Dive into the depths of the ocean through a spectacular live listening journey, blending science, sound, and storytelling. How To Be A Whale is a one-hour soundscape crafted from hundreds of rare, real underwater recordings of whales, dolphins, and marine life, mixed live by filmmaker Tom Mustill and sound artist Vahakn Matossian.
Premiered by BBC 6 Music’s Cerys Matthews and featured at Glastonbury, Hay Festival, and COP28, this immersive experience tells the stories of seven whale and dolphin species—from bowheads beneath Arctic ice to orcas hunting herring. Narrated by Mustill and DJ’d by Matossian, it’s an unforgettable sensory dive into the lives and voices of the sea.
Created with support from Whale and Dolphin Conservation and the global marine bioacoustics community, it includes some of the oldest and rarest ocean recordings ever heard. Every sound is real—no effects, just the voices of the deep.
How To Be A Whale is more than a performance—it’s a call to wonder, empathy, and action. Inspired by the late Dr. Roger Payne, whose work helped spark the Save the Whales movement, this show invites you to listen, feel, and imagine the world through the ears of a whale.