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What is happening at MärzMusik 2026?

In 2026, MärzMusik Berlin will be held from March 20-29, 2026. Its themes are resonance and vibration, posing questions around the relationship between the stage, the artist, and the audience. The festival invites artists from different backgrounds to connect and collaborate through music. We are asked – What is music? How do we listen to music, and how do we present it in the best way?

The festival will be held at different venues, beginning at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele. Then it will move to MaHalla, Akademie der Künste, Radialsystem, Silent Green, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, SAVVY Contemporary, Spore Haus, Berlin University of the Arts, St. Elisabeth Church, and Parochialkirche.

1. The Opening Highlights

To launch the festival, the Vienna-based Klangforum Wien will perform Georg Friedrich Haas’s magnum opus 11.000 Saiten (11,000 Strings). Building on this, the ensemble’s second performance will take place as a matinee concert, presenting new pieces by Laure M. Hiendl, Luxa M. Schüttler, and Gerhard Stäbler.

2. Composer Tributes and Anniversary Performances

Italian-based experimental music group Ensemble Dedalus will perform for the first time at MärzMusik Berlin, featuring three portrait concerts with ‘open scores’ by Éliane Radigue, Catherine Lamb, and Pascale Criton, to commemorate its thirtieth anniversary. The festival will also pay homage to Peter Ablinger, the late Austrian music composer known for his ‘White/Whitish’ series.

3. Large-scale Experimental Music and Sound Installations

A 50-piano concert installation will be played at MaHalla Berlin for MärzMusik 2026, a former factory hall converted into an event venue in Oberschöneweide. American performer-composer Ellen Fullman will play the Long String Instrument at the St. Elisabeth Church alongside JACK Quartet. The large-scale installation is up to 30 meters long with over a hundred high-tension parallel metal strings, symbolizing innovation in conventional string instruments. On the other hand, Pelle Schilling’s Long String Installation will be stretched between the trees in the garden at Haus der Berliner Festspiele.

4. Collaborative Performances

Florentin Ginot and Okkyung Lee will be performing pieces on their instruments, the double bass and cello, respectively. Lee will collaborate with Berlin musicians, while Ginot will explore transhumanist ideas by Carola Bauckholt and Lou Kilger. The KNM Berlin will perform musical pieces by Fang-Yi Lin, Tine Surel Lange, Ana Maria Rodriguez, and Zesses Seglias.

Jan St. Werner will collaborate with Erwan Keravec, Dirk Rothbrust, and Louis Chude-Sokei to create Music for Commons Sensed++ at the Radialsystem. Viola Yip will further collaborate with Ken Uno in Cybernetic Entanglement.

5. Vocal Performances

Meredith Jane Monk, winner of the 2026 Berlin Art Prize – Grand Prize (Großer Kunstpreis Berlin), will perform at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, joined by Katie Geissinger and Allison Sniffin. Monk, an American music composer, vocalist, filmmaker, performer, and choreographer, will be recognized for her sixty years in contemporary music with a 15,000 Euros prize from the Federal State of Berlin, awarded at the Akademie der Künste, Pariser Platz, on 18 March 2026. Building on this prominent vocal presence, soprano Juliet Fraser will perform Lament.

6. The Finale

Co-curated by Wojtek Blecharz, the finale will go deeper into the first part of I AM ALL EARS (2025) on the deconstruction of normative forms of the presentation and receiving of music, and experiencing music and sound through the whole body.

Tickets for MärzMusik 2026 are available here. We hope to see you there!