Devon Bonelli
Devon is a composer, producer, researcher, and DJ whose work blends bold electronic sound worlds with theatricality and a distinctly queer sensibility. Moving fluidly between experimental, classical, and club contexts, their music thrives on bold textures, emotional intensity, and a playful sense of narrative.
Their portfolio spans opera, dance, and electronic performance. Highlights include two dramatic works written during their PhD. Discopia, an Arts Council England–funded dance and music project that toured the UK in 2023 with choreographer Imogen Reeve, Excessive Human Collective, and the Larisa Trio. Queen Midas, Devon's one-woman opera written for soprano Georgie Malcolm, electronics, and video projections, premiered at The White Hotel in 2023, with libretto by Spencer Mason. Their music has been performed internationally, from Manchester’s Sounds from the Other City Festival in 2023 to Singapore’s 12.ance Festival (Where Sleeping Dogs Lie with Lisa Chearles). In 2024, their track “Cathedral Garden at Midnight” was featured on KAVARI’s ambient compilation CULT TAPE 002, reflecting their growing presence in the electronic scene.
Devon brings an infectious positivity and a team-focused spirit to their work. They are a 2025 recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Drummond Lockyer Fund for Dance for a new commission with RNCM and Company Chameleon (premiering December 2026). Alongside this, they are developing We Are the World, a new touring project with choreographer and longtime collaborator Imogen Reeve and Excessive Human Collective, set to begin its national tour in November 2025.
Discopia
Discopia is a 65-minute performance work for violin, cello, piano, live electronics, and contemporary dance. The piece imagines a future landscape where artefacts of club culture and classical music coexist: vinyl crackles transform into leaves and remnants of bin bags, a drum machine joins the trio as a fourth player, and familiar harmonies are bent into new shapes. Discopia draws on the dynamic (and often chaotic) relationship between humans and their environment. Dancers carve the stage into shifting tableaus while the score moves from glacial ambience to high-energy grooves. Classical references surface then dissolve, and electronic processing blurs the line between acoustic and synthetic sound.
Developed with choreographer Imogen Reeve, Excessive Human Collective, and the Larisa Trio, Discopia toured Leeds, Bristol, Manchester, and Exeter in 2023 with support from Arts Council England and PRS for Music.
Queen Midas
Queen Midas is a 60-minute one-woman opera for voice, electronics, and self-produced projections recasting Ovid’s classic tale as a bold, queer fable for the modern era. Premiered by Georgie Malcolm at The White Hotel in 2023, Spencer Mason's lively story, co-written with Devon, moves from close-mic confession to full-bodied vocal climaxes over dense, luminous electronics and club-infused beats.
Visuals and projections created by Devon fold the singer into a shifting world of gold, glass, and glitch; the stage reads like a club installation as much as an opera set. House and ballroom references sit alongside lyrical writing, while live vocals are sampled and manipulated to anchor the sonic palette. The result is intimate and theatrical, with the energy of the dancefloor late at night and the drama of grand opera. It is a myth retold for a room that breathes bass.
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@devonbonelli
