Belgian National Orchestra & Cottis

City of Floating Sounds turns Brussels into an open-air musical stage. Instead of heading straight to Bozar, you begin your journey at one of several meeting points across the city. Guided by a specially designed mobile app, you move through the streets while listening to fragments of a work by Huang Ruo. As you walk, the music shifts and expands. When you come closer to other participants, new musical layers emerge, enriching the shared soundscape of the city. The route you choose, the people you encounter and the paths you take shape a personal listening experience. Brussels becomes the instrument, revealing the city in a new light.

Gradually, the different routes converge at Bozar. There, the fragments heard along the way unfold into their full form: the music comes alive on stage, performed by 80 musicians of the Belgian National Orchestra under the direction of Jessica Cottis, the “mayor” of this temporary sonic city. What began as an individual journey through Brussels becomes a powerful collective moment as the full score takes shape. Part sound walk, part urban exploration and part symphonic concert, City of Floating Sounds pushes the boundaries of classical performance and invites you to experience the city—and the people within it—through sound.