Artistic Directors Series with Anna Meredith

In the summer of 2016 we first worked with acclaimed composer Anna Meredith on a residency as part of our first gender-equality initiative Here Come The Grrrls.

Twelve young and emerging musicians and visual artists joined us for four days at the Science and Industry Museum. Working with Anna and her long-time collaborators - guitarist and composer Jack Ross and visual artist Eleanor Meredith - they created original material inspired by the museum’s Wonder Materials: Graphene and Beyond exhibition.

Six new tracks and accompanying visuals were then premiered at a Science in the City Late event at the museum, in wider celebration of Manchester as the European City of Science 2016.

During the residency we also delivered a sound engineering course led by Speth Hughes. Working with four aspiring sound engineers, they spent four days learning all about microphone techniques, mixing desks, speakers and more.

Their learning was put to the test at the end of the week where they mixed sound during the residency’s live performance.

How we helped

Composer and songwriter Anna Appleby (AKA art-pop musician Norrisette) reflected:

“This residency kickstarted me branching out into multimedia collaborations, and fusing genres, having mainly focused on score-based contemporary classical composition beforehand. My career now is so varied and I'm always working across styles.

Meeting other artists who had discovered their style and voice to a greater extent also helped me to break out of an awkwardness that I'd been in, feeling slightly lost in the classical world at times. Anna, and Brighter Sound, gave me a lot of confidence through this residency.”

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Credits

A huge thanks and congratulations to all participants:
Amy Thompson, Anna Appleby, Anna Clifford, Anna Gray, Carmel Smickersgill, CHAINES, Elizabeth Walshaw, Elle Bulger, Joanna Roy, Julie Crawford, Katrina Wilde, Lilli Hall, Miranda Rimmer, Nuria Bonet, Sarah Rowland Hill and Shamica Ruddock.

With thanks to:
Anna Meredith, Jack Ross, Elenaor Meredith and Speth Hughes.

Photos by Rachel Bywater. Film by Daniel Kenyon.

Funded by Youth Music and supported by the PRS for Music Foundation.