Always, Already There: A Festival for Afrodiasporic New Music. 4.–10.11.2024

Always, Already There–An Incubator for Afrodiasporic New Music
Concerts, Talks, Panel Discussions, Workshops
4.–10.11.2024
Concert tickets €13/€10
Free entry for Panels and Lectures

The one-week programme Always, Already There, conceived in collaboration with guest curator George E. Lewis, focuses on Afrodiasporic contemporary music composers. A series of concerts, public rehearsals, workshops, and lectures draws attention to an enormous blind spot across Europe and aim to overcome it permanently.

Europe is known for its world-famous concerts halls, renowned symphony orchestras, and festivals for new music, none of which regularly show the work of Afrodiasporic composers. The fact that they are underrepresented in the played repertoire, in musicological research, as well as in music journalism stands in stark contrast to their diversity and potential.

George E. Lewis, composer and professor for American Music at Columbia University in New York and artistic director of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), is invited to HKW alongside his ICE ensemble for a one-week residency. In collaboration with composers from Africa, Europe, and the US, they offer insights into the work of a new generation of musicians and illustrate the importance of their music as an intercultural and transgenerational incubator.

The starting point of the project is the collection of essays Composing While Black. Afrodiasporische Neue Musik heute / Afrodiasporic New Music Today (edited by musicologists Harald Kisiedu and George Lewis, 2023) that centres the lives and works of systematically overlooked contemporary composers from the 1960s up to the present day.

Always, Already There encompasses lectures, panel discussions, and concerts. In addition to the recital, there is a broad spectrum of sounds spanning chamber music, vocal work, and electronic music. The programme invites the audience to discover and engage with the diversity and complexity of Afrodiasporic contemporary music.

Participants:
Leila Adu-Gilmore, Jessie Cox, Daniele Daude, Jessica Ekomane, Douglas R. Ewart, Cedrik Fermont, Anthony R. Green, Satch Hoyt, Nyokabi Kariũki, Hannah Kendall, Andile Khumalo, Harald Kisiedu, George E. Lewis, Monthati Masebe, Elaine Mitchener, Jalalu-Kalvert Nelson, Shelly Phillips, Njabulo Phungula, Alyssa Regent, Corie Rose Soumah, Charles Uzor, Christina Wheeler, International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Com Chor Berlin

More information

Tickets

Programm

Mon., 4.11.
18:30–19:30
Introduction: Always, Already There
(George E. Lewis/Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung)

Tue.,  5.11.
18:30–20:00
Lecture: The Society of Black Composers 
Harald Kisiedu, introduced by George E. Lewis

Wed., 6.11.
18:30–20:00
Panel: Decolonizing Electronics
Cedrik Fermont, Christina Wheeler, Corie
Rose Soumah, Jessica Ekomane,
Leila Adu-Gilmore, Moderation: George E. Lewis

Thu., 7.11. 
18:30–20:00
Panel: African Art Music Today
Monthati Masebe, Njabulo Phungula, 
Nyokabi Kariũki, Moderation: Andile Khumalo
     
20:30–22:00
Concert: Decolonial Electronics, with 
International Contemporary Ensemble
Music of Corie Rose Soumah, Satch Hoyt, 
Levy Lorenzo and Fay Victor, Cedrik Fermont, 
Christina Wheeler

Fri., 8.11. 
18:30–20:00
Panel: Interdiscipline
Anthony R. Green, Elaine Mitchener, 
Douglas R. Ewart, Satch Hoyt
Moderation: George E. Lewis

20:30–22:00
Concert: International Contemporary Ensemble
Composing While Black, Berlin Edition
Music of Alyssa Regent, Nyokabi Kariũki, 
Jalalu-Kalvert Nelson, Corie Rose Soumah, 
Hannah Kendall, Andile Khumalo, Leila Adu-Gilmore, 
Charles Uzor, and Jessie Cox

Sat., 9.11.
16:00–17:30
Panel: New Modes of Curation          
Cedrik Fermont, Daniele Daude, Elaine Mitchener, 
Satch Hoyt, Moderation: George E. Lewis

18:30–20:00
Panel: Composing While Black I
Anthony R. Green, Monthati Masebe, 
Njabulo Phungula, Hannah Kendall
Moderation: Jessie Cox

20:30–22:00
Concert: International Contemporary Ensemble
Music of Douglas R. Ewart: Sonic Networks

Sun., 10.11. 
18:30–20:00
Panel: Composing While Black II
Alyssa Regent, Andile Khumalo, Jalalu-Kalvert Nelson, 
Charles Uzor, Corie Rose Soumah, Moderation: Harald Kisiedu

    
20:30–22:00
Concert: The Wide Open Mouth, Com Chor Berlin,
directed by Shelly Phillips and International Contemporary Ensemble
Music of Jessica Ekomane, Elaine Mitchener, Leila 
Adu-Gilmore, Fay Victor, Anthony R. Green, 
Monthati Masebe, and Shelly Philips  

Partner

Always, Already There is supported by the Capital Cultural Fund and by the Federal Foreign Office.
With the friendly support of Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung.
With the support of Schweizer Kulturstiftung Pro Helvetia.

Visit Information

Opening Times
Wed.–Mon. 12:00–19:00
Extended opening hours during evening programmes.
Free admission on Mondays and on every first Sunday of the month (Museumssonntag Berlin). 
 
Childcare with programme
HKW offers free childcare for many of its programmes. For further information visit hkw.de

Current information about visiting and accessibility.

Weltwirtschaft Restaurant is open daily, from 12:00–00:00 on weekdays and 10:00–00:00 on weekends.

Contact

Jan Trautmann

Pressesprecher
Lead Communications Officer
Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW)
John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10
10557 Berlin

T: + 49 (0) 30 397 87 157
presse@hkw.de