Philharmonia Orchestra announces Thick & Tight plans as Artists in Residence for 80th anniversary year

The Philharmonia Orchestra today announces dance theatre company Thick & Tight plans as Artists in Residence for the 2025-26 80th Anniversary Season.

Thick & Tight are the fifth artists to take up the position following House of Absolute, Love Ssega, Soumik Datta and Vidya Patel.  

Thick & Tight is a dance theatre company based in the UK, co-directed by Daniel Hay-Gordon (he/him) and El Perry (they/them). Daniel and El create a mix of dance, mime, theatre, satire and drag, taking influence from a wide range of historical, political, literary and artistic subjects. At the heart of Thick & Tight’s practice, steered by a queer identity and perspective, is the intention to open up restrictive and elitist ideas of artistic excellence and to explore dance as a political art form with the power to entertain while challenging social stigma.

Thick & Tight’s award-winning work has been presented extensively in the UK, including at Sadler’s Wells, Tate, Barbican, Southbank, V&A, Lowry and Royal Ballet and Opera, and at many festivals internationally. Of equal importance is the company’s focus on working in socially engaged contexts such as LGBTQ+ venues, social clubs, community groups and charity fundraisers (Duckie, Moth Club, Posh Club). They are also Associate Artists at Lowry.

Over the course of the season, Thick & Tight will collaborate with the Philharmonia to create a work inspired and influenced by the orchestra’s history, through interviews with past and present orchestra members, and explore the season’s theme of ‘identities’, as it celebrates its 80th anniversary.

Queering the Score will see them develop two new works that explore aspects of what queerness means within music and composition. One piece will look back at an established classical composition to examine how otherness may have been expressed at a time when queerness wasn’t articulated in the ways it is today, but may have been embedded in the music. The second will engage with contemporary composition, investigating how identity shapes creativity today.

To close out the season and their residency, Thick & Tight will host a symposium. This event will share insights and creative outcomes from their residency, reflecting on the orchestra’s history, the role of queerness in both historical and contemporary repertoire, and the connections they’ve forged between movement and music. 

The symposium will feature performances of the 80 Years Duet and Queering the Score works, accompanied by discussion around the process behind each piece. 

As the works develop, Queering the Score will be toured to two residency centres outside London, each visit including a workshop with local community groups connected to the Philharmonia. Feedback from these sessions will help shape the evolving 80 Years Duet. Alongside this, Thick & Tight plan to share both creations informally with the public ahead of the symposium. Sharings will take the form of open rehearsals and discussions around their research and process.

Thick &  Tight said: ‘We’re delighted to be in residence with the Philharmonia! We both love orchestral music and it has played a central part in the development of our work, so it feels very special to have been chosen and to begin a relationship with this wonderful orchestra. It’s a fantastic opportunity for us to expand our knowledge of how, as dancers and choreographers, we work with scores and musicians. We are interested in reframing and challenging the power structures which surround traditional techniques in dance and other art forms, and are excited by the Philharmonia’s desire to diversify the artists it collaborates with and the audiences it engages. We share this desire.

‘We hope the results of our residency will bring new ideas about the identity and potential of orchestral music. It’s a privilege to be part of the orchestra’s 80th anniversary programme. We’re hoping to join the celebrations by creating a work which looks back through the archives and shares with audiences where the Philharmonia has come from, and where it might be headed next. We can’t wait to get started!’

Thorben Dittes, Chief Executive of the Philharmonia Orchestra, said: ‘I’m excited to see what will happen when Thick & Tight’s talent and unique take on contemporary life are combined with the skill and creativity of our players. As we celebrate the Philharmonia’s 80th birthday in our 2025/26 season, we’re focussing on the many ways that music and identity are intertwined. Questions of identity are central to Thick & Tight’s creative practice, so our collaboration will give us and our audiences new insights into our music and the world of the orchestra. I’m sure their take on the Philharmonia’s history will be as provocative as it is entertaining.’