Today, we’re pleased to announce that Zhao Jiajing’s work FOMO has been selected to represent Britain at the ISCM World New Music Days Festival 2026.
Chosen for the Electronic Works category, FOMO will be performed at this year’s festival in Bucharest, Romania, taking place from 23–31 May 2026, as part of an international programme of innovative new music from around the world.
The International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) is a global network spanning around 50 countries, dedicated to the promotion and performance of new music. Sound and Music proudly represents the British Section of the ISCM, supporting UK-based composers to have work performed at the annual ISCM World New Music Days Festival.
On being selected
“It is an absolute honour to have my composition FOMO selected for ISCM World New Music Days 2026, representing contemporary music created in Great Britain.
I sincerely thank the UK and Romanian juries for granting me this prestigious opportunity, and for acknowledging practices within experimental electronic and spatial music.
This recognition is a meaningful encouragement for me to continue my work at the intersection of sound, space, and technology. I very much look forward to presenting the piece to an international audience.”
About FOMO
“FOMO is an acousmatic composition reflecting our experience of living with constant digital distraction and the shared anxiety of feeling left behind.
The piece draws on sounds associated with social media and everyday digital devices, exploring how continuous streams of information can become addictive, unsettling, and overwhelming. Incorporating AI and machine learning technologies was an intuitive decision, since much of the information we encounter today is AI-generated and distributed.
Custom machine learning models, trained on sounds drawn from online media, generate and transform sonic materials, while AI-generated poems, voiced through synthetic speech, echo the attention-grabbing language that circulates across digital platforms. This process explores the shifting relationship between human intention and machine agency.
Through spatialisation using Higher Order Ambisonics, I expand these compressed, screen-bound materials into an immersive three-dimensional listening environment, where familiar digital sounds gain a new physical presence, surrounding the listener and turning the abstract pressure of information overload into a tangible, embodied experience.”
Listen
FOMO (2025)
Category: 14 Electronic Works (up to 8-channel loudspeaker system)
The ISCM British Section shortlist
FOMO was selected by the ISCM International Jury from the ISCM British Section shortlist, following a competitive UK open call.
Alongside Zhao Jiajing, the 2026 shortlist featured five further composers whose works were submitted for international consideration:
- Patrick John Jones — Immense Bleak Electric Advertisement of God
- Elif Nur Karlıdağ — Sïnglïyï ïr
- Tonia Ko — Concertino for Scavengers
- Jonathan Pitkin — Study no.2: Picket Fence and Chips
- Michael Taplin — Selvedge
More information will soon be available on the ISCM website about the 2026 festival and on the Romanian section’s website for this festival
Learn more about Zhao Jiajing
Learn more about the ISCM British Section
Explore selected works for performance at ISCM World New Music Days 2026