The Bergen International Festival promised »endless love«. I listened closely – and found it everywhere from medieval madrigals to pop ballads spanning the centuries.

From Old Testament wisdom and hippie dreams of community to erotic nightclub atmospheres and dark, rumbling techno. Roskilde Festival 2026 is a wild ride through eras, genres and mental geographies – and a good place to practise carrying dreams carefully through the extreme conditions of our time.

Klang Festival was at its strongest when the works spoke directly to the body rather than to the programme notes. Not everything succeeded, but this year's festival was willing to take risks.

Contemporary music is still alive – but often despite its own obsession with complexity and endless duration. That became clear at the festivals in Witten and Cologne.

At the Archipel Festival, listening became both a sensory experience and a political question.

Spor 2026 took its audience from embarrassed laughter to resonant sonic landscapes in a festival that both transgressed boundaries and overwhelmed the senses.