Opera North has announced the five artists chosen for this year's Resonance residencies: Ellen Beth Abdi, Balraj Samrai, Rory A Green, Jonas Jones and Satnam Galsian.
Resonance offers resources to professional music-makers from the Global Majority based in the north of England, to enable them to experiment with collaborators and fresh ideas and to try out the results in front of audiences.
Each artist spends a week in Leeds to a project of their choice in workshops and work-in-progress performances.
Several alumni of the scheme, including Testament and Hannabiell Sanders, have gone on to secure major commissions: sitarist Jasdeep Singh Degun is Opera North’s current Artist in Residence following his work as composer, co-music director and soloist on the opera Orpheus and Abel Selaocoe composed the Leeds As You Are soundwalk as part of LEEDS 2023 Year of Culture.
Balraj Samrai is a musician, DJ, facilitator and co-founder of Swing Ting and SEEN Magazine. Born in Ghana and raised in Manchester, Rory A Green is a guitarist and songwriter who cites his major influences as jazz, West African music and improvisation. Jonas Jones, who has written and produced music under the name Stolen Velour for the last three years, was discovered online by the Dirty Hit record label when he was just 18 years old. A British Asian folk singer based in Leeds, Satnam Galsian is interested in the interplay between the North Indian and western music traditions.
From January to April, each artist will be given free rehearsal space for a week in Leeds with a grant to cover fees and costs and support and advice from technicians, producers and other specialists, plus the option to give a work-in-progress performance at the end of their residency.