Nonclassical

🌀 OUT NOW — Nneka Cummins’ Finding Gills

A powerful one - we’re lucky to release Nneka Cummins ’ Ivors Award-winning composition finding gills [when they try to drown you]. Out today for the first time, alongside a new remix.

💿 Available digitally + on limited edition cassette — link in bio.

FINDING GILLS — EP LAUNCH ft. Listening session, interview + performance by + .bailey

🗓 Sun 27 Sept
📍 Theatreship, Canary Wharf

SCHEDULE
6:30pm — Doors
7pm — Finding Gills listening session
7:15pm — Nneka + Ain in conversation with Marcella Keating
7:45pm — Break
8:15pm — Nneka + Ain live performance
8:45pm — Music in the bar

🎟 Tickets + EP via link in bio

Nneka Cummins — photo: Holly McCleneghan
Artwork — Gemma Merriman Gemma • Photographer
Ain Bailey — photo ©️ Rob Harris

Event Update: Finding Gills ~ EP Launch

EP Listening Session + Artist Interview + a new live performance by Nneka Cummins & .bailey

🗓 Sunday 27 September 2026 - 06:30pm
📍 Theatreship , Canary Wharf, London

Nneka Cummins will be joined by to perform a live interpretation of their Ivors Award-winning composition and its new remix this coming Sunday at , followed by an interview with both artists.

Join us to celebrate the release of Finding Gills, an exploration of survival, metamorphosis and transformation, drawing on the Afrofuturist mythology of Drexciya.

💿 Finding Gills — out 25 September on digital + limited edition cassette
🎟 Tickets + pre-order via link in bio

Original artwork: Gemma Merriman Gemma • Photographer
Ain Bailey — photo ©️ Rob Harris
Nneka Cummins — photo ©️ Dimitri Djuric

Event: Jocelyn Campbell — lo-end + Pav
📅 19 November 2026
📍 Theatreship, Canary Wharf

Fragmented loops, tuba, double bass and electronics collide in Jocelyn Campbell’s new work, lo-end, coming to Theatreship this November.

Featuring Nona Lawrence on tuba, Gwen Reed (Gwen Reed) on double bass and Campbell on electronics, lo-end shifts ambient electronic music into the analogue world — blurring what’s live and what’s recorded as sounds move between memory and invention, presence and disappearance.

Opening the night is London-based composer, producer and sound designer Pav, followed by a closing DJ set from phonewifey, Campbell’s producer and DJ alter-ego.

📅 19 November 2026
📍 Theatreship, Canary Wharf
🎟 Tickets on sale now via DICE
Link in bio
Pav Gwen Reed

🌀 Nneka Cummins: Finding Gills Listening Session + .bailey | 27 Sept. Theatreship

Ain Bailey will join us at Theatreship on 27 September for a special live performance, celebrating the launch of Nneka Cummins’ Finding Gills EP, featuring their Ivor Award-winning composition finding gills [when they try to drown you].

Ain Bailey is a composer, artist and DJ whose practice explores sound, identity and memory, spanning composition, installation, performance and collaborative projects.

Following the listening session and Ain’s performance, Ain Bailey and Nneka Cummins will join us in conversation, discussing their work, approaches to sound and respective practices.

📅 Sunday 27 September
📍 Theatreship, Canary Wharf
🎟 Tickets via link in bio

Ain Bailey
Photo: Katarzyna Perlak

Nneka Cummins
Photo Credit: Dimitri Djuric
Finding Gills Artwork: Gemma Merriman

We’re down at Independent Label Market this weekend 💿 Come find the nonclassical stall, say hi! 🌀

📍 Canada Water
📅 29–30 August
💿 Records, cassettes + nonclassical bits

wanna come see some strange and wonderful music? 👀

nonclassical — save these dates ↓

27 September 2026 — Listening Session: Nneka Cummins — Theatreship, E14 9SH

15 October 2026 — Gig: [TBA] — The Victoria, E8 3AS

29 October 2026 — WACK (Jennifer Walshe + ) × lovemusic — ICA, SW1Y 5AH

31 October 2026 — WACK ( + Neil Luck) × lovemusic — Arnolfini, BS1 4QA

19 November 2026 — Gig: [TBA] — Theatreship, E14 9SH

🚨 We’re hiring! 🔇

We’re looking for a new Executive Director (Maternity Cover) to join nonclassical from December 2026.

