Festival for new music
Ultraschall Berlin – the festival has undergone many metamorphoses. Yet it has remained true to its core concept. From the very beginning, Ultraschall Berlin has been a festival that places recently created works within a music-historical context that stretches back to the beginnings of the post-war avant-garde, thus encompassing a period of more than 70 years.
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VISUAL ULTRASCHALL BERLIN 2026
In such a historical reverberation space, aesthetic developments become apparent, and generational successions and cyclical movements can be better understood. While the number of world and German premieres has noticeably increased in recent years, this dual approach remains valid for the festival: to offer a forum for current trends in contemporary music and, at the same time, to situate these current productions within a music-historical continuum.
At the same time, distractions are increasing, and social media is dissolving what was once called "leisure." New music, too, is affected by these trends.
A festival like Ultraschall Berlin cannot and will not turn a deaf ear to such developments. Nevertheless, the festival consciously sets a counterpoint to recent trends. Our goal is not the extensive expansion of listening experiences, but rather the intensification and concentration on precise listening – a commitment to "critical listening," a self-aware and conscious way of hearing and understanding what contemporary artists have to say.
For this, the quality of the musical performance is an indispensable prerequisite. Only the best possible interpretation creates the possibility of understanding, beyond the immediate sound, what the artists are trying to convey – in the medium of music. And so, once again this year, the invited ensembles guarantee the interpretative quality that is always so important to us.
PROGRAM
Thurs., Jan. 15 5:00 PM- Eva Resch, soprano
- Martin Smith, cello
- Leon Daniel, video installation
SMESCH
- Brigitta Muntendorf: hin und weg (2010) 12'
- Georg Katzer: Ophelia (1994) 21'
- Farzia Fallah: New Work (2025) World Premiere
- Per Nørgård: Plutonian Ode (1982-84) 10'
- Kaija Saariaho: Changing Light. Version for soprano and cello (2005) 6'
Thurs., Jan. 15, 7:00 PM
- Johanna Vargas, soprano
- Ilya Gringolts, violin
- Angelika Luz, Johanna Vargas, directors
- György Kurtág: Kafka Fragments 60'
Thurs., Jan. 15 9:00 p.m.
- Margit Kern, accordion
- SWR Experimental Studio
- Thomas Hummel, sound direction
Charlotte Seither: Never real, always true (2008) 11 min.
Birke Bertelsmeier: New work (2025) 10 min. premiere
Eun-Wha Cho: New work (2025) 10 min. premiere
Dániel Péter Biró: Hagirot (2025) 28 min. premiere*
