Afekt marks 25th anniversary with time-and-space programme
Friday 16th October 2026 on 16:15 in
Estonia
The Afekt contemporary music festival will celebrate its 25th anniversary with a programme exploring time, space, the environment and change, ERR reported. The festival runs from October 30 to November 5 in Tallinn and Tartu under the theme “Time-space.”
The anniversary festival opens with Erkki-Sven Tüür’s “Zeitraum,” which inspired the theme. Estonian performers include the orchestra ERSO, the Tallinn New Music Ensemble led by Arash Yazdani, clarinettist Taavi Orro and violinist Toomas Hendrik Ellervee.
At its concert, ERSO will perform symphonic works by Tatjana Kozlova-Johannes, Mirjam Tally and Mart Siimer, composers who played an important role in the festival’s early years, alongside works by Dieter Ammann and Kristine Tjøgersen.
The programme also features Chaya Czernowin’s “Immaterial,” which treats the voice as an independent sound and perceptual phenomenon beyond conventional language and narrative. The Tallinn New Music Ensemble’s “Rituals” programme explores different spatial, emotional and technological worlds.
Uusinta Ensemble’s “Repetitions” examines how new music can take on different meanings through repeated performances. The programme includes a new work commissioned for the festival by Liisa Hirsch.
Track3’s “Scenes and Verses” pairs contemporary music classics with new works. At its centre is György Kurtág’s “Hommage à R. Sch.,” marking the composer’s 100th birthday this year. The concert will also feature Estonian and world premieres of works by Jinwook Jung, Jesper Nordin and Gregor Kulla.
The Afekt chamber gala will mark Georges Aperghis’s 80th birthday with a performance of “Trompe-oreille” for trumpet and electronics. Anna-Margret Noorhani’s “No alternative” for five voices will receive its world premiere.
The “Bridges” concert will bring together Polish, Estonian and Finnish contemporary music. Its three world premieres, written specifically for the event, include a joint work by Barbara Zach and Bartosz Mularski, as well as pieces by Piotr Peszat and Ardo Ran Varres.
The festival will also extend beyond conventional concert formats. Sound and performance artist Lauri Lesta’s “Orchestra of Objects” turns discarded household appliances and furniture into musical instruments. Sound artist Aivar Tõnso’s “Sounding” for an orchestra of speakers explores the relationships between physical materials, space and electronic sound, raising questions about waste, the value of materials and the lifespan of objects.
In partnership with the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, the festival will also host panel discussions, lectures and masterclasses. Composers, performers and artistic directors of international festivals and organisations travelling to Tallinn include Jesper Nordin, Jarkko Hartikainen, Christine Fischer, Marco Blaauw and Santa Bušs.
The festival’s works bring together themes including nature and technology, memory and the future, people and the environment, and individual voices and social pressure. The programme presents contemporary music as a way to reflect on the modern world and on change, disruption, continuity and the fragility of the environment.