thank you!

We made our target - that’s £15,000 going directly towards commissioning four brand-new orchestral works by our Artists in Residence. We’ll be sharing updates with our generous donors and our audiences as they gear up for writing and premiering the works in Feb 2025. You can read more about our campaign below.

for the first time, nonclassical are taking part in the big give’s christmas challenge.

Four emerging composers from our Artists in Residence scheme (Beatrice Ferreira, Harry Górski-Brown, Kendra Chiagoro-Noel and Nneka Cummins) will be supported to write and premiere new music with partner orchestras Her Ensemble and Southbank Sinfonia. They will receive coaching, mentoring and training to build the skills, experience, networks and portfolio to sustain and navigate the often-challenging career path of a composer.

why are we doing this?

Composers are faced with many barriers to develop - let alone sustain - a compositional career in classical music. Recent reports highlight:

  • 87.7% of works programmed by orchestras are by white men (DONNE 2021/22)

  • 43% of UK musicians earn less than £14,000 a year from music and 44% cite a lack of sustainable income as a barrier to their career (Musicians Census 2023)

  • 88% of all Black music professionals agree there are barriers to progression (Being Black in the UK Music Industry, 2021)

We believe talent should thrive regardless of circumstance. Nonclassical AiR seeks to be a democratic, flexible, artist-led programme to support the next generation of composers to develop their artistic voice and build sustainable careers. We aim to remove a multiplicity of barriers to enable four extraordinary composers from diverse backgrounds to receive a paid commission and plenty of support to write for orchestra.

We want to:

  • Provide access to gate-kept artforms and institutions to four composers.

  • Commission four composers from diverse backgrounds to develop their artistic voice.

  • Increase the profile, audience base and networks of the composers, developing their skillsets and experience in different areas of the music industry - live and recorded.

  • Bring new, risk-taking orchestral work into existence, relevant for the 21st century.

  • Reach more diverse audiences for classical music by extension of showcasing contemporary and relevant work for modern Britain.

the aim…

We want to raise £15,000, which will cover four fees of £3,750 each, advised by Musicians Union for a five minute orchestral work. We already have £7,500 banked thanks to our pledgers and match funding (from The Reed Foundation), so need your help to make up the final £7,500.

With Gift Aid and match funding your donation goes so much further - you’re guaranteed to at least double your donation.

We do understand that not everyone is in the financial position to support our campaign. If you’re inspired by our mission and want to help us out, you can do so by sharing our campaign to your friends, family and network on social media and beyond - every share gets us that bit closer to achieving our goal.

what you’ll get…

Not only will you support the creation of four(!) new works by four incredible composers, your name will be written into the dedications of the four scores.

You can guarantee a long-lasting legacy thanks to your donation. Previous Nonclassical Artists-in-Residence have gone on to:

  • Receive commissions from Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (hcmf//), BalletBoyz, LA Philharmonic, London Philharmonic Orchestra and Philharmonia Orchestra.

  • Have been nominated for the Ivors Classical Award and won a Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) prize.

  • Received fellowships and residencies at Tanglewood Music Center and Snape Maltings.

  • Been part of the LPO Young Composers Scheme, the Philharmonia Composers’ Academy, and the RPS Composers Programme.

The campaign runs from noon on November 28 to noon on December 5. We only have seven days to raise £7,500 - can you help us do this?