Elaine Mitchener is a British Afro-Caribbean vocalist, movement artist and composer working between contemporary and experimental new music, free improvisation and visual art. She is currently an Associate Artist with the Wigmore Hall, Dutch new music group ENSEMBLE KLANG and with the international performance group NEEDCompany.  In February 2022, Mitchener was awarded an MBE for Services to Music. Her debut album SOLO THROAT was released in May 2024 under Café OTO's OTORUKO label.  

As guest curator, she has developed and presented Basquiat&Cage 8424 for Fruitmarket Gallery’s Deep Time Festival and Politics of the Voice (Courtisane Festival, Ghent). She has also curated the London edition of Always, Already There, an Afrodiasporic Incubator project of contemporary new music at the Barbican and in partnership with Guildhall School of Music & Drama in October 2026.

Composers and artists she has collaborated with include George E Lewis, Corie Rose Soumah, Amadeus Julian Regucera, Jennifer Walshe, Yvette Janine Jackson, Tansy Davies, Matana Roberts, Laure M Hiendl, Rolf Hind; visual artists Sonia Boyce, Christian Marclay and The Otolith Group; chamber ensembles Apartment House, Ekmeles Vocal Ensemble, Klangforum Wien, London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Klang, Ensemble MAM; choreographer Dam van Huynh and experimental musicians Moor Mother, Joelle Leandre, Saul Williams, Pat Thomas and David Toop. She is also founder of the collective electroacoustic unit The Rolling Calf.

Recent appearances include BBCSSO Tectonics, MaerzMusik, Centre Pompidou, Radialsystem V,  Cafe OTO, Sons d’Hiver,  Barbican, ICA London, London Contemporary Music Festival, Darmstadt, Konzerthaus Wien, Muziekgebouw,  Korzo Theater, Royal Opera House, November Music, Savvy Contemporary, Baremboim-Said Akademie and Donaueschinger Musiktage.