Biennale Musica 2026 Venice radical listening previews

Biennale Musica 2026 Venice radical listening is the focus of a program curated by Caterina Barbieri that will take place in Venice from October 10 to October 24, 2026. Titled A Child of Sound, the festival is orchestrated as a cross-genre, cross-geography program with collective and participatory listening formats designed to oppose passive concert viewing. The Golden Lion for lifetime achievement will be awarded to Keiji Haino, and the Silver Lion will be presented to Sarah Davachi. Highlights include the ORIGINE room at the Arsenale, featuring a phone-free listening zone, and a special twelve-meter balloon installation to be released over the Arsenale during the opening weekend.

The program includes premieres by Lyra Pramuk with Mohammad Reza Mortazavi, Kara-Lis Coverdale performing with the Tallis Scholars and Sarah Davachi on organ, and new works by Marta De Pascalis and Grand River. Club culture showcases will present Príncipé acts Nídia, DJ Firmeza, and Helviofox alongside Dar es Salaam’s singeli artists Jay Mitta, Pili Pili, and DJ Travella. The PMCE ensemble will premiere works at Teatro Goldoni that include compositions by Ennio Morricone, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Sarah Davachi. The ORIGINE installation was designed by MFO, and a booth titled Heaven Is Ours / O Céu É Nosso will explore Brazilian baloeiro culture.

Biennale Musica 2026 Venice radical listening is curated by Caterina Barbieri and takes place in Venice from October 10 to October 24, 2026. The program is titled A Child of Sound and is organized as a cross-genre, cross-geography program with collective and participatory listening formats designed to oppose passive concert viewing. The festival presents installations, premieres, ensemble performances, and club culture showcases across multiple venues. The Golden Lion for lifetime achievement will be awarded to Keiji Haino and the Silver Lion to Sarah Davachi.

At the Arsenale the ORIGINE room will offer a phone-free listening zone for sustained, focused listening. A special twelve-meter balloon installation will be released over the Arsenale during the opening weekend, and the ORIGINE installation was designed by MFO. A booth or installation titled Heaven Is Ours / O Céu É Nosso will explore Brazilian baloeiro culture within the festival program.

Premieres scheduled for the festival include Lyra Pramuk with Mohammad Reza Mortazavi, Kara-Lis Coverdale performing with the Tallis Scholars accompanied by Sarah Davachi on organ, and new works by Marta De Pascalis and Grand River. The PMCE ensemble will premiere works at Teatro Goldoni that include compositions by Ennio Morricone, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Sarah Davachi. Club culture showcases will present Príncipé artists Nídia, DJ Firmeza, and Helviofox alongside Dar es Salaam’s singeli performers Jay Mitta, Pili Pili, and DJ Travella.

Key artists and individual figures associated with Biennale Musica 2026 include curator Caterina Barbieri and the award recipients Keiji Haino, who is designated the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement, and Sarah Davachi, who receives the Silver Lion. Other named performers and composers in the program list are Lyra Pramuk, Mohammad Reza Mortazavi, Kara-Lis Coverdale, Marta De Pascalis, Grand River, Nídia, DJ Firmeza, Helviofox, Jay Mitta, Pili Pili, DJ Travella, Masaru Hatanaka, Kazuhiro Shirao, DJ Anderson do Paraíso, Ennio Morricone, and Johann Sebastian Bach. The program also references collaborations and premieres involving these artists. These individual names are presented among the festival’s curated lineup.

Ensembles, companies, venues, and installations listed for the festival include the PMCE ensemble, the Tallis Scholars, Príncipé, La Biennale di Venezia, the Arsenale, Teatro Goldoni, Nightingale Bar, and MFO. Installations named in the program include the ORIGINE room with a phone-free listening zone and the Heaven Is Ours / O Céu É Nosso booth exploring Brazilian baloeiro culture, and a twelve-meter balloon installation over the Arsenale is scheduled for the opening weekend. Club culture showcases are attributed to Príncipé and Dar es Salaam’s singeli performers as part of the program. These entities appear across venues and formats within the festival program.

Caterina Barbieri has organized Biennale Musica 2026 Venice radical listening as a program titled A Child of Sound that foregrounds collective and participatory listening formats intended to oppose passive concert viewing. The program is orchestrated as a cross-genre, cross-geography project that emphasizes shared attention to sound rather than conventional, passive spectatorship. Barbieri’s curatorial brief explicitly frames these formats as a counterpoint to passive concert viewing and as a means to invite active engagement from audiences.

The Arsenale will host the ORIGINE room, which includes a phone-free listening zone designed for sustained, focused listening, and the ORIGINE installation was created by MFO. During the opening weekend a special twelve-meter balloon installation will be released over the Arsenale; this installation was also designed by MFO and is scheduled as a program event. The festival’s installations and special events are presented alongside premieres and performances across venues to support the program’s participatory aims.

A booth or installation titled Heaven Is Ours / O Céu É Nosso is included among the festival’s installations, and club culture showcases and ensemble premieres appear across the program alongside the participatory listening formats. The festival presents a mix of installations, premieres, ensemble performances, and club showcases within the framework of collective listening that the curator has specified.

The ORIGINE room at the Arsenale includes a phone-free listening zone that is presented as a space for sustained, focused listening. The ORIGINE installation was designed by MFO, and it is presented within the Biennale Musica 2026 program curated by Caterina Barbieri. The room is listed among the festival’s installations and program components at the Arsenale.

A special twelve-meter balloon installation is scheduled to be released over the Arsenale during the opening weekend of the festival. The balloon installation was designed by MFO and is listed as an opening-weekend program event. The installation is described as part of the festival’s lineup of special events.

These installations are presented alongside premieres, ensemble performances, and club showcases within the festival program and are listed in relation to the program’s collective and participatory listening formats intended to oppose passive concert viewing. A booth or installation titled Heaven Is Ours / O Céu É Nosso is also included among the festival’s installations and is listed as exploring Brazilian baloeiro culture. The installations and events appear across venues in the festival program.

Biennale Musica 2026, curated by Caterina Barbieri under the program title A Child of Sound, takes place in Venice from October 10 to October 24, 2026. The program is presented as a cross-genre, cross-geography lineup that foregrounds collective and participatory listening formats intended to oppose passive concert viewing, and it includes installations, premieres, ensemble performances, and club culture showcases.

Installations scheduled at the Arsenale include the ORIGINE room with a phone-free listening zone and a twelve-meter balloon installation designed by MFO to be released over the Arsenale during the opening weekend, and a booth titled Heaven Is Ours / O Céu É Nosso is listed as exploring Brazilian baloeiro culture.

Award recognitions and premieres listed in the program include the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement to Keiji Haino, the Silver Lion to Sarah Davachi, premieres by Lyra Pramuk with Mohammad Reza Mortazavi and Kara-Lis Coverdale with the Tallis Scholars accompanied by Sarah Davachi on organ, and PMCE ensemble premieres at Teatro Goldoni that include works associated with Ennio Morricone, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Sarah Davachi.