The third cohort of our flagship artist development programme, In Motion, brings together 10 brilliant creators from across the UK for its 2026 edition.
Now in its third year, In Motion continues to build on the legacy of our artist development work while responding to the changing needs of today’s creators.
The In Motion 2026 cohort reflects the richness and originality of new music in the UK today. Their work moves across improvisation, ritual, memory, technology, ecology, diaspora, voice, movement, data, place and performance. Across the cohort, artists are developing transcultural practices, site-responsive work and ambitious new ways of making music that stretch across form and genre.
What connects them is a shared commitment to risk, research and creative evolution. Over the next 18 months, In Motion will support each artist to deepen their practice, test new ideas and bring ambitious new work into the world.
Our In Motion 2026 artists are: Alex Hitchcock, Amy Bryce, MA.MOYO, Christo Squier, Elischa Kaminer, Hannah Lou Larsen, Roxanna Albayati, SEAYOOL, Simmy Singh, and Sofia Grant.
In Motion supports innovative creators at pivotal moments in their journey — helping them explore ambitious ideas, evolve their practice and take their work further. Combining funding, mentoring, coaching, peer support and tailored professional development, the programme gives artists the space and confidence to create work that might not otherwise be possible.
At Sound and Music, we believe artists need time, trust and meaningful support to take risks, grow their networks, reach audiences and sustain creative careers. In Motion is a space for reflection, experimentation, connection and growth.
Composers
Alex Hitchcock is a London-born saxophonist, composer, arranger, and producer inspired politically and musically by the radical Black American tradition, reckoning with its history, struggle, resistance, and reinvention.
Amy Bryce is a British composer based in London whose imaginative scores produce music that is strikingly visual or theatrical. Notable commissions include BBC Radio 3, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Stiftung Kunst und Musik für Dresden, the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, and the Royal Philharmonic Society.
Belinda Zhawi (b. Zimbabwe) is a literary & sound artist based in London (UK) & Marseille (FR), author of Small Inheritances (ignitionpress, 2018), and experiments with sound/text performance as MA.MOYO. Her works have been featured on various platforms including NTS, Boiler Room & BBC Radio.
Visit MA.MOYO's profile
Read MA.MOYO's Q&A
Christo is a composer, installation artist and multi-instrumentalist whose practice sits at the intersection of science, art and performance. Currently, his work translates ideas from particle physics and sensory experience into immersive sonic environments.
Elischa Kaminer is a composer, performer and theatre-maker working on the intersections of music theatre, electronic, concert, queer-pop and yiddish musics. His work has been showcased across Europe, the U.S., Canada and Korea including performances at Muziekgebouw Amsterdam and Nationaltheater Mannheim.
Hannah is a Danish Oxford-based composer and multi-instrumentalist. First drawn to music by overwriting cassette tapes of church sermons with a hairdryer and her brother’s asthmatic breathing, her solo show Pigeons in Transit sold out at Offbeat Festival 2024, and Before the Ashes Lose Their Leaves has featured at Radiophrenia and XMTR Fest.
Roxanna Albayati is an Iranian-Iraqi interdisciplinary artist, researcher and music educator. Driven by embodied artistic research, her transcultural practice centres around combining experimental music with multilingual art forms and audio-visuals, where her music merges cross-cultural improvisation with Persian Dastgah and the physicality of performance.
Visit Roxanna Albayati's profile
Read Roxanna Albayati's Q&A
SEAYOOL, a composer and performer, experiments with the 'expansion of senses' by traversing between the piri, a traditional Korean instrument, and electronic music. He explores human inner senses by interweaving the piri's primal expressiveness with digital sounds, transforming breath into electronic waves and classical melodies into experimental rhythms.
Simmy Singh is a violinist, composer, and Earth activist whose work dissolves the boundaries between classical, folk, electronic, and improvisational sound. Born in Cymru to Indian and English parents, her creative voice is rooted in a deep connection to land, lineage, and the sacred.
A rising star on the UK jazz scene, Sofia writes about our relationship with the natural world. Lyrically bold and vocally dextrous, her songs about permafrost, species decline and degradation of mountains place her at the cutting edge of climate and sound.
The Panel
Selection was a rigorous and highly competitive process informed by our Fair Access Principles, which help ensure our programmes are as open, inclusive and accessible as possible while supporting greater equity within music in the UK.
We would like to thank our external selection panel — Chisara Agor, Bróna McVittie, James Perry, Provhat Rahman, Sarah Lianne Lewis and Suk-Jun Kim — alongside Sound and Music’s Creative Project Leaders, for the care, insight and time they brought to the selection process.
As part of our commitment to fairness, transparency and inclusive decision-making, external panels are refreshed each year, ensuring a range of perspectives and experiences are represented throughout the selection process.
Thanks to our funders
Sound and Music is a PRS Foundation Talent Development Network Partner supported by PPL.
In Motion 2026 is made possible with the generous support of Arts Council England. PRS Foundation, The Cockayne Foundation and Sound UK.
See also
