Boom is OCM’s annual professional development scheme for music / sound artists / musicians and producers who are interested in creating and presenting inspiring contemporary music or sound based work outside of the concert hall and gallery (i.e. in unconventional spaces, outdoors, and in the digital realm). The scheme supports the development of artists (at any stage of their career) who are passionate about engaging with large and diverse audiences with contemporary performance, digital practice and installation work.
The 2023-24 BOOM artists are:
DEBRIS STEVENSON
Debris Stevenson is a hybrid-playwright, dyslexic educator, Grime-poet, queer ex-Mormon and pro-raver. She has worked in over 30 countries, designed foundation performance poetry modules at Nottingham University, and had her debut show, POET IN DA CORNER, premiered at The Royal Court in 2018 which saw Debris nominated for an Emerging Talent of The Year Award (Evening Standard Theatre Awards).
www.instagram.com/debrisstevenson
www.facebook.com/debris.stevenson
ELLIE WILSON
Ellie Wilson is a violinist and composer whose work melds contemporary classical, folk, and electronica and her output ranges from live performances to immersive sound installations and music for theatre. Her music has been described as ‘beautifully poised’ (Errollyn Wallen, BBC Radio 3), ‘haunting…impressive’ (Fringe Review) and ‘rich, ancient and rootsy’ (Elizabeth Alker, BBC Radio 3).
Recent highlights include writing the score for Shakespeare’s Globe productions of Henry VI and Richard III, and a sound installation ‘Unearthing Stories of the Forest’, created for Epping Forest. Ellie is a former member of folk band Stick In The Wheel and her solo album Memory Islands was released in Sept 2023.
www.instagram.com/elliewilsonuk/
www.facebook.com/elliewilsonmusic
www.youtube.com/channel/UCOY0riaFKGDx6gdPeABgmOQ/
open.spotify.com/artist/69KLx5eeBKPtv6zDd1xjYA?si=C8XukGbHS_u0xi53JOZ6iw
UAH aka Usman Haque
Composer and multi-instrumentalist 'uah' (aka Usman Haque) bridges architecture and music to create emotionally charged, cinematic soundscapes. Drawing on his accomplishments as the interactive artist behind dozens of large-scale participatory audio-visual spectacles, he is currently working on ways to engage members of the public using their own voices to drive collective experiences. His debut album, ‘Let Death Live’, dropped in 2022, exploring the cycles of life & death, grief & joy, loss & acceptance.
open.spotify.com/artist/3ozoUUgsrAHFUKvgNOAaKJ
WORKING BOYS CLUB
Adam & Jason Dupree, a set of identical twins from Poole Dorset founded The Working boys Club in 2021. Adam, a car mechanic turned musician and maker and Jason, an electrician turned Contemporary Circus Director, have merged their skills of the past with skills learnt in the rehearsal room to create their flagship project, Serving Sounds.
Serving Sounds is a British pub that serves bass rather than beer. An interactive art piece and musical instrument allowing for audiences to create music together in an innovative an unique way. Adam and Jason’s desire is to create work that engages the kind of communities they grew up in. The kind of communities that would rather go for a pint than the theatre.
www.instagram.com/the.working.boys.club/
OCM is a PRS Foundation Talent Development Partner supported by PPL.
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Past BOOM artists/producers were:
Ardal Bicnic
Bilge Nur Yilmaz
Kevin Leomo
Rawz
Simon James
Hannah Fredsgaard
Joshua Le Gallienne
Marcus Joseph
Simone Seales & Rylan Gleave
Charlotte Marlow
Fionnuala Dorrity
Liminal Creative (Lousie Cole & Carl Cole)
Calum Perrin
Emily Jones
Rie Nakajima
Nicholas O’Brien
Steve Urquhart
Breathing Space
Iain Chambers
Sarah Nicolls
Tim Hill
Mike Blow
Errollyn Wallen
Kate Halsall
Kate Romano
Sam Underwood
Kathy Hinde
Emma Smith
Eleanor Hooper
DIM Productions (Esther Tew & Harriet Wallis)
Photo credits: Ellie Wilson - photo by Thom Ashworth; Working Boys Club - photo by Adam Richardson and Chloe Archer; Debris - photo by Romany Francesca