New music is at the heart of all Northern Silents’ work. 

Improvisation is especially important to the Northern Silents programme and our ensemble of players includes some of the UK’s leading improvising film musicians. Our players develop their skills through the UK’s only regular programme of workshops and masterclasses for silent film improvisers - and these also provide a way for new players to develop their picture playing skills. 

Meet the improvising musicians [link to Improvisers page] 

Northern Silents runs projects for amateur and young musicians, working with community music partners and voluntary music groups. These projects enable musicians of all abilities to explore silent film improvisation. 

As well as improvisation, Northern Silents commissions composers. Our first commission was Neil Brand’s brass band score for Echoes of the North.

Find out more about our composer commissions