📅 Deadline: 11am, 7 April 2026

📢 APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN: New Music Residency 2026

Are you a music creator, aged 18-25, who’s ready to develop bold new music and showcase it live at the Royal Albert Hall, during the Music for Youth Proms 2026? 

Whether you're a songwriter, musician, instrumentalist, producer, audio‑visual artist, or band, the New Music Residency brings together early‑career creatives who want to collaborate, experiment and create bold artistic new works. 

Over the residency, you’ll work with other young music creators to explore new artistic approaches, mix genres, play with orchestral and contemporary sounds, and develop ambitious new ideas — all guided by a professional lead mentor. 

APPLY NOW

What You'll Get

  • ÂŁ1,000 bursary: To support your time, travel, and creative development. 
  • Free rehearsal space provided 
  • Expert mentoring in four key areas: 
    • Songwriting & Artistic Development: Grow your songwriting, creative identity, performance, and collaboration skills. 
    • Orchestration & Score Writing: Learn how to arrange for orchestra and choir using tools like Sibelius, Logic, or Ableton. 
    • Live Performance & Technical Production: Work with our professional production team on staging, sound, and lighting. 
    • Music Industry & Business Skills: Gain the knowledge you need to navigate and build a sustainable career. 
  • Create for a full-scale Youth Orchestra: Bring your ideas to life through collaboration with talented young orchestral musicians. 
  • Showcase the new works at the Royal Albert Hall: Share your final piece on one of the world’s most iconic stages. 

To ensure this opportunity is suitable for you, please ensure you read our two-stage eligibility criteria:

  1. Who Can Apply? 

We welcome two types of young creatives: 

Artists/Bands 

Music creators who generate the core musical idea — including: 

  • Lyrics 
  • Melodies 
  • Chord progressions 
  • The overall structure and artistic vision 

Arrangers/Composers 

Instrumentalists or musicians who focus on orchestration — turning the artist’s core idea into a fully arranged piece for orchestra and/or choir.  

  • Arranging the orchestration 
  • Build and/or extend the original melody and harmonic structures 
  • Work with the lead mentor to review, draft and update the full and sectional orchestration 

(Arrangers will not compose the original melodic or lyrical content) 

Eligibility: 

  • Ages 18–25 
  • Based in England, Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland 
  • Artists: any genre and musical background, ideally with previous songwriting and performance experience 
  • Arrangers: any genre and musical background, ideally Grade 6–8+ (or equivalent experience) 

2. Participation Requirements 

All participants must: 

  • Attend mentoring sessions with our lead mentor, Damien Harron 
  • Collaborate with at least one other participant to create a final piece of music 
  • Attend online and in‑person workshops, rehearsals, and performance dates 

Artists/Bands: 

  • Develop the song’s lyrics, chords, structure, themes, and creative direction 

Arrangers/Composers: 

  • Shadow and learn from the lead mentor while arranging the orchestral score 
  • Focus on orchestrating the artist’s musical idea, rather than composing original themes 

Together, you’ll shape the final work through a supported and collaborative process. 

Safeguarding 

We celebrate bold and innovative ideas — but all music must be suitable for audiences of all ages. This means no content that includes or promotes harm, bullying, nudity, sexual content, harassment, or profanity. 

Apply now

Meet our Artists for 2025

Our first Frequencies New Music Residency 2025 artists have been announced....

Paloma León

Paloma LeĂłn is a classical pianist, composer, and one half of art rock duo Pretty Hands. With roots in neoclassical music and a passion for breaking tradition, they create multidisciplinary, emotionally charged work. Influenced by everyone from Ravel to Reznor, Paloma reimagines what modern composition can sound and feel like.

Susi Pagel

Susi Pagel is an alternative pop artist from Belfast who’s been writing music since age 11. Blending metal, pop, and rock, her sound reflects what she grew up loving. A graduate of the Scratch My Progress scheme, she released her debut EP in 2024 and is starting to expand beyond Belfast.

Elly Xia

Elly Xia is a genre-fluid artist blending EDM, techno, indie rock, and alt-pop into immersive, emotionally rich soundscapes. A classically trained pianist and producer, they began releasing original work in 2023. Influenced by everything from Aphex Twin to Joe Hisaishi, Elly is focused on building a bold, collaborative music career.

Clarion

Clarion is a Belfast-based trumpeter and composer with an eagerness to perform and entertain live audiences. A 'Music and Sound Design' student at Queen’s University, he’s performed worldwide from Liverpool, to Sicily, and co-written music with indie punk band Somehow Sentient. Inspired by artists like Pink Floyd, Nine Inch Nails, Queen and Muse, Clarion’s sound is bold, expressive, and deeply personal.

Watch our 2025 New Music Residency

New Music Residency 2025 was an innovative co-creation initiative in which four music creators (Elly Xia, Paloma Leon, Susi Pagel and Clarion) collaborated to write and perform original works with the South East Wales Youth Orchestra and Choir, a large-scale orchestra and massed choir of 212 musicians at the Royal Albert Hall. 

“I enjoyed learning more about collaborating with different people, meeting fellow musicians, doing something that is different to what I usually do, working with an arranger, orchestra, and choir, and of course performing at the Royal Albert Hall. I feel more confident in the skills I already had and as a result more inspired to create more arrangements.” (Elly Xia) 

“This [New Music Residency] was a really special and once in a lifetime experience that I’m so glad to have had with my band. The writing and rehearsal process was so much fun, and I loved working with the mentors to bring something new to life. Our mentor worked with both us and the composer to ensure it was magical, and it was so worth it. It was the best day of my life! Getting to perform my music in front of such a huge crowd was the most special feeling in the world. We felt so looked after by the team all day which really helped to ease any nerves.” (Susi Pagel) 

Watch our 2024 New Music Residency

Watch our 2023 New Music Residency

Elly Xia

Elly Xia is a genre-fluid artist blending EDM, techno, indie rock, and alt-pop into immersive, emotionally rich soundscapes. A classically trained pianist and producer, they began releasing original work in 2023. Influenced by everything from Aphex Twin to Joe Hisaishi, Elly is focused on building a bold, collaborative music career.

Susi Pagel

Susi Pagel is an alternative pop artist from Belfast who’s been writing music since age 11. Blending metal, pop, and rock, her sound reflects what she grew up loving. A graduate of the Scratch My Progress scheme, she released her debut EP in 2024 and is starting to expand beyond Belfast.

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