Klub katarakt presents experimental music beyond strictly academic contexts for the twentieth time from January 13 to 17, 2026. With the clear aim of reaching people without specific knowledge of contemporary music in particular, the Hamburg festival has been embraced by a steadily growing heterogeneous audience of all ages. For the anniversary of klub katarakt, we are delighted to be able to present an unusual to avant-garde program again in 2026 - this time over five days.

ℹ️ Here you can find more information

PROGRAM

Tuesday: Opening klub katarakt 20
The festival will once again open with a changing concert. The three halls P1, KMH and K4, which merge into one another, invite you to move fluidly through the sounds. Many Hamburg musicians, composers and performers have been invited to collectively develop a new form. Also involved are the Canadian Quatuor Bozzini and the improvisation collective META from Darmstadt.

Wednesday: Sarah Davachi / Morton Feldman
In her works, Canadian composer Sarah Davachi deals with the subtleties of temporal and tonal space. In her sound, listening becomes an intimate experience that dissolves the perception of the familiar and the distant. After a lecture on her work, she will play a solo concert on the electric organ. In the night concert, Darragh Morgan and Mary Dullea will play the piece FOR JOHN CAGE by Morton Feldman, who would have been 100 years old this year. A level of pure sound, very quiet throughout with almost motionless gestures.

Thursday: Alexander Schubert / Afrorack
The German premiere of Alexander Schubert's new music theater project Eternal Dawn with Decoder will take place as part of klub katarakt. Afterwards, Afrorack from Uganda will fuse polyrhythmic structures from African music with elements of acid, techno and ambient on his self-built modular synthesizer. He will present his work in a lecture in the early evening. A combined ticket gives you discounted access to both events.

Friday: Sarah Davachi & Quatuor Bozzini / GROUPSHOW
The Canadian Quatuor Bozzini will perform the complete cycle Long Gradus by Sarah Davachi for the first time in Hamburg. Shifts in pitch material and texture take place at a very slow pace, so that the listener's perception can adjust to the spatial experience of the harmonies. Groupshow (Jan Jelinek, Hanno Leichtmann and Andrew Pekler) establishes a method of transparent compression in which hinges and fractures are not concealed but remain audible. They perform the night concert in the middle of the room, surrounded by the audience, who only enter the installation when the interaction between the three musicians is already underway.

Saturday: Long Night
The Long Night presents first and world premieres by the Hamburg scene and international guests, alternating with experimental short films. Special guest General Magic ∞ Tina Frank will be performing. Other participants include the Hamburg band TWISK and many other local musicians. The DJ collective Sutsche will play at the end.