As part of Always, Already There—the Barbican’s new Afrodiasporic avant-garde festival curated by acclaimed vocalist, movement artist and composer Elaine Mitchener MBE- Going Beyond lands as one of the weekend’s defining moments: immersive, ensemble-driven, and unapologetically expansive in sound and spirit.
Running 23–25 October 2026 across the Barbican and Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Always, Already There is being presented as the first UK festival dedicated to experimental and avant-garde music by artists of African heritage. It isn’t simply a programme of concerts—it’s a recalibration. A festival that insists Afrodiasporic experimental music is not an emerging footnote, but a deep, living archive of innovation that has too often been ignored, sidelined, or boxed into “acceptable” categories.
Taking place at St Giles at 7.30 pm, with tickets from £24 plus booking fee, Going Beyond is built as an immersive sequence—a moving, layered encounter rather than a neat, sit-still recital. At its heart is the Chiron Choir, shaping the evening’s atmosphere and momentum, pulling the audience through a set that feels curated for discovery: voices, textures, and tonal worlds that don’t ask permission to exist.
The performance also features leading solos from a striking line-up: trumpeter Aaron Akugbo (pictured), harpist Chris Clarke, violist Laura M. B. Kumwenda, and an introduction to flautist Lara Aisha Ali—each bringing their own language to the room, each extending the idea of what “new music” can hold when it isn’t filtered through a narrow lens.
Adding further weight and reach are performances by members of the newly formed Always, Already There Ensemble, alongside the New Music Society from Guildhall School of Music, led by Anthony R. Green—a collaboration that speaks directly to the festival’s wider purpose: not only to present major work, but to build community, exchange, and continuity between generations of artists.
The music performed during Going Beyond moves across eras, approaches, and intensities—proof that Afrodiasporic avant-garde work is not one sound, one method, or one mood. The programme includes music by Ben Patterson, Ayanna Witter-Johnson, Lijadu Sisters, Michael Frazier, Anthony R. Green, Alice Coltrane, Marcos Balter, and Hannah Kendall.
For further information, please visit the Barbican website.
Images provided courtesy of the Barbican
About Author
