Gaudeamus

Gaudeamus presents young music pioneers. The eponymous and highly renowned music festival takes place in September, Utrecht, The Netherlands.

https://gaudeamus.nl/ The annual Gaudeamus Muziekweek is the oldest music festival in the Netherlands. Next edition 5-9 September 2018. Besides the annual festival in September we offer a broad palette to music lovers across the year in exciting programme formats at extraordinary locations. Embrace the here and now and sample the latest work of young music pioneers. Gaudeamus is internationally re

cognised as THE expert when it comes to the latest developments in composed music. For over 70 years Gaudeamus has stimulated development and provided a stage for the newest generation of composers. An important example is the prestigious Gaudeamus award, a highly regarded and sought after international prize for young music pioneers.

27/07/2026

Erwan Keravec is a highland bagpiper, composer and improviser. He seeks out unusual sounds, and ways of playing and listening to his instrument, far from its original
cultural setting, exploring improvised music, free and ‘noise’ jazz. He also frequently writes, plays and improvises for dance performances.

At Keep Space Fest, Keravec will perform Midwinter by Nicholas Morrish and Attacca by Wolfgang Mitterer. Midwinter considers the ancient artistic practice of bagpipes from the perspective of current electronic technology and aesthetics. Social aspects of instrumental playing, which combines different blowing techniques from different cultures, weave their way through the multifaceted composition like threads. Wolfang Mittlerer develops a language marked by extreme tension and complexity, letting his piece oscillate between composition and open form.

➤ KEEP SPACE FEST: Erwan Keravec | Friday September 11

🔊 Gaudeamus Festival 2026 | 9 - 13 Sept, Utrecht
Five days of experimental music, performances and sound installations.

https://gaudeamus.nl/en/events/gaudeamus-2026-friday/keep-space-fest-erwan-keravec/

18/06/2026

This Saturday, Gaudeamus joins the celebration of Dutch composers during the Dag van de Componist.

From 13:45 to 14:20 Utrecht’s composer laureate Diederik van der Laag, appointed by Gaudeamus and New Music Now, will present a large-scale singing event - over 300 singers, divided across around 10 ensembles - on the steps at the Jaarbeurs side of Utrecht Central Station.

And Ensemble Klang will play works from the vast history of Gaudeamus 3 times during the day: 13:30 at Den Haag Centraal, 15:00 at Utrecht Centraal and 19:00 at the Rabo OpenStage of TivoliVredenburg.

All info at https://dagvandecomponist.nl/

17/06/2026

In our latest Curious Ears podcast episode, Irish harpist, composer and improviser Rosie Murphy takes the listener on a journey through the harp’s history.

Rosie’s career and artistic vision, being deeply rooted in the origins and significance of the harp across the globe, seeks to honour the cultures, harpists and music makers who have come before her, dating from as far back as 5,000 years ago to the present day.

Through research, rosie ní mhurchú talks about everything from the political history of the harp in Ireland and playing music inspired by Irish folk music and Irish traditions of bardic accompaniment, to exploring the harp’s origins in Southwest Asia: examining sources in the Chester Beatty Library, premiering an extended Maqam composition by composer Saad Haddad, and seeking to understand the Maqam with Sami Abu Shumays.

🔊👂➔ Listen back our Curious Ears podcast episode with Rosie Murphy via link in bio

12/06/2026

Meet one of our Nominees: Sing-Yat Chen

Chen’s work will feature prominently during this year’s Gaudeamus Festival, where she will premiere a brand-new commissioned piece.

Sing-Yat Chen is a pianist, composer, and interdisciplinary artist from Hong Kong, integrating music, literature, visual arts, and science to explore spiritual-philosophical ideas and provide solace through her work. A finalist for the Gaudeamus Award and 80th Concours de Genève, her creative voice is hailed by Neue Musik Zeitung as “impressively reflective of an inner struggle.”

Her compositions bridge Eastern and Western sensibilities, shaped by her upbringing and life experiences. Blending the sounds of city and nature, past and present, she believes music reflects humanity and the world across space and time.

🔊 Gaudeamus Festival 2026 | 9 - 13 Sept, Utrecht
Five days of experimental music, performances and sound installations.

📹 by .ne

10/06/2026

Rojin Sharafi is a Tehran-born, Vienna-based sound artist and composer who fuses raw emotion with electronics. By blurring the line between acoustic and synthetic textures, she creates sonic expressions that speak to both resilience and vulnerability.

‘s compositions flow through mutating sounds, avoiding any predictable climax or conclusion. In this sonic journey, traces of traditional Iranian music subvert against metallic percussion, 8-bit particles, and nuanced textures.

What does folk music mean when reimagined from a different place, for a different time? That question lies at the core of Sinthome’s Scenery, Rojin’s new project, which she will present at Gaudeamus Festival alongside a striking ensemble including singer Omid Darvish ._._.darvish and . The work explores not just musical heritage, but the deeper social function of folk music: its power to unite people and forge community.

➤ Rojin Sharafi - Sinthome’s Scenery | Saturday September 12

🔊 Gaudeamus Festival 2026 | 9 - 13 Sept, Utrecht
Five days of experimental music, performances and sound installations.

