Dan Jones' Music for Seven Ice Cream Vans is part of this year's New Music Biennial.

PRS Foundation New Musical Biennial returns next month

A free music festival featuring some of the UK’s most most exciting music creators returns to Hull next month.

PRS Foundation’s New Music Biennial – which takes place across two weekends in London and Hull – features contemporary music including exciting, newly commissioned works from established names and rising stars.

Presented by Absolutely Cultured, it will take place in Hull from Friday 12 July until Sunday 14 July.

PRS Foundation’s New Music Biennial includes ground-breaking, global music across all genres from classical to world music, jazz, folk, electronic and even music for ice cream vans. Pushing the boundaries of new music, many of the pieces experiment with projection, installation, spoken word and dance.

This year’s festival includes Hull-based Dan Jones’ Music for Seven Ice Cream Vans, commissioned by Absolutely Cultured, which presents a beautifully nostalgic score as a fleet of ice cream vans call out to one another at various locations across the city.

Additional highlights of the festival include an array of talented music creators from across the whole the UK:

  • Gazelle Twin’s collaboration with composer Max de Wardener which brings the blend of traditional musical concepts and futuristic pop from her latest album ‘Pastoral’ to a full orchestra
  • BAFTA winning Jessica Curry’s celebrates the powerful, beautiful collective voice of women and youth in her piece She which will be performed by the National Youth Chamber Choir
  • BBC Radio 2 Folk Award winners, 9Bach’s collaboration with actress Maxine Peake and drummer Andy Gangadeen (Massive Attack) in an innovative new bilingual, multimedia piece.
  • Aidan O’Rourke’s piece 365, a response to James Robertson’s 365 stories (a story written every day for a year), rooted in Scottish folk fiddling with Kit Downes on harmonium adding jazz and French impressionism. The performance intertwines tunes with the words that inspired them.

Tickets for all performances at the festival are free and are available here

Colin has turned his life around after moving to Redwood Glades. Picture: Christopher Lemercier
A free screening of Romeo and Juliet in Hull is part of the Royal Opera House’s BP Big Screens programme.