Schwa
Schwa is Peter Spafford, Richard Ormrod & Agnes Jeanne Maria supported by a trio of guitar, bass and drums. We share the desire to meet and engage with people, to share what can be expressed, and to make great music from what can’t.
We get inspiration from the usual inspiring places - the world (and its inevitable parlous state), nature (the memories of which sustain us, the peril to which propels us to… devise feature-length performance pieces), past poets, future voices. And music - from Franz Schubert to Viv Stanshall, Trevor Watts to Tom Waits, June Carter to Cartola.
Love Is Not All - touring now 2026
Schwa tells the story in music and words of Edna St.Vincent Millay, the Taylor Swift of 1930’s American poetry.
Love Is Not All is a set of 13 original songs with words by the radical, bisexual poet Edna St. Vincent Millay who filled stadiums in 1930’s America before burning out and dying in her fifties. ‘Vincent’, as she called herself, was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
Millay’s story is one of rural poverty, city riches, art, passion and morphine told in a suite of songs reflecting the musical styles that spoke to her: American Folk, Music Hall and Jazz.
‘Love Is Not All is loose-limbed and lovely’.
- Nick Barley, National Poetry Centre UK, Director
‘Love Is Not All achieves something remarkable: it not only immerses you in Vincent’s world but also in the passion of the artists bringing it to life. There’s a quiet joy and deep devotion in the ensemble’s performance that gives her words a new kind of breath…’
-Spike Marshall, Leeds Arts Centre
‘Vivid lyricism and authentic vocals blended with fantastic, eclectic arrangements’
-Testament
Peter Spafford
Peter has written for theatre, TV, radio, music theatre, and opera.
His work has been performed in streets, hospitals, pub gardens, cathedrals, museums, prisons, and libraries.
His first collection of poetry, QUICK, was published by Valley Press in 2016 and, with photographer Lizzie Coombes, he has created over 300 Poem Portraits.
Peter is Director of Words at Chapel FM Arts Centre, produced Unsung Sports 2022/3 for Leeds 2023 and, following QUICK, has published two further collections of poetry: FRISK (2021) and SUN TANKING (2025) with Yaffle Press.
Richard Ormrod
A bandleader, educator, composer and writer living in Leeds, Richard Ormrod presents unique and spirited performance projects in the North of England combining original composition, improvisation & spoken word with a broad range of musical influences, from early Caribbean music to experimental literature, and from improvised music to film soundtracks.
Richard records for ATA Records, Leeds only analogue studio, is a member of The Sorcerers and Panjumby, has started bands ReDiffusion All Stars and Big Bamboo, and runs two independent community orchestras, Instant World Orchestra in Leeds and Dales Jam in Skipton.
Richard plays saxophones and clarinets, flutes, accordion, vibraphone, piano, bass, guitar and drums, as well as a broad range of percussion instruments, and creates ambient machines out of arrays of guitar pedals.
Agnes Jeanne Maria
Performing for ten years, Agnes has always loved the sound & storytelling of singing - how simply playing notes side by side & stringing words together can make us feel any emotion. After studying Jazz at Leeds Conservatoire, Agnes has found herself in lot’s of different projects & jobs - all of them with arts at the core, from curating arts & sound exhibitions at Leeds Libraries to running songwriting courses in Studio 12.
Projects that Agnes is currently a part of are Ilk, Agnes & Eve, Playing The Poem & Schwa. Other than on stage, Agnes spends most of her time in her role as Head of Radio at Chapel FM Arts Centre in East Leeds, working with young people, asylum seekers & lots of community groups to create radio, podcasts + music. In the remaining hours of the day, Agnes also offers singing & songwriting lessons.