Opera North has announced five artists who will develop new work in the company's Resonance programme for minority ethnic music-makers over the next three months:
From the end of February each member of the group, with the support of the PRS Foundation’s Talent Development Partnership, will receive a week of free rehearsal space in central Leeds, a grant of up to £3,500, support and advice from technicians, producers and other specialists. There are also options for a short film to document each project, and a work-in-progress performance or livestream.
The five are: accompanist at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Azizi Cole, whose Body Clock project employs the body as an instrument; flautist Naomi Perera whose album, with award-winning saxophonist and composer Lara Jones, uses the performance and testimonies of other female music-makers as raw material; Persian percussionist Arian Sadr, whose work in progress. The Wind. exploits the range of sounds produced by the daf (a type of drum) and the tonbak (a goblet drum), to reflect the journeys and upheavals of his life.
Completing the group are composer, bass trombonist, percussionist and mbira player Hannabiell Sanders, who will create a stage set to weave storytelling, visuals, electronics and percussion through the music of her duo, Ladies of Midnight Blue, and percussionist Mendi Mohinder Singh, who will work with four visually-impaired people on new music combining his tabla with electronics, the sounds of everyday objects and the rhythms and voices of his collaborators.
Since their launch in 2017, Resonance residencies have led to major commissions for artists, including Jasdeep Singh Degun, Testament and Khadijah Ibrahiim, and work continues on a number of other ambitious projects.