MaerzMusik

MaerzMusik MaerzMusik is an international festival of sound-based art forms. It is a festival of Berliner Festspiele: http://www.berlinerfestspiele.de

A Festival for Time Issues – that is a place devoted to our most valuable resource: time. Time, understood as a dimension of experience equally accessible to each and every one. A phenomenon that resists reduction and definition. Time as a medium of music and the arts that transcends chronological and efficiency-oriented regimes. But also: Time as an political category that determines the ways in

which we live, work and produce – a concept und invention in service of ideological and economic interests; an instrument of power setting the beat and dictating the rhythm; a dimension of the imaginary that influences our vision of futurity and hence our freedom of action. Time as a notion of agency for contemporaries, individuals and societies.

The final day of 2026 brought “I AM ALL EARS” to the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, transforming the entire building in...
30/03/2026

The final day of 2026 brought “I AM ALL EARS” to the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, transforming the entire building into a resonant, moving architecture of sound. Co-curated by Wojtek Blecharz, this edition opened stages, corridors, staircases, and backstage rooms to the audience, inviting them to wander, listen, and experience music beyond conventional formats. Across six hours, sound sculptures, live musicians, multidirectional listening sessions and more unfolded thoughout the space, with new pieces by Jessie Cox and Aleksandra Słyż presented alongside works by Joyce B. Koh, Ángeles Rojas, WhatWhy Art with Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop, Pauline Oliveros, Else Marie Pade, Ash Fure, and Blecharz.

As the festival came to a close, the last day gatheres many of the themes that shaped this year’s edition: expanded listening, porous architectures, collective attention, and new ways of being with sound. It offered a final shared moment of curiosity and openness. More than 150 artists were involved in the 10-day programme curated by Kamila Metwaly which also included 16 world premieres.

Thank you to all artists, collaborators, teams, and audiences who shaped this year’s wonderful festival edition. We’re already looking forward to welcoming you back to from 12–21 March 2027!
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Photo: Camille Blake

The penultimate day of the festival opened with “Éndropía” at Radialsystem , where drummer Vanessa Porter performed Sami...
29/03/2026

The penultimate day of the festival opened with “Éndropía” at Radialsystem , where drummer Vanessa Porter performed Samir Odeh-Tamimi's polyrhythmic composition for solo drums, electronics, and three-channel video. The piece approached entropy through shifting rhythmic systems that mixed, condensed, and separated in real time, creating a closed sonic circuit of constantly changing levels.

Later, Jan St. Werner and Louis Chude-Sokei presented “Music for Commons Sensed: No Nation Left But the Imagination”, an ongoing project in which the artists explore the boundaries that run through the microcosms of everyday situations.

The night concluded with “Noise Is a Q***r Space”, Luxa M. Schüttler’s installation-based parcours that invited audiences to explore sound from q***r perspectives. The fluid, provisional nature of the setting blurred the boundaries among composition, installation, and free play, resulting in a kind of acoustic group selfie: q***r, supportive, personal, hedonistic.


20 – 29 March 2026
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Photos: Camille Blake

Day 8 of at started with the world premiere of “Cybernetic Entanglements” by Viola Yip and Ken Ueno. The new work is ...
28/03/2026

Day 8 of at started with the world premiere of “Cybernetic Entanglements” by Viola Yip and Ken Ueno. The new work is built around a new wearable musical instrument shared and performed by the artists, framing their bodies as active components of a cybernetic circuit in which technology and embodiment continuously shape one another.

Later, “Music for Commons Sensed++”, performed by Jan St. Werner, Erwan Keravec - Offshore and Dirk Rothbrust, brought together works from different countries and genres to explore how music can create a sense of community. The audience was invited into unexpected listening experiences and a transformed perception of space, as the concert focused on composed sound rather than melody or rhythm. Echoes, artefacts, disturbances, and unexpected noises shaped the evening, turning listening into an active, shared act in which meanings were continuously renegotiated between ear and world.

