This week Nwando is recording for an awarded residency, Sound Pioneers as one of the six selected composers who will create original multi-channel audio works during paid residencies at the University of Huddersfield and the University of Hull.

As might be expected for a residency of this kind, the competition was tough, with nearly 70 applications received from composers across the UK and from a range of backgrounds ranging from self-taught to academic. A panel of representatives from YSWN, the University of Huddersfield’s Centre For Research in New Music, University of Hull, hcmf// and Brighter Sound shortlisted applicants before making the final selection. Composers were chosen not only for the quality of their existing music but for their ideas and potential to develop artistically when working in a multichannel setting.

YSWN co-director Abi Bliss says: “The standard and variety of applications for Sound Pioneers was fantastic and it was a difficult job narrowing the list down to six composers. Thanks to the partners who worked with YSWN to make the project possible, these composers will have a unique creative and development opportunity, exploring some amazing-sounding audio facilities. We can’t wait to hear what they come up with.”

Find out more about the Yorkshire Women Sound Network here.

This year’s edition of Rewire festival takes place online from 6 - 9 May 2021.

Over four days Rewire will present a multitude of projects and formats that demonstrate the varied ways artists have been creating and performing works under physical restrictions. The festival brings together artists and audience to create and share unique audiovisual and interactive experiences, alongside a discursive programme of talks, workshops and meditations that aims to critically address the festival theme of (Re)setting.

Rewire has teamed up with Radiophrenia to stream a selection of their commissioned radio works from their vast back catalogue to show a broad range of radio possibilities. The works to be streamed during the festival include Nwando’s commissioned piece: Fire Prevention Or How To Sing A Labyrinth Or The Re-being and the Burning of the Labyrinth.

Tune in here.