For MaerzMusik 2023, we invited composer and conductor Enno Poppe as a guest curator. Together, and in constant exchange, we endeavoured to reflect as many aspects of our multifaceted reality as possible in the programming of the festival – filtered and transformed through the lens of contemporary music. Each day of the festival tells multiple stories that change and transform, opening up a space through which difference is embraced rather than concealed. To represent the many voices that contribute to contemporary and experimental musics today, we were compelled to think through a formation of ten unique encounters, presenting a set of questions, provocations, and contemplations that can be experienced alone or in conversation with other works and days of the festival.

This edition of MaerzMusik is dedicated to artists and ensembles whose works go beyond disciplines (“On Being Human as Praxis” – 19.3.), navigate between form and technology (“Hide to Show” – 17.3.), between voice and embodied practices (Elaine Mitchener, Juliet Fraser, Noa Frenkel, Claire Chase – 18.–25.3.) and between politics of relevance and politics of time (“Haphephobia” – 18.3., ensemble mosaik – 19.3., “Grenzraum HÖREN” – 18.–26.3.). We continue the festival’s commitment to works that grow across a longer span of time (“asamisimasa-zyklus” – 22.3.), and to the unheard musics of our contemporary pasts (Lucia Dlugoszewski with Ensemble Musikfabrik – 24.3.).

We look forward to welcoming you to the festival!

Kamila Metwaly & Matthias Pees
Artistic Director MaerzMusik & Director Berliner Festspiele