Welcome everyone to the Woodbridge ambient music festival 2025 in the home of ambient music, Woodbridge, Suffolk!
A jam packed, chilled out three days celebrated a genre of music that had its beginnings in this beautiful town and along the peaceful River Deben. We celebrate every September, on the Autumn Equinox, and welcome visitors from all over the world to a weekend of ambient music. In 2025, the popular Arts Festival had TEN ambient music events happening throughout the historic town of Woodbridge and along the River Deben at the Woodbridge Cruising Club, Whisstocks Place, the Riverside Cinema, Shire Hall, St. Mary’s Church, the Angel, New Street Market and the Longshed making an exciting town-wide community celebration over the Equinox weekend 19th-21st September 2025.
Festival Producer Jan Pulsford says “Woodbridge has a special feeling. The river and light inspire many artists and musicians. Brian Eno, known as the ‘Father of Ambient Music’ and his brother Roger grew up here. The weekend festival, now in its fourth year, continues celebrating a link to ambient music, something the town is very proud to acknowledge.”
You can find up to date news and archives on the Woodbridge Ambient Music Festival website and socials
FRIDAY 19th September - 5-10pm
Woodbridge Ambient Music Festival 2025 opened at the Woodbridge Cruising Club on the River Wall with an evening overlooking amazing views of the beautiful river Deben at sunset. Ambient lights and drones from Andrew Booker, from London, opened the evening followed by Suffolk Tales by popular Irish local story teller Bards Aloud accompanied with improvised music from the Drips. Rob Fairclough from Lowestoft, continued slow sketching alongside "music from old vinyl, tired tapes, field recordings" played by Elegy for Good Dogs. Inspiring live music from cellist Clare O'Connell played into the evening and then we all went along to The Riverside Cinema to see the film ‘For all Mankind.” Music scored by Brian Eno, the father of ambient music and brother Roger - both born and raised in Woodbridge. https://www.theriverside.co.uk/programmes/for-all-mankind/
SATURDAY 20th September - 10am-10pm
RIVER DEBEN 10AM A morning ambient amble along the River Deben with Bards Aloud - A favourite for musicians, poets and story tellers to celebrate the Spirit of the River by busking, walking and sitting along the river banks while discovering the beautiful ambient sounds of the River Deben. Meet in Whisstocks Place at 10am before heading off to some of the most peaceful views in Suffolk including the Trees for Peace.
WHISSTOCKS PLACE
10-4 - A fabulous morning of LIVE ambient DJs and musicians by the historic riverside on Whisstock's Place.
10am DJ Subskile - every year we welcome this fabulous young DJ!
11am Tom Greig - beautiful ambient sounds echo around the square from DJ Egregious
12-3.00 - Children’s events for the family in the WRT Longshed Gallery hosted by Charlotte Jolly.
12.30 - live music from Tom Rogerson and Will Fergusson - not to be missed performance of Steve Reich's "Piano Phase"!
1PM - Legendary Composer and Sonic artist Pip Greasley performed with flautist Sally Hossack.
2PM - Aartwork with their unique psychedelic Celtic fusion beats and electric spoons from Merlyn Bruce.
3PM - Quaynotes - gentle voices strumming gentle sounds brings the afternoon on the riverfront to a close.
NEW STREET MARKET
12noon - 11pm New Street Market hosted more live ambient and electronic music including Yggdrassil, HardWired and DIgitonal during the afternoon. At 7pm Sundowners took over the decks for a chilled out evening of ambient DJ mixes.
THE SHIRE HALL
3-6PM - The Ambient Label Hub exhibited in the Shire Hall, showcasing some of the best ambient music labels in the UK.
A unique opportunity to meet, chat and listen with a group of prominent labels as outlined on their blog
https://whitelabrecs.com/blog/b/ambient-label-hub
All about the Woodbridge Ambient Music Festival 2025
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ST MARY'S CHURCH
7PM St Mary’s Church welcomed the annual Tom Rogerson and Friends event.
Tom Rogerson, who recorded the album “Finding Shore” with Brian Eno, presented an inspiring evening and Weekend Festival Highlight from renowned world class ambient music makers.
This year Tom invited special guests Loula York, Laura Cannell and Charlotte Jolly, three leading ambient women musicians of East Anglia. Pianist Will Fergusson opened the evening with pieces written by Roger Eno and midway Tom welcomed a special return performance from long time Brian Eno collaborator, Peter Chilvers with guitarist Ted Morcaldi.
SUNDAY 21st September - 7.30am - 10PM
SUNRISE ON THE RIVER
The morning of the autumn equinox saw a beautiful sunrise event with “ Happily Emma Laughter” at the Deben Yacht Club followed by a walk along the river up to HMS Vale for breakfast.
SUNDAY - 12.00 - 3PM “Slow Down” in New Street Market
A special music and wellness session sponsored by the Natural Health Centre. Recently the NHS suggested relaxation techniques including ambient music, that can help relieve stress and gain a sense of well-being. We relaxed with slow stitching from Clare Perkins; slow sketching with Robert FairClough; slow music from the beautiful vocal Ambient Chorus; guitarist Chris Burness and slow moves from Steve Kippax. Relax and unwind!
