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Always, Already There: An Afrodiasporic New Music Festival

Friday 23rd – Sunday 25th October 2026

Always, Already There: An Afrodiasporic New Music Festival comes to London for three days of performances, talks and installations celebrating a rich and radical tradition of experimental music by composers and artists from across the African diaspora.

 

Taking place at the Barbican and Guildhall School of Music & Drama during Black History Month 2026, the festival marks the first UK edition of George Lewis’s Afrodiasporic Incubator project and is curated by acclaimed vocalist and composer Elaine Mitchener.

Across the weekend, audiences will encounter music by pioneering historical figures alongside work from some of today’s most innovative composers, performers and electronic artists. Together, the programme challenges conventional ideas about who belongs within contemporary classical and experimental music and draws attention to generations of Afrodiasporic musicians whose contributions have not always received the recognition they deserve.

At the heart of the festival is an examination of the boundaries that have historically been placed around Black musical creativity. Afrodiasporic composers and performers have frequently been expected to occupy particular musical genres while being excluded, both imaginatively and institutionally, from contemporary and avant-garde music spaces. Always, Already There turns the spotlight onto artists whose work has continually challenged those divisions.

The programme celebrates pioneering composers and artists including Olly Wilson, Ahmed Essyad, Dorothy Rudd Moore, Alvin Singleton and Ben Patterson, placing their work within a broader history of experimentation, innovation and artistic independence.

Their legacies are brought into conversation with a new generation of leading Afrodiasporic artists, including legendary vocalist and interdisciplinary artist Pamela Z, alongside Hannah Kendall, Jessie Cox, Yara Mekawei, Corie Rose Soumah, Njabulo Phangula, Pat Thomas, Corey Mwamba and Charles Uzor.

Audiences will also have opportunities to experience UK premieres by a host of Afrodiasporic musicians, making the festival not simply a retrospective celebration but a showcase for new ideas and the continuing evolution of experimental music.

Through concerts, conversations and installations, the three-day programme explores how Black composers and musicians have contributed to the development of avant-garde and contemporary music while questioning the traditional categories used to define their work.

Curator Elaine Mitchener brings her own extensive experience across experimental music, improvisation, contemporary composition and performance to the festival. Her interdisciplinary practice has consistently challenged musical boundaries, making her a fitting curator for a programme concerned with expanding how Afrodiasporic creativity is understood and presented.

The festival’s origins lie in the Afrodiasporic Incubator project of George Lewis, the influential composer, trombonist, scholar and writer whose work has played an important role in broadening understanding of Black experimental music and challenging established narratives surrounding the history of the avant-garde.

By bringing the project to the UK for the first time, Always, Already There creates an opportunity to encounter artists from different generations and geographical backgrounds within the same programme, revealing connections between their approaches to composition, improvisation, technology, performance and experimentation.

Taking place across three days during Black History Month 2026, the festival offers an important opportunity to recognise Afrodiasporic artists not simply as contributors to established musical traditions, but as innovators who have helped shape and continually redefine contemporary music itself.

Produced by the Barbican in partnership with Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Always, Already There promises a fascinating weekend for audiences interested in contemporary classical music, experimental sound, electronic music, improvisation and the wider history of Black creativity.

Multibuy Discount

Book two or three Always, Already There events in the Barbican’s 2026/27 Classical Music season at the same time and save 10%.

Book four or more events at the same time and save 20%.

Individual events, performance times and ticket prices vary across the three-day festival. Please check the Barbican programme for full details and booking information.

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