7 exciting collaborative new music projects supported to tour across the UK and Republic of Ireland through PRS Foundation’s Beyond Borders

Published: 18 Dec 2023

UK and Ireland-based organisations, music groups and composers will receive funding through the co-commissioning and touring programme Beyond Borders. The exciting cross-border projects are:

• Brian Irvine (Northern Ireland) commissioned by Contemporary Music Centre (Republic of Ireland) with New Music Dublin (Republic of Ireland), Moving On Music (Northern Ireland), Café OTO (England) and Canolfan y Celfyddydau Aberystwyth Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Vale of Glamorgan Festival (Wales) present the Stone Drawn Circles Tour – Commission and tour of programme of new works across the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, England and Wales.
• Ed Bennett (Northern Ireland) and Moving On Music (Northern Ireland)with Improvised Music Company (Republic of Ireland)and Serious (England), present Everything is Connected – Premiere of new substantial work by composer Ed Bennett and poet Cherry Smith addressing the most pertinent environmental issues of our time.
• Ela Orleans (England) commissioned by Cryptic (Scotland) with King’s Place (England), Perth Theatre and Concert Hall (Scotland) and Moving On Music (Northern Ireland) present Night Voyager – Developing the live performance of audio-visual work “Night Voyager” for a UK and Ireland tour.
• Elchin Shrinov Trio (England) featuring Louise Dodds (Scotland) commissioned by Baroquestock (England) with The Jazz Bar (Scotland), and Magy’s Farm (Northern Ireland) present Belonging – Commission of 20 minutes of new music exploring the experience of moving to the UK from another culture.
• Fergus McCreadie (Scotland) commissioned by Manchester Collective (England) with Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama (Wales) and Southbank Centre (England) present The Unfurrowed Field –Fergus McCreadie Trio teams up with Scottish violinist Donald Grant and Manchester Collective to create a joyful fusion of jazz, classical, and Scottish folk music.

• Martin Green (Scotland) commissioned by Lepus Productions (Scotland) with Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama (Wales), Wales Millenium Centre (Wales), The Glasshouse Gateshead (England) and Celtic Connections (Scotland) present Split the Air – New brass music performed by brass bands all over the UK commemorating 40 years since the miners' strikes.
• Tinderbox Orchestra (Scotland) and Tinderbox Collective (Scotland) with Music Education Partnership Group (Scotland) and Music Mark (England) present Library Tour - Tinderbox Orchestra tour their new single and other collaborations to libraries around the UK and Ireland, supporting a national campaign getting musical instruments into public libraries.

Elizabeth Sills, Grants & Programmes Manager at PRS Foundation said, “Congratulations to the 7 high quality collaborative projects that have been chosen in this round of Beyond Borders. Its great to see the fantastic collaborations between organisations across England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to bring these exciting new music projects from talented music creators to audiences across 5 nations.  I know all the Beyond Borders partners are very much looking forward to each project coming to life next year and seeing the impact these supported projects will have on the music creators, musicians and organisations involved.”

Beyond Borders was established in 2010 to support high quality co-commissions and tours, stimulating collaboration between composers, performance groups and music organisations across the four different UK countries and, since 2014, the Republic of Ireland.

Previous Beyond Borders successes have included ‘Songs of Separation’, a collective of 10 female English and Scottish folk musicians whose album won ‘Best Album’ at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2017, and David Fennessy's ‘Panopticon’, commissioned by Hebrides Ensemble and Psappha, which won the Scottish Award for New Music for Small Scale work. Robert Jarvis’s ‘aroundNorth’ sound installation which uses the movement of the stars to create a mesmerising sound map of the universe, is now permanently installed in the grounds of commissioning organisation, the Armagh Observatory, following its Beyond Borders tour.

Beyond Borders is a co-commissioning and touring programme run in partnership with Creative Scotland using National Lottery funding, Arts Council of Wales, Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Arts Council of Ireland / An Chomhairle Ealaíon

To find out more about the programme, please visit the PRS Foundation website