MaerzMusik
20 – 29 March 2026
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Photos: Camille Blake

The evening of day 6 at was set at Parochialkirche, with a new performance by Juliet Fraser, with Christelle Monney, S...
27/03/2026

The evening of day 6 at was set at Parochialkirche, with a new performance by Juliet Fraser, with Christelle Monney, Sarah Saviet, Soosan Lolavar and Eliza McCatharty: “Lament: a ritual of letting go”. The five musicians gathered to create a ritual through music and movement. The two singers, a violinist, a santoor and a keyboard player draw their inspiration from existing rituals that focus on circularity: canonical hours, traditional antiphonal singing associated with manual labour, and the slow movement of a funeral procession.

On Day 7 of the Ensemble KNM Berlin embarked on a journey in exploration of cyclical moments and ritual in contemporary music at Haus der Berliner Festspiele. The concert “Crippled Symmetries – A Journey” presented works by Fang-Yi Lin, Tine Surel Lange, AnA Maria Rodriguez and Zesses Seglias, in which the musicians explored how myths and transcendent encounters intersect with individual memories and experiences.

At SAVVY Contemporary, Laura Robles Marcuello presented her performance “Anti-Groove”, which is based on her research into groove, rhythms, notation systems and experimental instrumentation.

MaerzMusik
20 – 29 March 2026
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Photos: Fabian Schellhorn

Day 5 of began with “Organism: In Turbulence” at Spore Initiative, a solo concert by Navid Navab with a century-old pi...
25/03/2026

Day 5 of began with “Organism: In Turbulence” at Spore Initiative, a solo concert by Navid Navab with a century-old pipe organ prepared robotically to sound turbulent formations. In the garden of the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, double bass player Florentin Ginot became the centre of a co-creative performance of Carola Baucholt and Lou Kilger. “(En)chanting Wood”, a concert about nature in the post-Anthropocene, transformed the garden into a living sound organism. The evening concluded with “Aurora (Mesophase)” by Okkyung Lee. Together with Julia Eckhardt, Caleb Salgado, Dafne Narvaez Berlfein and Liz Kosack, she created a work that lived in flux, where the smallest gestures carried expressive weight and movement.

MaerzMusik
20 – 29 March 2026
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Photos: Fabian Schellhorn

Klangforum Wien opened day 3 of at Akademie der Künste with a matinee of archipelagic soundscapes shaped by memory, po...
24/03/2026

Klangforum Wien opened day 3 of at Akademie der Künste with a matinee of archipelagic soundscapes shaped by memory, poetry, and hybrid musical structures: Gerhard Stäbler’s San Francisco-inspired acoustic recollections, Laure M. Hiendl’s sculptural shifts between stillness and movement, and Luxa M. Schüttler’s delicate, genre-blending networks influenced by Édouard Glissant and the poetry of Kamau Brathwaite. After the concert, Hiendl discussed their recent work for Klangforum Wien in a talk with harpist and dramaturg of the ensemble Miriam Overlach.

In the evening, Ensemble dedalus presented a series of three portrait concerts marking their 30-year anniversary. Works by Élaine Radigue and Catherine Lamb highlighted deep artistic partnerships and Dedalus’ unmistakably dense, resonant sound. The music of Pascale Criton and the late Peter Ablinger set focus towards microtonality, interference phenomena, and the materiality of sound.

MaerzMusik
20 – 29 March 2026

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Photos: Camille Blake

started into the new week with “Querklang” opening the afternoon at Universität der Künste Berlin with premiering coll...
24/03/2026

started into the new week with “Querklang” opening the afternoon at Universität der Künste Berlin with premiering collective compositions by pupils from Berlin. Accompanied by teams made up of educators, composers and students, this project has allowed them to explore different sounds, relate them to each other, and share their work with the public. “Energy Archive 4” invited audiences at Kultur Büro Elisabeth: Villa Elisabeth & St. Elisabeth Kirche into the resonant world of Ellen Fullman. Together with the JACK Quartet, she continued her exploration of the Long String Instument. At KW Institute for Contemporary Art, the evening concluded with a live performance by Khabat Abas, bringing her music into resonance with the work of Else Marie Pade, where eperimentation became an act of resistance, and listening transformed into a shared experience of imagination.