SUNDAY - 3pm - 10pm at the Angel on Theatre Street.
A fabulous 7 hours of music finished the festival with an AEMOM (Ambient Electronic Music Open Mic) at the Angel on Theatre Street - A very popular event with over 20 performers hosted by Merlyn Bruce including Helder Rock, Anthony Awad, Ambient Abyss, Tristan Burfield, Nick Nicholson, Matt W Rose, Gary James and a very special welcome to Perry Frank at 8PM who had flown in from Sardinia for the event and braved the British freezing cold!
We thank our generous sponsors and supporters:- Woodbridge Town Council, East Suffolk Council, Woodbridge Natural Health Centre, the Angel Pub, Green Boat Records, Radio Mothership, Hopsters, Woodyard Pizza, Jan Pulsford Music Productions, Woodbridge Riverside Trust, New Street Market, Merlyn Bruce Open Mics, Chris Burness Music, Bards Aloud and and all the volunteers and supporters for this annual community festival – we couldn’t do it without you!
PRE-FESTIVAL EVENTS
AMBIENT ANGEL ARTS MARKET - Every Thursday 10AM-1PM and Saturday 12-3PM
OPEN MIC - Wednesday - August 20th/ September 3rd /17th - All welcome!
PATIENCE (after Sebald) - Thursday 18th September - Join us at the Riverside for a showing of the fascinating film about WG Sebald’s inspiring walk around Suffolk, as told in his book “The Rings of Saturn”. Music from the Caretaker underscores this stunning film directed by Grant Gee. Festival Weekend pass holders get a discount on tickets from the Riverside Box Office.
We broadcast every Monday at 9PM BST on Felixstoweradio.org.uk Listen to an hour of music from an ambient music world with Jan Pulsford or come and join us in the chat room! https://minnit.chat/radiomothership
We had a couple of great days at the Woodbridge Regatta and Art Safari with Choose Woodbridge supporting community in the home of ambient music. We also had a stall at the Shire Hall in aid of the Hares for Hospice campaign.
A few FABULOUS gigs we've supported over the last few months whilst we get the September festival sorted ... follow us on facebook.com/woodbridgeambientmusicfestival - Looking forward to seeing you soon :)
Sonic Wave at the Cut, Halesworth Friday 13th June
Open Mic w/Merlyn Bruce every 2 weeks at the Angel Woodbridge
A week in Felixstowe from May 28th-June 3rd
Gallery 142 Hamilton Road Daily 10-4PM
FelixstoweRadio.org.uk every Monday 9PM BST
Sunday 25th May at Two Sisters in Trimley
Tom Rogerson at New St. Market - the Golden Hour 7.30pm May 30
Stephen Hodd live at St. Marys May 31st 7PM
Merlyn Bruce
Tom Rogerson
Will Fergusson
Mixing ancient and modern
Otters on the Deben!
Silent Dinners
Bards Aloud
Producers
The Improvisor
The Deben Composer
Peter Hepworth
Telling Stories
Stephen Hodd
Quaynotes
We raised £450 for the St. Marys Building fund
Malcolm Hodd and Fr. Nigel with the cheque "Life on the Deben"
so pleased to support the community ...
Saturday March 22nd 2-6PM
Stephen Hodd
Merlyn Bruce
Quaynotes
Will Fergusson
Silent Dinners
Bards Aloud
Tom Rogerson
Peter Hepworth
Woodbridge Ambient Music and Life on the Deben
present
SPRING EQUINOX MINI FESTIVAL
St Mary's Church, Woodbridge
Saturday 22nd March 2025
2-6PM
All profits to benefit St Mary's Church Building Fund
Tickets available from Eventbrite £10 (plus booking fee)
Click here to go to the Eventbrite page for more information and to book
https://WoodbridgeSpringEquinoxConcert.eventbrite.co.uk
LATEST NEWS: Busy getting things together behind the scenes. Did you know that the NHS now recommends Ambient Music as part of relaxation techniques that can help relieve stress and gain a sense of well-being.
TUNE IN 9PM every Monday to Ambient Music World on https://felixstoweradio.org.uk
Felixstowe Radio Mothership Mashups on https://mothership.voyage every Sunday 7PM.
Music Makers send in your tracks! #listenlocal #ListenGlobal #communityradio
KEEP IN TOUCH with all the links on the linktree app https://linktr.ee/woodbridgeambientmusicfestival
OPEN MIC: Join us every other Wednesday at the Angel in Woodbridge - all welcome, all styles including ambient electronica! See you there!
WEEKLY BROADCASTS: Every Monday we broadcast an 'ambient music world' on Felixstowe Radio at 9PM from the Mothership Voyage stream. We also have a chatroom which is a good way to catch up with the latest news as it happens - Such a lot going on behind the scenes! Do join us to chat and listen on https://minnit.chat/radiomothership
What is Ambient Music? Often described as ‘Music to quiet your thoughts’ and ‘Music that doesn’t get in the way’ it is mostly played on electronic devices and taps into the ambience and feeling of a place. We celebrate the Spirit of Place and the River which inspires so much beautiful art and music ... We invite you to be part of this special equinox weekend.