SoundGardens Festival
A weekend of new music and immersive sound
April 25-26, 2026
Beaver Point Hall, Salt Spring Island
SoundGardens Festival invites audiences into a unique sonic environment, one that cultivates new sounds and ideas in the spirit of collective listening. Set in Beaver Point Hall — a slightly off-grid venue on Salt Spring Island known for hosting grassroots events — the weekend features a blend of Salt Spring artists alongside creators from Victoria, Vancouver and beyond.
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The concerts and installation make use of the West Coast Radians — handcrafted wooden resonators that transform the space into a richly responsive acoustic environment, fostering a deep attention to sound.
SoundGardens is a space for meditative, immersive listening. Audiences are invited to settle in on chairs, cushions and blankets, or to move freely through the space, experiencing sound from different perspectives. Expect an atmosphere that is relaxed and inclusive, with an openness to the full spectrum of sonic experience, welcoming the sounds of children, shifting bodies, and the natural environment as part of the evolving soundscape.
Schedule of Events
Saturday, April 25
12-2pm & 3-4:30pm
Hours. Minutes. Seconds.
Hours. Minutes. Seconds. is an immersive sound installation by Peter Hatch that invites listeners inside the inner life of a clock. Using a range of materials from bark to repurposed iPads, the work creates a shifting sonic environment of ticks, pulses, and vibrations, and explores how time is not only measured but experienced.
Free admission
2pm
Quora
Featuring Meredith Bates, violin; Arie Verheul Van de Ven, viola; Marina Hasselberg, cello; Sam Howard, double bass
Performed by four talented improvisors who will have only met the day before taking the stage, this concert will be rooted in deep listening and collaboration. Alongside free improvisation, the quartet will explore guided works by Pauline Oliveros, whose approaches to listening and collective awareness shape a shared musical language. The result is a fluid and immersive concert experience that invites audiences into a heightened state of attention.
Duration: Approximately 60 minutes
Tickets: $15-30
4:30pm
Deep Listening Into Sounding
Workshop with Tina Pearson
Deep Listening Into Sounding is a 90-minute workshop for anyone interested in deepening their relationship with sound. The workshop introduces Pauline Oliveros’ Deep Listening® practice, which points to the relationship between attentive listening and authentic sounding. It includes subtle exercises that explore sensation, breath, movement, imagination, natural voice and group sounding of sonic meditations.
Everyone is welcome – musical experience is not necessary. Please wear loose comfortable clothing and bring a cushion, yoga mat or blanket, if possible.
Deep Listening® is a philosophy and practice developed by pioneering composer Pauline Oliveros. Its practice cultivates an appreciation of sound, silence and “sounding” on heightened levels, expanding the potential for connection and interaction with one’s environment, technology and with others. Deep Listening explores the difference between the involuntary nature of hearing and the voluntary, selective nature – exclusive and inclusive — of listening. The practice includes bodywork; interactive performance; listening to the sounds of daily life, nature, one’s thoughts, imagination and dreams; and listening to listening itself. Deep Listening is for anyone interested in creativity, wellbeing, relaxation, excitement and connection with their immediate environment.
“Tina will take you to the hEARt of sounding.” – Pauline Oliveros​
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Duration: Approximately 90 minutes
Tickets: $15-30
Sunday, April 26
12-2pm & 3-4:30pm
Hours. Minutes. Seconds.
Hours. Minutes. Seconds. is an immersive sound installation by Peter Hatch that invites listeners inside the inner life of a clock. Using a range of materials from bark to repurposed iPads, the work creates a shifting sonic environment of ticks, pulses, and vibrations, and explores how time is not only measured but experienced.
Free admission
2pm
Immersive Sonic Delights
This concert of electronic works will be amplified through an octophonic array of West Coast Radians.
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PROGRAM
The Garden Of Sonic Delights by Barry Truax, invites the listener to enter an imaginary soundscape (one that Murray Schafer might describe as a “soniferous garden”) richly filled with sounds that may remind us of the actual sounds of water, wind, insects and birds.
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The Soundscape Speaks: a Remix by Hildegard Westerkamp is a re-examination of the many sound recordings Westerkamp made since approximately 1977/78 while producing and broadcasting the radio program Soundwalking for Vancouver Co-operative Radio.
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Sublimate by Sarah Belle Reid explores the manipulation of sound material created with small amplified objects (plastic combs, ratchets, wind-up toys), as well as radio interference, typewriters, and other found objects.
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Through the Autumn Mist by David Eagle draws inspiration and sounds from our natural soundworld. The work will be performed through gestural means by David, using Leap Motion Sensor and Max software.
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Aequora by Matt Robertson was created by layering hundreds of sine waves by hand, carefully balancing their volumes and envelopes over time. The result is a collection of soundscapes that are calm, patient, and quietly alive.
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Imaginary Landscape No. 5 by John Cage is a 1952 tape mix work scored for a collection of 42 recordings stopped and started at different times using compositional chance operations.
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Duration: Approximately 60 minutes
Tickets: $15-30
4:30pm
Secret Sky
Secret Sky is a mesmerizing and virtuosic trance guitar duet composed by Victoria's Sean Kiley. The piece explores many different kinds of repetition and rhythmic patterns referencing diverse stringed instrument traditions, from bluegrass to African kora. The movements in the piece reflect trance as a mystical journey through imagined stages in dissolving the boundaries of the self.
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Featuring Sean Kiley and Brian Desjarlais, guitars
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Duration: 90 minutes
Tickets: $15-30
Event Information
Location
All events will take place at Beaver Point Hall, in the south end of Salt Spring Island. Hours. Minutes. Seconds. will take place in the Beaver Point Hall Classroom. All other performances will be in the main hall.
Tickets
Individual tickets for concerts and workshop:
$25 Standard rate
$30 Supporter rate
$15 Accessible rate
Advance tickets can be purchased by e-transfer to OSM@ofsoundminds.ca
*Please indicate the event(s) you are attending in your e-transfer: Quora / Workshop / Sonic Delights / Secret Sky
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Sound installation: free
Seating
All events will offer relaxed seating. Chairs, cushions, and other comfortable resting places will be provided, but feel free to bring your own cushion as well.
Accessibility
& parking
Beaver Point Hall has accessible parking onsite close to the doors of the hall, with a short gravel path to an accessible entrance for wheelchair and mobility aid users. There are small steps leading into the other entrance to the main hall.
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Arriving by bicycle? Pedal in and we’ll treat you to a complimentary refreshing beverage. Show your helmet at the concession!
There are no accessible washrooms onsite. There are permanent outhouses a very short walk from the hall.
This event is focused on listening and experiencing soundscapes. Children are welcome, and we embrace the sounds of the environment while encouraging a respectful and attentive listening space.​
Interested in volunteering?
SoundGardens Festival is looking for volunteers! Join our team and be part of a creative, community-driven experience. Volunteers may assist with setup and teardown, welcoming guests, concession, and supporting artists. In exchange, you’ll gain behind-the-scenes access, connect with artists and audiences, and experience the festival in a meaningful way.
If you’re interested in being part of SoundGardens, we’d love to hear from you. Please send us an email.