Frequenz Festival Kiel — Festival for Sound and Media

A Festival with Profile

The Frequenz Festival was launched in Kiel in 2017 — in response to the need for a format that connects Northern Germany's contemporary music scene with international top acts. Today, it is one of the most distinguished festivals for New Music, Sound Art, and Audiovisual Performance in Germany and an important date for the international scene.

The Concept: Rethinking Sound, Space, and Media

Frequenz is not conceived as a classic concert festival with a program booklet and fixed seating. Instead, it focuses on sound experiences that engage with the space: installations in stairwells and foyers, concerts in industrial halls and churches, performances bridging music, dance, and video. Genre boundaries are deliberately broken — attendees should be open to encounters between composition, improvisation, electroacoustic music, and media art.

Eight Venues Across the City

• KulturForum Saal — Main venue for main concerts
• Stadtgalerie Foyer (Kulturforum) — Sound installations
• Muthesius Kunsthochschule (Glass Foyer, Boiler House, Courtyard) — experimental formats
• sp ce | muthesius — smaller performance space
• Hansa 48 — alternative cultural venue
• Theater Die Komödianten — stage performances
• Galerie Simone Menne — art space for intimate formats

Program 2026

The 7th edition brings together internationally renowned composers and ensembles. Guests include:

• Alexander Schubert — Hamburg, composer and artist for performance and multimedia
• Sarah Nemtsov — Berlin, one of Germany's most important contemporary composers
• Clara Iannotta — Italy, composer with international reputation
• Stefan Prins — Belgium, pioneer of electroacoustic and multimedia music
• Anouk Kellner, Mariska de Groot, Anna Jalving, Matthew Grouse among others
• Ensembles: Berliner KNM (Kammerensemble Neue Musik) and NEKO3

Several world and German premieres are planned — typical for a festival that sees itself not only as a stage but also as a commissioner of new works.

Kiel as a Music Hub

Kiel — the state capital of Schleswig-Holstein, an independent city in the district of the same name (Code 01002) — boasts a surprisingly active contemporary music scene. The Muthesius Kunsthochschule, the Kulturforum, Hansa 48, and the galleries are venues distributed throughout the city that the festival consciously integrates. Those who know Kiel only as a Baltic Sea city with a navy and the Kieler Woche will experience a different, art-affine side of the city with the Frequenz Festival.