Changing Gear

Changing Gear is our professional development programme offering emerging music creators based in Yorkshire and the Humber commissions, equipment and support to develop exciting new works and access high-profile performance opportunities.

As a PRS Foundation Talent Development Network Partner supported by PPL, we are targeting those whose work has not yet been widely performed in a professional context, as well as composers of acoustic music who would like to gain skills for pursuing future work with electronics. We aim to work with a diverse group of music creators whose work may encompass genres such as contemporary classical, urban, jazz and experimental musics.

In the longer term, we aim to bring new partners on board across Yorkshire, opening up access to different facilities and equipment in different areas, so that each year offers a unique creative opportunity for the selected music creators.

Year 1
In the first year (2024-25), three women and minority gender composers working across a range of genres – Helen Papaioannou, Cherry Seraph (Sophie Russell) and Artists’ Child (Bethany Wells) – were selected and commissioned to create new music inspired by the life and work of electronic music pioneer Daphne Oram, in celebration of her centenary in 2025. Our partners were the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford and the Oram Awards.

Composers produced new pieces of electronic music inspired by encounters with sound objects from NSMM’s collections, drawing themes and techniques in Oram’s work. Thanks to a partnership with the University of Huddersfield, they also had the opportunity to explore vintage sound equipment, such as analogue synths and effects units, to experiment with and incorporate into their musical palettes.

The new works were performed in March 2025 at the National Science and Media Museum, Bradford coinciding with the Bradford City of Culture 2025 programme, and then in May 2025 in partnership with The Oram Awards’ celebrations of Daphne Oram’s centenary, at Gut Level in Sheffield. The performances were also supported by outreach workshops: a drop-in session demonstrating tape loops in Bradford; a talk and demo by Tom Richards about the Mini-Oramics machine that he built from Daphne Oram’s unrealised designs in Sheffield, plus a bonus live looping workshop at Sheffield Food Festival.

Year 2
Changing Gear’s second year coincides with the Railway 200 celebrations, offering a chance to explore the sonic possibilities of trains and York’s status as a key railway city past and present. Programme partners are the University of York and the National Railway Museum.

Three women and minority gender composers working across a range of genres will be selected to create new music. With access to the NRM’s exhibits and archives, they will join artists such as Kraftwerk and Steve Reich in taking sonic and thematic inspiration from trains – whilst also claiming women and minority gender people’s place among male-dominated histories and cultures.

The creators will have access to the University of York music department’s state-of-the-art immersive sound studios – including a 20+ ambisonic loudspeaker array – offering them the time, space and technical support needed to take creative risks and develop skills. The new works will be performed on gallery at the National Railway Museum on 1 November 2025 and at the University of York as part of its concert series on 19 November 2025, supported by outreach workshops.

YSWN is a PRS Foundation Talent Development Network Partner supported by PPL.