HOW do you capture the vibrancy and history of Brighton in a piece of music?

That was the challenge facing composer and University of Sussex professor Ed Hughes when he wrote the score for Brighton: Symphony Of A City.

The 45-minute film was directed by his friend Elizabeth Thynne and paints a dusk-to-dawn portrait of the city, featuring footage from the 1930s to the modern day.

It is showing at Duke Of York’s Picturehouse in Preston Circus, Brighton, on Monday, March 26, at 9pm. Ed said the film – and his soundtrack – was a perfect accompaniment to Brighton life.

“The footage of the city is very vibrant and full of colour, just like the city,” he said. “My approach as a composer was to lock into the rhythms of the city as people are parading, doing samba, or going to Burning Of The Clocks and Pride.”

Ed added that it was an “exciting challenge” to get across all of Brighton’s various states.

“At times the film is very meditative, such as the footage of swimmers in the sea at dawn, and other times it’s extremely dynamic such as the montage where commuters come into the station and the whole town wakes up,” he said.

The composer said that Elizabeth “doesn’t shrink from showing some difficult aspects” of Brighton, including homelessness.

“There is a particularly moving part where you see the excitement of the city at dusk but you also see shots from the perspective of homeless people on the streets,” said Ed. “It’s an appropriate reminder that no city is perfect.”

lDVD Symphonic Visions, featuring Brighton: Symphony Of A City, can be bought at: divineartrecords.com