Musicians in Residence

Paraorchestra exists to push the boundaries of what orchestral music can be with artistic work that is ambitious, innovative, and inclusive. Our Musician in Residence programme is fuelled by the same creative ambition, offering a unique opportunity for our musicians to consider their work as artists and to develop their own ideas of what live music can be for a 21st-century musician.

Composite image of Xia and Liza. Xia is wearing a cream denim jacket and leopard-print dungarees. Liza is posing with their recorder against a clear blue sky holding a white-and-pink headscarf with printed skulls on it above their head.

Introducing our Musicians in Residence programme

Audio described version of the Musicians in Residence film

Every step of the journey I’ve been inspired by new things and found new paths to explore. The possibilities of the residency are seemingly endless. I’m always coming to meetings with some wild new idea and it’s just so amazing to be funded to work with people who can say ‘Sure! Let’s find a way together to make that happen!”

Tilly Chester, Musician in Residence, 2021-22

The programme was created in recognition of a lack of professional support and development opportunities for musicians identifying as D/deaf, disabled, or neurodiverse and offers an entirely unique model of professional development for music-makers within our existing pool of musicians to develop and grow their practice.

Thanks to a bursary from Sky Arts, the programmes offers a paid, 12 month residency providing dedicated time, resource, and mentorship from our Artistic Director, Charles Hazlewood, and the wider team.

I feel like I’ve learned so much about myself as both an artist and a person over the course of the residency, which is crucial at this early stage of my career. That knowledge pertaining to how I work, the things that have inhibited me in previous collaborations, and the surroundings I need to create to contribute properly will carry me through this residency and into future projects. It’s been an incredibly healing and affirming time, in a lot of ways”

Rylan Gleave, Musician in Residence, 2022-23

Launched in May 2021, Sky Arts’ support has facilitated two years of the residency and it is our hope that we may continue to support and develop a regular residency programme after 2023 as part of a wider scheme of professional artist development.

Meet our Musicians in Residence

Click the links below for more on our musicians’ individual residencies.

2023-24

Xia Sloane, a young person wearing a cream denim jacket and leopard-print dungarees.

Asteryth Sloane

Asteryth is a composer and aspiring therapist. Graduating from the Royal Northern College of Music in 2022 with a Masters in Composition and Musicology, Asteryth's music emerges from themes of nature and identity, responding to the beauty and fragility of the living Earth and embodying aspects of queer and autistic experience.

Liza Bec

Liza is an innovative contemporary composer, producer, and multimedia narrative author blurring the boundaries between science and music. They were awarded the cross disciplinary Fusion Fund by Help Musicians UK to create a narrative audiovisual work and have built their own instrument, the roborecorder, which is on display in the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry.

2022-2023

Taken from the side, a young woman plays cello. She has wavy blond hair tied off her face. She wears headphones and glasses and appears deep in concentration. Bright, natural light.

Hattie McCall Davies

Hattie switches out her cello to spend 12 months developing her practice as a smallpiper, with the aim of exploiting their potential use in contemporary ensembles and contexts

Rylan, a young, white male, wears a long pink shirt and dramatic eye makeup, his hair is short and light brown, parted in the middle falling eaither side of his head, he wears headphones and stands in front of a microphone. He looks off camera.

Rylan Gleave

Rylan is focussing on finetuning a broad framework of skills - including vocals, composition, and movement - required to enrich his Requiem-inspired album

2021-2022

a young white woman with red hair dressed in black and wearing dark-rimmed glasses and balck headphones. Tilly is playing a viola.

Tilly Chester

Tilly's residency saw her combining viola and violin playing with composition for electronic music and aerial performance

Jonny, a young white male, has long-on-top wavy dark hair and a goatee beard. He holds drumsticks and appears to be playing an unseen high up cymbal, other peices of his drum kit can be seen in the foreground. Bright natural light.

Jonny Leitch

Drummer and percussionist Jonny focussed on developing more accessible ways of sightreading and composing

A young white man with dark brown hair wearing a sweatshirt and jeans stands behind a music stand. In his right hand he holds the neck of a double-bass at arms length. He has an animated expression on his face and is giving a thumbs-up with his left hand.

Patrick Phillip

Patrick spent his year on composition for double bass, focussing on on expanding it repertoire and exploring new ways of exploiting its rich sound

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