Opera North announces 2022 Resonance artists

Opera North has announced the five artists chosen to take part in its Resonance Residencies programme. Musician Azizi Cole, flautist Naomi Perera, percussionist Arian Sadr, composer and multi-instrumentalist Hannabiell Sanders and tabla player Mendi Mohinder Singh have been chosen for the programme’s three-month residencies in Leeds.

Launched in 2017, resonance offers minority ethnic professional musicians and composers in the north of England a week of free rehearsal space in Leeds and a grant of up to £3,500 to cover as well as support from technicians, producers and other specialists. The resonance artists can document their projects through a documentary film, a work in progress performance or a live stream.

Jo Nockels, projects director at Opera North, commented: ‘While they come from vastly differing musical backgrounds, this year’s artists share a concern with contemporary experiences, and the primacy of rhythm and percussion.’

Azizi Cole is an accompanist at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance. He aims to use his residency to develop his work Body Clock, which employs the body as an instrument. He said: ‘As a creative working at the intersection of music and dance, my research explores musicality through movement. This residency with Opera North sees the start of my creative practice as a lead artist.’

Naomi Perera builds on the sound of her flute using electronics. Throughout her residency she will work on an album detailing the experiences of female musicians, aiming to spotlight women who are under-represented and routinely discriminated against in the music industry.

Persian percussionist Arian Sadr plans to use his residency to develop his three movements piece The Wind exploring the daf (circular frame drum) and the tonbak (goblet drum). He said: ‘This is a unique opportunity for me to share my musical ideas with the open-minded musicians of the Orchestra of Opera North, to experiment together, and finally to record the outcome’.

Hannabiell Sanders is a composer and percussionist, who also plays the bass trombone and mbira.She said: ’The residency will allow me to continue exploring the different ways in which Ladies of Midnight Blue (her duo with Yilis del Carmen Suriel) can tell stories through our music by adding electronics and visuals.’

Mendi Mohinder Singh has played the tabla (twin hand drums) since the age of three. For his residency he will work with four visually impaired people via Leeds BID Services. He said: ‘I am… grateful for this opportunity to explore how better to understand, communicate and share in genuinely collaborative music-making with visually impaired and blind people.’

Opera North is a national opera company based in Leeds. The company’s resonance scheme is supported by PRS Foundation’s Talent Development Partnership which supports composers and musicians either through direct investment or by helping the organisations which nurture and promote them.

You can find out more about Opera North here.

You can find out more about PRS Foundation here.