MaerzMusik
20 – 29 March 2026
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Photos: Fabian Schellhorn

The second day of was dedicated to artist Meredith Monk, this year’s recipient of the Berlin Art Prize – Grand Prize o...
22/03/2026

The second day of was dedicated to artist Meredith Monk, this year’s recipient of the Berlin Art Prize – Grand Prize of the Akademie der Künste. The day began with the opening of the Library of MaerzMusik, featuring a conversation between Ellen Fullman and Pelle Schilling, followed by the opening of Schilling’s concert installation “LongStringInstallation” accessible in the garden of Haus der Berliner Festspiele. Maerzmusik x Wolke Library further featured the performance “Sound and Syntax” by Andrei Cucu and Svenja Reiner, exploring the shifting boundaries between language and sound. The programme continued with a screening of “Monk in Pieces”, a documentary by Billy Shebar and David Roberts that reflects on the structure of Monk’s work and illuminates her singular vocabulary of sound and imagery. Later, Monk offered one of her rare, intimate concerts together with ensemble members Katie Geissinger and Allison Sniffin on the main stage of Haus der Berliner Festspiele. The evening concluded with a screening of “Book of Days”, a film by Monk herself about time, originally drawing parallels between the Middle Ages, a time of war, plague and fear of the Apocalypse, with modern times of racial and religious conflicts, the AIDS epidemic, and fear of nuclear annihilation.


20 – 29 March 2026
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Photos: Camille Blake

Last night, kicked off 2026 with an amazing opening concert “11.000 Saiten (11,000 Strings)” by Georg Friedrich Haas, ...
21/03/2026

Last night, kicked off 2026 with an amazing opening concert “11.000 Saiten (11,000 Strings)” by Georg Friedrich Haas, a microtonal composition with impressive performativity. In the spectacular architecture of Berlin, 50 pianists were placed around the audience and, together with the musicians of Wien, created an immersive sonic experience.

The audience has been welcomed by the director of the Berliner Festspiele Matthias Pees, the State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs of the Republic of Austria Sepp Schellhorn and the Artistic Director of MaerzMusik Kamila Metwaly.

Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate the opening of this year’s MaerzMusik with us last night, and to Klangforum Wien, conductor Vimbayi Kaziboni and the pianists for this amazing opening night.

MaerzMusik
20 – 29 March 2026
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Photo: Camille Blake

Now in its fourth year, the Library of MaerzMusik is open throughout the festival as a space for collective reflection, ...
20/03/2026

Now in its fourth year, the Library of MaerzMusik is open throughout the festival as a space for collective reflection, facilitating encounters between artists, musicians and visitors. Open to the public free of charge, it offers a setting for the co-existence and exchange of knowledge(s), while enabling new and shared experiences.

This year’s Library edition hosts Wolke Verlag in a collaborative format with four events including readings, screenings, and workshops.

MaerzMusik x Wolke Library
20 – 29 March 2026

Details
berlinerfestspiele.de/maerzmusik

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Photo: Fabian Schellhorn

2026 kicks off tomorrow!We’re looking forward to seeing you at Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Akademie der Künste , Rad...
19/03/2026

2026 kicks off tomorrow!

We’re looking forward to seeing you at Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Akademie der Künste , Radialsystem , silent green , SAVVY Contemporary , Gropius Bau Universität der Künste Berlin , Kultur Büro Elisabeth: Villa Elisabeth & St. Elisabeth Kirche , Parochial-Church, KW Institute for Contemporary Art Spore Initiative and MaHalla Berlin .

Explore the programme and grab your tickets.

MaerzMusik
20 – 29 March 2026

Details & Tickets
berlinerfestspiele.de/maerzmusik

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