic goods produced annually. This will eventually lead to a tsunami of eWaste, estimated to be over 50 million tonnes globally in 2020. This is enough to fill the Eifel Tower 5,000 times.
The eWaste tsunami
The average UK citizen will create 3.3 tonnes of electrical or electronic waste in their lifetime
A global problem
By recycling 1 million mobile phones, over 35,000 pounds of copper, 33 pounds of palladium, 772 pounds of silver, and 75 pounds of gold can be recovered
About SÓN Orchestra
SÓN Orchestra is Southampton’s professional orchestra and Turner Sims Orchestra in Association. A versatile performing ensemble, it presents live events on the concert stage alongside a rich and inspiring education programme.
Regular concerts at Turner Sims include the highly-regarded Unwrapped and Beethoven 20:20 series, and n 2018 SÓN presented a series of SÓNic Interventions at the city’s John Hansard Gallery, each in response to artworks by Gerhardt Richter.
In early 2019 SÓN musicians worked on The Young People’s Guide to the Orchestra – an interactive sequence of workshop performances – with three SEND schools in the south: Rose Road, Springwell and Mary Rose Academy in Portsmouth.
Spring 2020 sees the culmination of their eWaste Project – a groundbreaking education initiative with Hampshire schools combining children’s voices with electronics, samples and orchestral instruments around themes of electrical and electronic waste and recycling.