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MaerzMusik

Key Visual MaerzMusik 2026

Concerts, Performances, Installations, Discourse Formats

The programme has been published; ticket sale is on.

MaerzMusik 2026

MaerzMusik welcomes you into a space where listening has long been a way of being together. This year’s edition unfoldslike a living organism – part sanctuary, part laboratory – holding us through a moment marked by uncertainty, rupture, and possibility. The festival’s works deal with the structures of the present, weaving a subtle but noticeable thread through the programme: sound teaches us new ways of living together, developing alternatives, and renewing our understanding of the world.

Klangforum Wien will open the festival with Georg Friedrich Haas’s monumental piece 11.000 Saiten (11,000 Strings) – a microtonal experience that expands the senses. The immersive concert installation for 50 pianos at MaHalla, a former factory hall in Oberschöneweide, touches on questions that have long preoccupied MaerzMusik: how can we rethink the relationship between stage and audience? How can we establish new listening habits beyond traditional forms of music presentation? What counts as music in the first place – and why?

In its second performance, Klangforum Wien explores archipelagic sounds in a matinee concert featuring a new commission by Laure M. Hiendl and works by Luxa M. Schüttler and Gerhard Stäbler. Appearing at the festival for the first time is Ensemble Dedalus, which will present pieces by Éliane Radigue, Catherine Lamb and Pascale Criton exploring the materiality of sound. Dedalus will also pay tribute to the recently deceased composer and sound philosopher Peter Ablinger.

Meredith Monk is this year’s winner of the Berlin Art Prize – Grand Prize of the Akademie der Künste, which is awarded on behalf of the Federal State of Berlin. The interdisciplinary artist is a unique voice in contemporary art and a pioneer of extended vocal technique. As part of MaerzMusik, her music can be experienced in a prize winners’ concert at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele. Meanwhile, the performative concert by soprano Juliet Fraser, Lament – a ritual of letting go, embarks on a search for lost vocal worlds, rediscovering them beyond the realm of classical music.

American composer-performer Ellen Fullman has secured a unique place in music history with her Long String Instrument, which she will play in St. Elisabeth-Church alongside the musicians of JACK Quartet. This extraordinary invention – an installation up to 30 metres long, consisting of dozens of parallel strings – defi es the symmetries and rules of harmony of conventional string instruments. It is explored in greater depth by Pelle Schilling’s LongStringInstallation, stretched between the trees in the garden of the Haus der Berliner Festspiele.

Vibration and resonance, as well as the exploration of different harmonic systems, are recurring themes in the MaerzMusik 2026 programme. This is echoed in Florentin Ginot and Okkyung Lee’s unconventional approach to string instruments. Both musicians have developed exceptional techniques on their respective instruments, the double bass and the cello. While Lee shares her improvisational practice with Berlin musicians, Ginot combines the transhuman approaches of Carola Bauckholt and Lou Kilger, bringing nature and electronics to life in the garden of the Haus der Berliner Festspiele. Performing works by Fang-Yi Lin, Tine Surel Lange, AnA Maria Rodriguez and Zesses Seglias, the KNM Berlin ensemble explores how myths and transcendent encounters merge with individual memories and experiences.

At Radialsystem, Jan St. Werner presents Music for Commons Sensed++, created with collaborators such as Erwan Keravec, Dirk Rothbrust and Louis Chude-Sokei. In this project, music as composed sound connects acoustic impulses, listeners, and space. In Cybernetic Entanglement, Viola Yip, in collaboration with Ken Ueno, deepens her practice as an instrument maker with an extraordinary soundtextile costume for two performers.

The festival’s fi nale, once again co-curated by Wojtek Blecharz, expands on questions raised in the first part of I AM ALL EARS (2025): how can normative forms of presenting and receiving music be deconstructed and changed? How can listeners experience music and sound through tactility – across the whole body? The theatre opens its doors, the stage expands, and the building itself becomes a listening being.

We’re looking forward to welcoming you at the festival! 

To the programme
Drawing of a person lying under a grand piano with their hands on the keyboard

© Peter Ablinger, Piano Piece for Klaus Rinke and Andrew Smith, 2015 (section)

Berlin Art Prize – Grand Prize for Meredith Monk

A woman in a black sweater throws her hands in the air, and her hair, braided into plaits, flies up too.