Apply: https://www.nonclassical.co.uk/careers

This is an opportunity to lead an artist-led and passionate charity with over 20 years of championing contemporary, experimental and electronic music, while helping to break down barriers in access.

Working alongside our Board, Artistic Director and team, you’ll help shape our artistic programme, support artists, develop partnerships and guide the organisation through its next chapter.

📍 Hybrid (East London) | 3 days / 24 hours per week
💷 £50,000 pro rata (£30,000 for 0.6 FTE)
📅 Start date: 9 December 2026
⏰ Applications close at 08:59am (BST) on Tuesday 1 September 2026.

Careers — nonclassical Careers

announcing our AiR 2026-28 cohort 💫☄️

Cecilia Morgan / aka afromerm 💧 / cil 🦋 (she/her)
Felix Taylor felix 🌚 (he/him)
Delyth Field  delyth field (she/her)
Kinna Kinna (they/them)

We’re honoured to be supporting these incredible composers over the coming years, providing space, resources and opportunities to develop new work, experiment with new ideas and explore where their practice can go next. We’ll be sharing more about the partnerships for this programme soon!

A huge thank you to our fantastic panellists: Daria Challah, Megan Steller, Emily Abdy, Karen Lee, Natalia Franklin Pierce, and Marcella Keating.

You can help support AiR 2026-28 & emerging artists in contemporary classical music by donating to nonclassical via the link in our bio

Photo credits:
Cecilia Morgan | Mina Owen
Felix Taylor |  ⵙⴰⵔⴰⵀ 📿 سارة
Delyth Field  | Kit McCarthy
Kinna  |  Evé Moonie

nonclassical AiR 2026-28 is supported by the Mila Charitable Trust, Vaughan Williams Foundation, Idlewild Trust, Radcliffe Trust, Fenton Arts Trust, D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust, Margaret Engering Music Trust and Dorico.

“Survival is not always graceful but will always remain beautiful.” — Nneka Cummins

We’re proud to announce Nneka Cummins’ new EP, Finding Gills, out 25 September on nonclassical.

Winner of the 2025 Ivors Classical Award for Best Large Ensemble Composition, finding gills [when they try to drown you] was composed during Nneka’s Nonclassical Artist in Residence. Pairing chamber orchestra with fixed electronics, the work explores resilience, transformation and hope. The EP also features a new electronic companion piece, finding gills [realms and possibilities], built entirely from the original orchestral material.

Available digitally and as a limited edition cassette.

Join us on Sunday 27 September at 7pm for a special Listening Event aboard Theatreship in Canary Wharf, where we’ll hear the EP in full and celebrate its release together.

📅 Out 25 September 2026
💿 Digital + Limited Edition Cassette
📍 Listening Event: Sunday 27 September, 06:30pm | Theatreship, Canary Wharf

Pre-order the EP and tickets via the link in our bio.

Artwork: Gemma Merriman Gemma • Photographer

🚨 We’re hiring! 🔇

We’re looking for a new Executive Director (Maternity Cover) to join nonclassical from December 2026.

This is an opportunity to lead an artist-led and passionate charity with over 20 years of championing contemporary, experimental and electronic music, while helping to break down barriers in access.

Working alongside our Board, Artistic Director and team, you’ll help shape our artistic programme, support artists, develop partnerships and guide the organisation through its next chapter.

📍 Hybrid (East London) | 3 days / 24 hours per week
💷 £50,000 pro rata (£30,000 for 0.6 FTE)
📅 Start date: 9 December 2026
⏰ Applications close at 08:59am (BST) on Tuesday 1 September 2026.

More details through the link in the bio.

Photo Credit: Yasmin Huseyin