Berliner Festspiele

With A Year without Summer by Florentina Holzinger, the last of the 10 most remarkable productions selected for Theatertreffen 2026 will be presented this autumn. The performances will take place at the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz. Remaining tickets may be available at the box office.

In 2026, the line-up welcomes audiences to make new discoveries and features outstanding representatives from a variety of scenes, spanning a highly diverse cultural and musical landscape. At the same time, it celebrates two pioneering voices – Anthony Braxton and Alexander von Schlippenbach – who have shaped the global scene for decades. The programme has been published, advance ticket sales are open.

For the 43rd Treffen junge Musikszene the jury has selected 13 acts from 130 submissions by young musicians from all 16 German federal states, including bands, trios and nine solo artists. The selected productions will be presented at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele in November. The programme will be published on 21 October.

This year, Treffen junger Autor*innen celebrates its 40th anniversary! For this special edition, around 500 young writers from across Germany submitted their work, more than 100 persons more than last year. The jury's selection has now been announced.

Since 14 March 2026

Playing, laughing, making noise, letting off steam, doing nothing – all in an exhibition venue! With BAUBAU, the artist Kerstin Brätsch designed an admission-free play space for kids, where more is allowed than forbidden. On Gropius Bau’s ground floor, colourful wallpapers, structures, objects and open-ended material called “loose parts” configure flexible spaces that are shaped by children’s activities.

19 June to 6 December 2026

For more than five decades, Gabriele Stötzer has been grappling with questions of justice, gender and self-determination. Her own body often plays a central role in her work – not as an object, but as a site of resistance and feminist self-assertion. Dabei sein und nicht schweigen is the artist’s largest institutional solo exhibition to date.

10 September 2026 to 17 January 2027

Nowhere were the social and cultural changes of 1960s and 1970s West Germany more powerfully manifest than in Berlin’s Kreuzberg neighbourhood.
The group exhibition focuses on the diverse and largely overlooked cultural production on the topic of labour migration and on how artists in the neighbourhood have responded to the tensions and issues of their time.

Through diverse choreographies and forms of expression in contemporary and urban dance, young dancers explored what constitutes their own identity and how it asserts itself in interaction with others. The recordings of the productions invited to the Tanztreffen der Jugend 2026 will be available in the media library afterwards for one year. 

Discover background information on Musikfest Berlin 2026, including interviews with selected composers and performers and audio recordings of selected concerts, which will be available after each event.

In conversation with music journalist Peter Margasak and Nadin Deventer, artistic director of Jazzfest Berlin, trumpeter and composer Wadada Leo Smith looks back on more than half a century of “Creative Music”. Also in the Media Library: two films invite viewers behind the scenes of the Jazzfest Community Film Lab.

In August 2026, Marina Abramović spoke with Matthias Pees about her work Balkan Erotic Epic. The conversation, along with additional interviews, essays, and videos related to the Performing Arts Season, is available in the Berlin Festival's media library.

Find out more about MaerzMusik: recap videos, talks, interviews and portraits have been published in the Berliner Festspiele Media Library.

3sat produces the format Starke Stücke, featuring high‑quality television recordings of four productions invited to the 2026 Theatertreffen. Together with discussions and behind the scenes, they are available in the Berliner Festspiele Mediathek.

The Great Disorder: The panels and discussions of the third edition of Reflexes & Reflections are published in the Berliner Festspiele Media Library.

At the heart of the productions are current crises, social phenomena, and questions of power and powerlessness. The works respond to the anxieties of the present by articulating demands for the future. The productions and the opening event are available in the media library.

The Treffen junge Musikszene 2025 presents a rather young line-up of surprisingly mature, accomplished and experimental musicians, including numerous strong female artists. Recordings of the concerts are available in the media library.

In their 2025 texts, the young authors write about very personal situations and relationships, from issues of social and emotional integration to family histories and everyday observations, to questions about the global situation, politics, the climate, and social or economic injustice. The readings and other events are available in the media library.