Meredith Monk

© Christine Alicino

Meredith Monk is this year’s winner of the BerlinArt Prize – Grand Prize of the Akademie der Künste, which is awarded on behalf of the Federal State of Berlin. The interdisciplinary artist is a unique voice in contemporary music and a pioneer of extended vocal technique. As part of MaerzMusik, on 21.3.2026, her music will be featured in a prize winners’ concert alongside Katie Geissinger and Allison Sniffin at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele. In addition, her film Book of Days will be shown, as well as the portrait film Monk in Pieces, which premiered at the Berlinale in 2025.

To the concert

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Choose several events from the programme and save up to 20 % off the individual ticket prices. This offer applies to tickets at both full and reduced prices. The allocation is limited. 

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In the Media Library

Find out more about some of MaerzMusik 2025’s artists: talks, interviews and portraits are still available in the Berliner Festspiele Media Library.

To the Media Library
Pamela Z uses gestures to control music controllers on a stage.

Pamela Z

© Gretchen Robinette

MaerzMusik 2025

Impressions

  • Ute Wassermann uses a small strwa to blow into an aquarium full of water, which glows a poisonous green colour.

    The Art of Camouflage

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • A person with long hair drums on a kettledrum with lively movements.

    Salon of Touch

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • The stage is colourful and full of small situations with musicians, and screens on which, for example, a dog is projected.

    MELENCOLIA

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • People are standing in the room with drinks. Brass musicians play in the background.

    silent green 2, Peter Jakober

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • The ensemble works with electronic music devices. Their performance is also shown above them as a projection.

    Yarn/Wire

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • Joan La Barbara has her eyes closed and a soft expression on her face. She is wearing a fluffy jumper.

    Joan La Barbara, Voice is the Original Instrument

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Colourful light spots behind several drums placed next to each other.

    Enno Poppe / Percussion Orchestra Cologne, Streik

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Kerbaj works on an instrument consisting of several funnels. Cables run together on a wooden desk.

    silent green 1, Mazen Kerbaj

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • A grand piano stands in a light-flooded room. Music stands are covered with a plastic sheet.

    The Urban Tale of a Hippo

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Bowler sits at a lectern as if giving a lecture. Her hands are projected above her as a blurred image.

    silent green 3, Laura Bowler

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • A collage of various projections showing Pamela Z singing.

    Other Rooms. Pamela Z

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • Smiling spectators sit on the floor. They wear hearing protection.

    Salon of Touch

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • At night: A MaerzMusik banner hangs above the entrance to the Radialsystem.

    Minor Characters / Jennifer Walshe

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • A work of art made of rods hangs above the ensemble in the Memorial Church.

    CHAN: Sonnets and Devotions in the Wilderness

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • A large-scale light installation on the ceiling. Below it, people on sofas or scattered around the room.

    Library of MaerzMusik

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • A performer in a lunge leans away from four other people who are facing her.

    Drifting to the Rhythms at the Southeast of Nowhere, Nguyễn + Transitory

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • Jennifer Walshe wears a loose dress and points two fingers at the audience. Her expression is fierce.

    Minor Characters / Jennifer Walshe

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • The audience moves around the stage. The flyloft is above them.

    Finale MaerzMusik 2025: I AM ALL EARS

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Five people are sitting in a circle, one person is speaking.

    Take a Deep Breath – Artist Talk

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • Through the entrance, which leads under the revolving stage, the view falls on a string ensemble.

    Finale MaerzMusik 2025: I AM ALL EARS

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Ute Wassermann uses a small strwa to blow into an aquarium full of water, which glows a poisonous green colour.

    The Art of Camouflage

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • A person with long hair drums on a kettledrum with lively movements.

    Salon of Touch

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • The stage is colourful and full of small situations with musicians, and screens on which, for example, a dog is projected.

    MELENCOLIA

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • People are standing in the room with drinks. Brass musicians play in the background.

    silent green 2, Peter Jakober

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • The ensemble works with electronic music devices. Their performance is also shown above them as a projection.

    Yarn/Wire

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • Joan La Barbara has her eyes closed and a soft expression on her face. She is wearing a fluffy jumper.

    Joan La Barbara, Voice is the Original Instrument

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Colourful light spots behind several drums placed next to each other.

    Enno Poppe / Percussion Orchestra Cologne, Streik

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Kerbaj works on an instrument consisting of several funnels. Cables run together on a wooden desk.

    silent green 1, Mazen Kerbaj

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • A grand piano stands in a light-flooded room. Music stands are covered with a plastic sheet.

