Always, Already There, 23-25 October at Barbican & GSMD
‘Always, Already There’ is the first UK edition of George Lewis’s Afrodiasporic Incubator project, curated by vocalist and composer Elaine Mitchener, presented by the Barbican and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. The full weekend festival of performances and workshops will take place 23-25 October 2026.
For the first time in the UK, through performances, talks and installations, we turn the spotlight on a rich, radical, diverse and resonant body of experimental music from composers who have been tightly policed as to which genres they could occupy, and excluded, both imaginatively and literally, from the contemporary music space.
Artists from the past and present will disrupt and expand the scope of this avant garde arena, including pioneering figures such as Olly Wilson, Ahmed Essyad, Dorothy Rudd Moore, Alvin Singleton and Ben Patterson, as well as the leading lights of today: legendary vocalist Pamela Z, composers and electronic artists Hannah Kendall, Jessie Cox, Cedrik Fermont, Yara Mekawei, Corie Rose Soumah, Njabulo Phangula and Charles Uzor, alongside UK premieres by a host of gifted Afrodiasporic musicians.
Produced by the Barbican in partnership with the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
Always, Already There has received generous support from SHM Foundation, Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation and Trevor Fenwick & Jane Hindley.
Barbican Classical Music Programme receives major support from Marcus Margulies and additional support In Memory of John Murray.
More information and tickets: www.barbican.org.uk
Photo credit: Pamela Z – Gretchen Robinette