Afrodiaspora – Composing While Black

The initiative Afrodiaspora—Composing While Black, a collaboration between Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO), presents works by Black composers and musicians from four centuries and three continents, highlighting the diversity of classical music in terms of its themes, affiliations, and genealogies. The project sees itself as a platform through which compositions that have often been overlooked in the western orchestral landscape can be experienced and studied. In more than twenty symphonic concerts at the Berliner Philharmonie and chamber concerts at various venues in the city, the musical diversity and the history of African and Afro-diasporic orchestral music are being honoured. They allow a deeper insight into the artistic merits of composers that are hardly known here, and make them accessible to a broader audience, in order to contribute to a long-term extension of the symphonic and chamber music orchestral repertoire.

The programme is co-curated by composer and Columbia University professor George E. Lewis, DSO artistic planning director Marlene Brüggen, and DSO director Thomas Schmidt-Ott. It showcases Afro-diasporic orchestral and chamber music as an international, intercultural, and intergenerational space for innovation. After all, classical music is not monolithic—it thrives on global interconnections.

At HKW, the DSO presents two chamber concerts in the 2025/26 season as part of Afrodiaspora—Composing While Black, featuring works by twelve Black composers from the UK, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Nigeria, Sweden, Uganda, and the US. Musical stories will be discovered that connect the past and the present, challenge traditions, and create new worlds of sound.

In addition, cellist and singer Abel Selaocoe performs with his band Bantu Ensemble at HKW on 22 March 2026. With his cross-genre musicality, this exceptional artist brings a wealth of energy and creativity to the stage as the DSO’s Artist in Focus.