VotE Sonic Circle: February 2026

Over the past few years, Voices on the Edge have hosted events, roundtable discussions and workshops that have created opportunities in response to gender inequality in music and supported the growing diversity of the Music and Sound ecology in Kernow.
 
In 2026, we’re excited to launch ‘VotE Sonic Circle’, a group co-founded by Jessica Beechey, Frankie Stevens, Gaia Blandina, Carol Jones and D Ferrett.

‘VotE Sonic Circle’ is a welcoming space for sound makers, musicians, and artists working with (or curious about) sound in its widest sense. We especially welcome women, queer, and gender-diverse artists from across our community. This is a friendly, zero-pressure gathering centred on improvisation, playfulness, expression, and experimentation - bringing together sound-making, text, voice, and sound technologies, alongside shared themes of Cornish landscape, esotericism, and environment.
 
We’ll hold ‘VotE Sonic Circle' every 6-8 weeks on an evening 18:30 - 20:30. Places are limited, so please sign up for our first gathering if you’d like to join. We’re really looking forward to meeting you and to building a space for collective making, dialogue, and sonic exploration.

Artists and researchers who will be holding the circle:

Jessica Beechey: Jessica Beechey (she/her) is a practice-based PhD researcher and sound artist working with site-specific sound, performance, and participatory methods in Cornwall. Her research explores how sound art and deep listening in manmade subterranean heritage sites can articulate the political agency of marginalised communities and reframe Cornish identity. Alongside this research, she works as a sound designer and performs in a touring/recording band, bringing collaborative, noisy, and experimental approaches into both her research and creative practice.”

Frankie Stevens: Francesca (Frankie) Stevens is an operatic soprano, metal musician, and lecturer in music at Falmouth University. In 2025 Frankie was awarded an AHRC studentship under the North West Consortium Doctorial Training Partnership and is currently undertaking her PhD in Musicology at the Royal Northern College of Music, where she is exploring extreme vocal practices as resistance in the context of patriarchal oppression. Through composition and performance, Frankie explores themes related to the divine feminine, witchcraft and patriarchal oppression with feminist blackened folk band Dōloûr. 

Dr Gaia Blandina: Gaia Blandina is a cellist, interdisciplinary sound artist, and Lecturer in Music at Falmouth University. Her practice-based research integrates music, sound art, and visual art, exploring composition, improvisation, and curation with a particular interest in non-methods and collaboration as open, nomadic ways of making. She is currently developing a collaborative research project, Side Quests, with Dr Bryony Aitchison (University of York) which explores walking as a research tool and creative act, using sound, text, and participatory practices to engage with landscape, heritage, and speculative histories.

Dr Carol Jones: Described as a “rising voice” in The Strad, Carol J Jones is a classical composer, writing chamber, vocal and orchestral music. Her unique approach to composition deconstructs sounds to uncover the hidden music in nature. She has been commissioned and worked with ensembles including the BBC National Orchestra of Wales,  Sinfonia Smith Square, the Orchestra of Opera North, BBC Singers, Black Oak Ensemble, Orkest De Ereprijs, Ligeti Quartet, Heather Roche and Fenella Humphreys. 

Dr D Ferrett: D Ferrett is Associate Professor of Music, Sound and Culture and the Research Lead for the Academy of Music and Theatre Arts (AMATA), Falmouth University, UK. D’s work investigates the relationships between human and non-human as they intersect through gender, technology and the environment. She is interested in voice and sound (in practice and theory) and draws from an interdisciplinary approach that engages voice studies, sound studies, feminist philosophy, critical plant studies and ecocriticism. D is the author of Dark Sound: Feminine Voices in Sonic Shadow (Bloomsbury, 2020) and founder of Voices on the Edge.

Tickets and timings:

Tickets:

The VotE Sonic Circle is on a pay what you can basis:

• £10
• £8
• £5
• £3

There is also a free option to book and attend the VotE Sonic Circle. We don't want cost to be a barrier to entry, and this booking option is offered on a no questions asked basis.

Vote Sonic Circle timings:

• The Sonic Circle sessions will run from 18:30 - 20:30

Contact us:

T: +44(0)1326 259349

E: boxoffice@falmouth.ac.uk

Photo credit: Image features Isobel Anderson’s workshop ‘Summoning Esoteric Voices with Live Electronics’ at AMATA. Image taken by James Scarle.