    The Urban Tale of a Hippo

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Bowler sits at a lectern as if giving a lecture. Her hands are projected above her as a blurred image.

    silent green 3, Laura Bowler

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • A collage of various projections showing Pamela Z singing.

    Other Rooms. Pamela Z

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • Smiling spectators sit on the floor. They wear hearing protection.

    Salon of Touch

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • At night: A MaerzMusik banner hangs above the entrance to the Radialsystem.

    Minor Characters / Jennifer Walshe

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • A work of art made of rods hangs above the ensemble in the Memorial Church.

    CHAN: Sonnets and Devotions in the Wilderness

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • A large-scale light installation on the ceiling. Below it, people on sofas or scattered around the room.

    Library of MaerzMusik

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • A performer in a lunge leans away from four other people who are facing her.

    Drifting to the Rhythms at the Southeast of Nowhere, Nguyễn + Transitory

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • Jennifer Walshe wears a loose dress and points two fingers at the audience. Her expression is fierce.

    Minor Characters / Jennifer Walshe

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • The audience moves around the stage. The flyloft is above them.

    Finale MaerzMusik 2025: I AM ALL EARS

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Five people are sitting in a circle, one person is speaking.

    Take a Deep Breath – Artist Talk

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • Through the entrance, which leads under the revolving stage, the view falls on a string ensemble.

    Finale MaerzMusik 2025: I AM ALL EARS

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Ute Wassermann uses a small strwa to blow into an aquarium full of water, which glows a poisonous green colour.

    The Art of Camouflage

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • A person with long hair drums on a kettledrum with lively movements.

    Salon of Touch

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • The stage is colourful and full of small situations with musicians, and screens on which, for example, a dog is projected.

    MELENCOLIA

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • People are standing in the room with drinks. Brass musicians play in the background.

    silent green 2, Peter Jakober

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • The ensemble works with electronic music devices. Their performance is also shown above them as a projection.

    Yarn/Wire

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • Joan La Barbara has her eyes closed and a soft expression on her face. She is wearing a fluffy jumper.

    Joan La Barbara, Voice is the Original Instrument

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Colourful light spots behind several drums placed next to each other.

    Enno Poppe / Percussion Orchestra Cologne, Streik

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Kerbaj works on an instrument consisting of several funnels. Cables run together on a wooden desk.

    silent green 1, Mazen Kerbaj

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • A grand piano stands in a light-flooded room. Music stands are covered with a plastic sheet.

    The Urban Tale of a Hippo

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Bowler sits at a lectern as if giving a lecture. Her hands are projected above her as a blurred image.

    silent green 3, Laura Bowler

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • A collage of various projections showing Pamela Z singing.

    Other Rooms. Pamela Z

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • Smiling spectators sit on the floor. They wear hearing protection.

    Salon of Touch

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • At night: A MaerzMusik banner hangs above the entrance to the Radialsystem.

    Minor Characters / Jennifer Walshe

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • A work of art made of rods hangs above the ensemble in the Memorial Church.

    CHAN: Sonnets and Devotions in the Wilderness

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • A large-scale light installation on the ceiling. Below it, people on sofas or scattered around the room.

    Library of MaerzMusik

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • A performer in a lunge leans away from four other people who are facing her.

    Drifting to the Rhythms at the Southeast of Nowhere, Nguyễn + Transitory

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • Jennifer Walshe wears a loose dress and points two fingers at the audience. Her expression is fierce.

    Minor Characters / Jennifer Walshe

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • The audience moves around the stage. The flyloft is above them.

    Finale MaerzMusik 2025: I AM ALL EARS

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

  • Five people are sitting in a circle, one person is speaking.

    Take a Deep Breath – Artist Talk

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Camille Blake

  • Through the entrance, which leads under the revolving stage, the view falls on a string ensemble.

    Finale MaerzMusik 2025: I AM ALL EARS

    © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Fabian Schellhorn

About MaerzMusik

MaerzMusik sees itself as a place to exchange artistic knowledge(s) through new encounters and collective experiences. The festival is rooted in the multimodality of listening, contemporary music, and sound, employing concerts, performances, installations, music theatre, film screenings, and discursive formats to open up a space where life, art, and theory can co-exist.

Read more

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