Month of Contemporary Music / 01.-30.09.2019

1 month, 100 concerts, 50 venues: The Month of Contemporary Music presents the many facets of Berlin’s contemporary music scene from 1st to 30th September. It invites you to discover current works by Berlin ensembles, artists and composers – in established concert halls and opera houses as well as independent venues. Numerous festivals take place under the umbrella of the Month of Contemporary Music such as BAM ! Berlin’s Festival for Contemporary Music Theater, the Musikfest of the Berliner Festspiele, Pyramidale as well as Kontakte 19 Biennale for Electroacoustic Music and Sound Art at the Akademie der Künste.

For the opening of the Month of Contemporary Music on 1st of September at Radialsystem, the Berlin-based Ensemble Adapter will join forces with two pioneering ensembles for contemporary music from New York and Sydney: the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) and Ensemble Offspring. The program includes pieces of the repertoire of the individual ensembles as well as music composed especially for collective performance.

This year’s Month of Contemporary Music will shine a spotlight upon Berlin’s sound art scene. As a hybrid art form between music and the fine arts, the genre faces special challenges in terms of funding as well as production and performance possibilities. With a range of sound art exhibitions, a special series of panel discussions and curatorial tours, the Month of Contemporary Music dares to make an inventory of the current Berlin sound art scene and examines its working methods and characteristics. The framework program of the Month of Contemporary Music offers background knowledge into the creative processes that fuel the contemporary music scene with open rehearsals, artist talks and concert introductions.