Thank you to everyone who donated to our Associate Composers Commission Fund. Thanks to your generosity, we've raised a whopping £4490 in total, enabling us to pay four emerging composers a commission fee of over £1000 each to dedicate their time to composing a work for orchestra and developing their practice.

Nonclassical’s Associate Composers Scheme is dedicated to supporting emerging artists at pivotal points in their career. Help us continue this important work – whether it's with a regular donation, a one-off contribution, or a Bandcamp subscription to receive all our releases – anything you can give enables us to support new music.

Associate Composers Commission fund 2021-22

Artist development is at the heart of what we do – and that's what our Associate Composers Scheme is all about.

Since 2016, we have run two iterations of the scheme, offering eight extraordinary composers programming opportunities, new commissions, releases on our label, professional development and more. We strive to offer composers something different, not only giving them artistic mentorship and new commissions, but also professional guidance and the platform to curate their own event and have work released on our label – all of the tools needed to work as a composer in an often bewildering modern musical landscape. You can find out a bit more about the wider scheme here.

We’re about to start recruiting for our next four Associate Composers 2021–22 through our usual open call. As part of their time on the scheme, the composers will be offered many exciting opportunities, one of which is the chance to write a new work for Southbank Sinfonia.

An orchestral commission of this scale is a rare opportunity for emerging composers. Each of them will collaborate closely with instrumentalists and established conductors, while receiving support from a professional mentor. Each commission will be given a world premiere performed by Southbank Sinfonia as part of their 2022 season.

We’d like to offer each composer a commission fee of £1,000 as a minimum. We’re part of the way there, but we’re asking for your help to get us over the finish line. We’ve set an overall target of £2,000 – that’s half of the minimum total fee for all four composers, and if we exceed our initial target all additional funds will go towards bolstering that commission fee.

This is a career-changing opportunity on a unique scheme, and we’re committed to continue supporting our diverse community of artists after what has been a devastating year for music. If you are able to, please do consider donating to emerging composers’ future. Any donation, big or small, will be enormously appreciated.

Nonclassical Associate Composers 2019-20

The scheme

“Being an Associate Composer for Nonclassical has been a fantastic opportunity for me, raising my profile in the London new music scene & giving me performance, writing & curating opportunities… Working with such an innovative & well known organisation is an ideal opportunity for any composer, full of creative opportunities”

– Freya Waley-Cohen, Associate Composer 2016-17

Open to unsigned and unpublished artists who display exceptional ability and potential, our Associate Composers Scheme is for emerging composers from any musical background and genre who would benefit from the support and development that the scheme offers.

Over the course of two years, four composers have the opportunity to receive paid commissions, curate their own Nonclassical club night, feature on our annual Outside the Lines EP release, receive mentorship from a chosen composer/industry professional and more.

The commission

“There’s nothing more valuable for an emerging composer than to have the opportunity to work with a symphony orchestra.”

– Jessica Cottis, conductor

As part of the scheme, each of our four composers will write a work to be premiered by Southbank Sinfonia. This is a huge opportunity – it's rare for composers at this stage in their career to be able to collaborate with an orchestra, and even rarer to be offered a professional fee for doing so. Receiving financial support will allow them to dedicate the time and energy required for such an undertaking. This will be an opportunity to stretch each composer and develop their skillset under the mentorship of their chosen professionals.

This year has been tough for many people and we recognise not everyone is able to offer financial support in this time. Learn about other ways you can support us.

Support us

Interested in applying to be an Associate Composer? Sign up to our mailing list to receive updates on when we open applications for the third cohort of the scheme, as well as news about our latest events and releases.