08/06/2026

Acclaimed UK vocal ensemble , described by The Guardian as “one of the UK’s most adventurous and accomplished choirs”, give their debut performance in the Netherlands with bold and innovative works for choir.

Centrepiece in their performance is Theatre of Origins by Gaudeamus Award 2026 nominee Anibal Vidal. An ambitious, thrilling, immersive vision of the world’s beginning for sixteen singers with percussion instruments, co-commissioned by The Carice Singers and Spitalfields Music.

The concert opens with the Dutch premiere of Aletheia by Lithuanian composer Žibuoklė Martinaitytė. Composed in the immediate aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the work reflects on the fragility of truth, the shattering of peace, and the resilience of the human spirit. In Readymade Alice by Finnish composer Perttu Haapanen we enter an action-packed safari featuring 34 search engine results of the phrase ‘Alice is…’. Un beau ba**er is a short but incredibly beautiful a ca****la choral work from Louis Andriessen’s fourth opera George Sand which was too good to be forgotten.

➤ The Carice Singers | Thursday September 10

🔊 Gaudeamus Festival 2026 | 9 - 13 Sept, Utrecht
Five days of experimental music, performances and sound installations.

05/06/2026

The Strasbourg-based collective Lovemusic returns to Gaudeamus with a concert dedicated to three nominees for the Gaudeamus Award 2026: Tytti Arola from Finland, Sing-Yat Chen from Hong Kong, and Rodrigo Pascale from Brazil. Every year, four young composers are nominated for the prestigious incentive award. Their music will be played throughout the festival, including brand new works developed in close collaboration with the performers especially for this occasion. At the end of the week, one of the nominees will win the award.

collaborates with composers, performers, and interdisciplinary artists to create innovative work while challenging patriarchal and hierarchical structures. Their diverse backgrounds shape programmes that reflect a range of aesthetics and amplify underrepresented voices across ethnicities, genders, and sexual identities. Through lighting, video, and scenography, they create immersive concerts that are colourful, experimental, and engaging, introducing contemporary composed music to broader audiences.

➤ Lovemusic | Saturday September 12

🔊 Gaudeamus Festival 2026 | 9 - 13 Sept, Utrecht
Five days of experimental music, performances and sound installations.

03/06/2026

Today we are announcing 17 new artists and projects from the program of Gaudeamus Festival 2026, which takes place from September 9 to 13 at various locations in Utrecht, The Netherlands.

On the Saturday Night, we present two exciting young makers with backgrounds in pop and electronic music. Iranian artist Rojin Sharafi presents her new project Sinthome's Scenery with a thrilling ensemble of musicians from Vienna, Taiwan, Burkina Faso, and Paris, including singer Omid Darvish and Aho Ssan. Dutch artist Pitou presents work from her new album P2 with a band assembled especially for the festival featuring three wind instruments, three singers, percussion, and keyboards.

On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday afternoon, there will be various installations on display, including the exhibition Resisting Waters, which uses playful, challenging, and sometimes confronting installations to show how water leads a life of its own. Water also plays a major role in Deltas, a narrative music performance by composer and artist Nahuel Cano in collaboration with the musical ensemble Modelo62 and filmmaker Juan Fernández Gebauer.

In the song cycle They Have Waited Long Enough, the Ragazze Quartet & Katharine Dain tell stories of historical and mythological women. Syrian oud player and composer Talal Fayad presents the audiovisual performance The Arabic Apocalypse in collaboration with filmmaker and music producer Anas Alqadamni and musician and composer Skander Jaïbi, inspired by the multidisciplinary legacy of poet, writer, and painter Etel Adnan. Maya Fridman & Storm in a Jar present The Architecture of Trees, an immersive music performance centered on recordings of ancient trees.

In addition to the previously announced album presentation featuring electronic work by Ton de Leeuw, New European Ensemble will perform two pieces on the opening night by this influential Dutch composer and music educator, who was groundbreaking in the 1950s and 1960s with his interests in electronic and non-Western music.

Full programme & tickets: https://gaudeamus.nl/en/festival-info/

02/06/2026

You walk through an unrecognizable space, prick up your ears, and squint your eyes. Echoing voices sound in the distance. A trombone calls from the darkness. Someone pulls a piano forward. Everything you try to grasp, to understand, slips through your fingers.

A Myth is a sensory, musical performance in which vocals, movement, percussion, and brass come together in one large physical composition. What are the stories, the myths, that we tell ourselves to relate to what surrounds us? And what happens when we let them go?

creates physical-musical performances, artistically directed by composer-director . With musicians, physical performers, and location, he creates poetic, dreamlike worlds in which music, imagery, movement, and space converge. Worlds in which the audience is allowed to disappear for a moment. Drawing on the concept of deep listening, he challenges his audience to listen actively, paying attention to the smallest details, causing us to relate to our environment and ourselves in a different way.

➤ Studio Vacuüm – A Myth | Saturday September 12

🔊 Gaudeamus Festival 2026 | 9-13 September, Utrecht – Five days of concerts, interdisciplinary performances and sound installations. A festival for curious ears, experimental music and adventurous sounds.

Adres

Loevenhoutsedijk 301
Utrecht
3552XE

Telefoon

+31308200111

Website

http://www.gaudeamus.nl/

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