Meet the 2026 Diaphonique Laureates
Sixteen years in, and Diaphonique has never been busier, bolder, or more in demand.
This June, Diaphonique's Artistic Committee met for the 16th time - and what they found on the table was proof of just how far the fund has come. Eligible applications to the 2026 Open Call doubled compared to last year, spanning music theatre, opera, circus, early music, electronics, AI and improvisation. From that pool, eight ambitious new collaborations have been selected to receive support involving artists from France, the UK and Ireland alike.
Since it was founded in 2010, Diaphonique had backed 136 projects, commissioned 160 new works, supported 330 composers, and granted £1,108,000 to cross-Channel musical collaboration. This year's cohort keeps that momentum going strong: 55.5% of the 117 artists involved are women, and the large majority of projects are genuinely co-led on both sides of the Channel — not simply a UK or French idea exported abroad, but real, reciprocal creative partnerships.
An independent evaluation by the British Council France recently confirmed what those numbers already hinted at: Diaphonique plays a vital bridging role between France, the UK and Ireland, one made all the more valuable in a post-Brexit landscape. It's a role the team has been actively building on, with a redesigned website, a new festival partnership scheme to help laureates get programmed faster, and, for the first time this year, a route for individual artists without a legal structure to apply directly, thanks to a new partnership with a representative organisation. A new Advisory Committee of volunteer mentors is also launching this summer to support laureates and future applicants year-round.
None of it would be possible without Diaphonique's partners : the Sacem, the Institut français, the Institut français du Royaume-Uni, the Centre National de la Musique, the British Council France, Culture Ireland and the Fondation Francis et Mica Salabert, whose continued support keeps this work going.
Now, onto the reason you're really here: the eight projects joining the Diaphonique family for 2026.
1. Translations of the Night
London's Marsyas Trio (Helen Vidovich, Valerie Welbanks, Olga Stezhko), mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts-Dean, composers Ewan Campbell (University of Cambridge) and Thierry Pécou (Normandy), and musicologist Nicolas Darbon (Aix-Marseille Université) come together for two major new commissions that meet the postcolonial history of Ravel's Chansons madécasses head-on — through new settings of African, Madagascan and Nahua poetry.
"Rather than shy away from the complex colonial history of Ravel's Chansons madécasses, the initial inspiration for this project, we seek to directly engage with the cultural repercussions of colonialism through contemporary musical settings of African, Madagascan and Nahua poetry written before, during or after colonisation." — Dr Ewan Campbell
"I hope my contribution, inspired by the wonders of the pre-Colombian civilisation reflected through Ancient Mexican poetry, will renew our thoughts and feelings about the heritage of colonisation." — Thierry Pécou
Expect concerts, public talks and family events in Cambridge and London in autumn 2027, followed by a residency and performances in Marseille — including a MUCEM concert with a pre-concert talk.
2. Notre Dame Reimagined: le Remède de Fortune
Here, the cathedral itself becomes an instrument. Drawing on Machaut and the courtly links between medieval Europe and al-Andalus, French and British composer-performer-visual artists Loré Lixenberg, Matt Barnard, Erin Robinson and Federico Reuben, alongside French composer Axel Chemla-Romeu-Santos, join Palestinian oud player and composer Habib Hanna Shehadeh to build a Gothic phantasmagoria where medieval polyphony, AI and immersive digital scenography converge.
"We are enormously grateful to Diaphonique, whose support makes it possible to realise a project that exists between composition, research and technological experimentation. It enables us to bring together artists from different disciplines and cultural traditions to create new work inspired by Notre-Dame, not as a monument to the past, but as a living space for contemporary imagination and exchange." — Loré Lixenberg
Catch the tour in York, Dublin and Paris in February 2027.
3. Fragile Fragments
Sonia Killmann (UK) and Mélia Roger (France) transform breath, body and environment into an immersive live soundscape for saxophone, voice, electronics and field recordings — an intimate, headphone-based listening experience built through residencies in Ireland, France and Scotland.
"We are delighted to work on this new commission together, exploring the microscopic sonic possibilities of environment, body and instruments. This new collaboration might open new ways of listening closely, creating an intimate relationship with the audience through headphones." — Sonia Killmann & Mélia Roger
Co-commissioned by Cryptic and Hexagone Scène Nationale, with Culture Works Galway as co-producer, the project runs from a residency in Galway (September 2027) through Grenoble and Cove Park, before premiering in Galway (June 2028) and touring to Glasgow's Sonica Festival and Hexagone, Grenoble.
4. Inspired by the Normans
Music@Malling marks the Year of the Normans with a festival woven through with new commissions from Thierry Pécou (France) and Stevie Wishart (UK), performed by Chamber Domaine and Ensemble Variances — plus a young composers' platform pairing the Royal Academy of Music, London with the École Normale de Musique de Paris.
"West Malling and its surrounding area have many Norman buildings and a rich history involving England and France. It is great that this can be expressed through contemporary music in concerts and outreach, with new works placed into their historic context alongside music from across the centuries." — Thomas Kemp, Artistic Director, Music@Malling
The festival runs in West Malling from 24 September to 3 October 2027, with further concerts in London, Paris and Normandy that October.
5. Ensemble Nist-Nah ft. Church Andrews & Matt Davies
A first-time meeting between Nantes' hybrid gamelan/percussion outfit Ensemble Nist-Nah and UK duo Church Andrews & Matt Davies, exploring new tuning systems, rhythmic structures and the blurred line between composition and improvisation — acoustic and electronic sound worlds colliding in one expanded ensemble.
Look out for residencies and concerts in Nantes and Le Havre in early October 2027, followed by Todmorden, Manchester, Bristol and London (Café OTO) in mid-October.
6. Collectif Rotule ft. Safehouse Collective
On either side of the Channel, Collectif Rotule (Dieppe) and Safehouse Collective (Brighton) — two collectives quietly keeping experimental and improvised music open and alive — meet for a residency at L'Inattendu, Dieppe (18–20 March 2027), complete with schools outreach and participatory performances in public spaces around the city, before heading to London and back across the water to Rose Hill, on the Dieppe–Newhaven ferry route.
7. Signals
Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and Ensemble C Barré (Marseille) team up for co-commissions from Tristan Murail and Misato Mochizuki, paired with a mentoring programme for three emerging composers led by associate composers from both ensembles.
"This brand-new artistic and human encounter will be brought to life by the works of particularly inspiring composers based in France and the United Kingdom. It will also foster a collaboration with three young British and French composers, each of whom will create a piece for our musicians through a series of masterclasses led by our associate composers; these works will be premiered alongside our concerts." — Sébastien Boin, conductor and director of Ensemble C Barré
A combined ensemble of 17 musicians performs two public concerts in 2027, at CBSO Centre Birmingham and in Marseille.
8. Legato 2
The second edition of this composer-development programme brings together Festival Ensemble(s) in France and Red Note & sound in Scotland, giving six emerging composers the chance to create new work under mentors Jérôme Combier and Laura Bowler.
"We're extremely excited that Diaphonique have funded the second edition of this project. We were very keen to build on the successful first edition, and give more young composers the opportunity to benefit from an in-depth experience, while continuing to deepen the links and understanding between partners." — Fiona Robertson, Sound Festival Director
The programme runs from July 2027 to September 2028, moving from a composition course at Aberdeen's soundfestival (October 2027) to world premieres at Festival Ensemble(s), Bagnolet in September 2028.
Congratulations to all eight laureates!
Diaphonique can't wait to follow these projects from first rehearsal to opening night and beyond. Follow us for updates as each project develops, and stay tuned: applications for the 2027 Open Call open in March.