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Championing the unusual, the unorthodox and the unheard, Battle of the Bands is our annual emerging talent platform for early career performers and performer-composers.
Held every year, we invite between 5 and 8 acts a year – who chime with our ethos and are at the outset of their career – to perform in an informal setting in front of a panel of industry experts and an encouraging audience. Past acts have showcased a range of different new music styles, and have been adjudicated by international performers, programmers, producers and composers.
Supporting early career artists
Supporting emerging artists and their creative output is a key part of our core values. Battle of the Bands supports artists at the start of their career by giving them a platform to perform, exposing their work to new audiences and enabling vital feedback from key figures in the industry.
Previous winners and finalists have gone on to become vital forces on the wider music scene:
The Hermes Experiment (2014 winner) have won numerous awards and were shortlisted in the 2019 Royal Philharmonic Society Awards.
Consortium5 (2009 winner) recorded and released an album on the Nonclassical label.
Reylon Yount (2019 winner) regularly plays with Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble and has become a unique voice on the new music scene as part of his Chinese new music collective, Tangram.
Nobuto (2020 finalist) has since been commissioned by leading ensembles such as Manchester Collective, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, Ligeti Quartet, Invoke Quartet and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.
Previous adjudicators have included:
International composer, producer and Nonclassical founder Gabriel Prokofiev.
Conductor Jessica Cottis.
BBC Radio 3 Controller Alan Davey.
Head of Music at Southbank Centre, Gillian Moore CBE.
Head of Classical Music at Southbank Centre, Toks Dada.
Pianist and founder of The African Concert Series Rebeca Omordia.
Electronic musician Mira Calix.
Cellist Abel Selaocoe.
Composer Dominic Murcott.
Interdisciplinary artist Nwando Ebizie.
Nonclassical’s Executive Director, Natalia Franklin Pierce.
Releases from Past Winners
What are you looking for?
Do you have to be UK-based?
What should I prepare?
I’m a pianist, is there a piano available at the venue?
I’m an electronic musician, what tech is available at the venue?
Past competitions
2023
2022
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2012
2011
2009
2008
Nonclassical is a PRS Foundation Talent Development Partner supported by PPL and in association with Youth Music UK.
With thanks to our generous donors, including those who wish to remain anonymous, who are supporting the 2023 scheme.
Lawrence Anderson
Margaret Kelly
Marion Friend
Matthias Hvass Borello
Michael Noonan
Nick Rampley
Pat Wolstanholme
Ray Georgeson
Sara Lord
Toby Deller
Adam Nealon
Alan Davey
Claudia Molitor
Colin Matthews
Filip Hnízdo
Florence Anna Maunders
Gidon Cohen
Harriet Wybor
Jane Williams
Kimon Daltas
Hear from our 2019 Battle of the Bands winner, Reylon, about his experience of the event.