NMC celebrates 35th anniversary

Record label and arts charity NMC is this year celebrating its 35^th anniversary with a run of releases throughout 2024 including an album of unreleased works by Imogen Holst, plus a partnership with London’s Spitalfields Festival for a birthday concert in July.

Composer Colin Matthews founded NMC in 1989, with the aim of promoting the work of living British composers who were conspicuously absent from the recording catalogues of major labels at the time. Since then, NMC’s catalogue has now grown to hold more than 300 albums and, as a registered charity NMC fundraises for every release, as well as offering a programme of support it offers composers approaching their first album.

Cathy Graham, who last year took up the role of NMC executive director, said: ‘NMC is not just a record label, but an ambitious and growing arts charity… Like many organisations we continue to work energetically to redress the absence of many exceptional voices in classical music and are committed to creating opportunities for communities that are traditionally under-represented… In our 35th anniversary year and beyond, our catalogue – a truly diverse living archive of contemporary classical music – will continue to grow. We will continue to work closely with outstanding composers from Britain and Ireland to produce high-quality recordings of their music. But I hope that this year, as well as celebrating NMC for the outstanding recordings which continue to enrich our listening, we will celebrate and support the totality of the work of this unique organisation.’

NMC’s upcoming album of Imogen Holst's unreleased works, performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra and the BBC Singers, conducted by Alice Farnham, is a particularly relevant release for the label’s 35^th year. Imogen Holst’s involvement with NMC stems from her work with the charity to set up the Holst Foundation not long before her death in 1984. The Foundation helped sustain NMC as part of its mission to support the work of living composers.

As well as continuing partnerships with National Youth Choir and the Philharmonia, and sharing the impact of new collaborations between Drake Music Scotland, the Disabled Artist Network, Ty Cerdd, and NMC, NMC will also join forces with Spitalfields Festival for its birthday concert on 3 July.