Graz music festival explores links between cosmos and humanity

ORF-musikprotokoll will explore connections between the microcosm and macrocosm through contemporary and experimental music in Graz from October 3 to 11, ORF reports. The 59th edition of the festival, held as part of steirischer herbst, is themed “Supernova” and focuses on the search for origins.

The programme includes numerous premieres, with artists exploring topics ranging from dark matter and a journey to the sun to the musical decoding of a sound puzzle by Leonardo da Vinci. Events will take place in concerts, sound installations, an exhibition at the festival centre, the Volkskundemuseum at Paulustor, and a symposium at Meerscheinschlössl.

The festival opens on Saturday with “Graz spielt Steve Reich,” a 24-hour event led by STUDIO PERCUSSION graz to mark the composer’s 90th birthday. Around 90 musicians and an extreme sports athlete will take part, with the city itself serving as the stage.

Other events include Natasha Barrett’s search for dark matter in “Worlds / Graz” and “Das relativ wohltemperierte Klavier,” a performance examining whether a piano can be completely put out of tune, even when taken apart. The first concert evening at Dom im Berg will feature Marcus Schmickler and Chris Henschke exploring quantum physics, as well as Elisabeth Schimana’s musical journey to the sun. “S.E.T.I.” turns the search for extraterrestrial intelligence into a tool for introspection.

The programme also examines connections between individuals and society. Belarusian flutist and civil rights activist Maria Kalesnikava, who was released in December 2025, will perform with RSO Wien at Helmut List Halle. The festival has previously drawn attention to her as a political prisoner.

Jennifer Walshe’s multimedia performance “THE GREATER NOISE” brings the universe down to the scale of a concert hall. Ensembles Zeitfluss, PHACE and Cantando Admont will also perform. More than 250 professional, young and amateur singers, led by Cantando Admont, will take part in a musical interpretation of da Vinci’s sound puzzle, including a performance of Beat Furrer’s choral cycle “ENIGMA.”

The week concludes with Alexander Chernyshkov’s chamber opera “Heute schrieb ich nix,” which received the Johann-Joseph-Fux Prize.

More than 20 broadcasts and 1,200 minutes of programming on Ö1 and ORF Sound will feature concerts and events from the festival. Three Ö1 programmes will be broadcast live from Graz on October 9 and 10. An edition of “Im Gespräch” with Kalesnikava will be recorded in front of an audience at MUMUTH on October 11 and broadcast later in October.