Month of Contemporary Music Berlin

Berlin as the Capital of New Music

For decades, Berlin has been an international epicenter of contemporary music. The Berliner Philharmoniker maintain the repertoire, the Komische Oper experiments with format crossovers, the Deutsche Oper premieres new works, and new pieces emerge week after week in independent venues (Radialsystem, Acker Stadt Palast, Berghain, BKA-Theater). The "initiative neue musik berlin e.V." (inm) has been consolidating this density into a full festival month since 2016: the Month of Contemporary Music.

10th Anniversary Edition — A Whole Decade

The 2026 edition marks the festival's 10th anniversary. The program is curated with corresponding ambition: from the Ensemble Festival, which brings together Berlin's New Music ensembles in a three-day showcase in Neukölln, to special events like "EDEN CINEMA" in honor of composer Iris ter Schiphorst or "Crushed Now — After Turing // Beyond Presence" in the Kultursaal Funkhaus.

One Month, Two Dozen Venues

Instead of occupying a single stage, the MdzM deliberately spreads across Berlin's independent scene venues. CANK in Neukölln, Alte Münze in Mitte, Kultursaal Funkhaus in Oberschöneweide, Morphine Raum, BKA-Theater, Akademie der Künste — all become stops on a continuous program series over four weeks. The festival is thus less a central event and more a festival month with a decentralized topography.

Genres, Formats, Discourses

The program ranges from composed New Music (ensemble works, solo pieces, chamber music) to sound art installations, performances, and electronic live sets, as well as discourse events like "Time to Listen" (Oct 5), which explores transnational networks of the New Music scene. Workshops such as "Listening to complexity" with Siegmar Zacharias add a reflective layer to the concert program.

The initiative neue musik berlin e.V.

Behind the festival is inm — the Berlin association of composers, ensembles, organizers, and venues for contemporary music. Founded in 1991, inm currently represents over 200 members and is funded by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe, as well as EU funds. Office: Littenstraße 10, Berlin-Mitte.