Does music about peace have to be peaceful? In the gloriously diverse city of Bradford, where the first Peace Studies department was inaugurated and the Peace Museum now lives, P E A C E found musical commonality in the cracks and created something beautiful by joining together contrasts.

Drawing on her creative catalogue, producer Verity Watts presented a radical and ambitious commission that brought together four artists to create a work featuring electronic sounds, rap, scratching, spoken word and bassline improvisation. It was fused with historic archive audio samples.

Collaborators included the world-champion turntablist DJ Woody; legendary jazz bassist Dave Kane; Bradford-born singer, rapper and songwriter Kenzo Jae and poet and spoken word artist Scout Tzofiya Bolton. Archive producer Anna Rhodes curated audio samples from Bradford that also featuref in the music.

Lighting Designer by Rachel E Cleary.

Events included two performances of the same work and a short interview with the creative team in between the two. This enabled audiences to experience the second performance with greater insight into the creative process.

New Music Biennial is a three-day festival celebrating the best new music across all genres from the country’s most exciting composers – and in 2025, for the first time, it came to venues around Bradford.