photos: Tectonics 2026

relive the festival through the lens of Blithe Williams and Tim Oosterlynck

Tectonics 2026: full line-up & schedule

Tectonics is a boundary-pushing festival for new and experimental music, launched in 2012 by conductor Ilan Volkov, a true musical omnivore with an insatiable curiosity and wide-ranging taste. Since then, it has grown into one of the world’s most eclectic and highly regarded festivals for those drawn to new sounds, bold experiments, and music that ventures beyond the expected. In June 2026, the Brussels Philharmonic and Ictus bring Tectonics to Brussels for the first time, taking over Flagey for two packed and compelling days.

Tectonics lands in Brussels

the full festival programme is now online — two days of new and experimental music, concerts, and installations

Curator's note

Tectonics Festival for curious ears: curator Ilan Volkov explains

Tectonics Festival 2026: Symphony for Kunstnernes Hus ∙ 19.06.2026 ∙ Flagey

Can you listen to a building? Symphony for Kunstnernes Hus by Norwegian composer Øyvind Torvund is a symphony that presents itself as a work of art – and a work of art that takes the form of a symphonic concert. It’s an immersive musical experience, with simultaneous concert moments unfolding throughout the building, inviting and challenging the audience to move freely through the spaces and fully dissolve into the music.

Free Events @ Tectonics Festival

your guide to the free installations, performances and exhibitions popping up across the Tectonics festival

Tectonics Festival 2026: Maya Verlaak & Cassandra Miller ∙ 20.06.2026 ∙ Flagey

On Saturday, two brand-new creations take the stage: Maya Verlaak and Cassandra Miller each composed a new work for the Brussels Philharmonic.

With Sci-Volo Palla, Maya Verlaak, tosses aside all conventions and turns – with new rules, electronics, and a classical orchestra setup – the piece into a social experiment. Cassandra Miller’s intimate and engaging compositions take as their starting point existing melodies, which she variously deconstructs, loops, magnifies and utterly transforms.

Cassandra Miller, one of the most intriguing voices in contemporary music, brings a deeply personal work. With Dad Goes to the Mountain, she wrote a new orchestral piece for her father, who developed vascular dementia later in life. While his memory and spatial awareness gradually decline, his personality remains clearly and tenderly present. Miller envisions this transformation as an upward movement toward the peak of a mountain, interwoven with fragments of Peruvian brass band music.

Composer's note: Dad Goes to the Mountain

a commission by Brussels Philharmonic for Tectonics: read the programme note by Cassandra Miller on her new work

Première: Sci-Volo Palla

experiment, chance, and live electronics: Maya Verlaak premieres her first concerto at Tectonics Festival

LAB-SERIES

With the LAB-SERIES, the Brussels Philharmonic brings together musical experimentation, interaction, and total experience. Expect bold and eclectic concert nights with unique programmes, pre- and post-concert talks, interactive installations, and immersive listening sessions.

Beyond The Score

With Beyond The Score, Brussels Philharmonic looks beyond the notes, exploring what symphonic music awakens in other voices across our society. These concerts are born from creation, encounter, and cross-pollination with the wider arts field.

More voices. More impulses. And above all: music. More than music.

Europasinfonie

Twelve countries. One orchestra.

For the first time, 12 locations across Europe connect into one virtual orchestra, performing together in real time. Europasinfonie brings musicians together across borders — not through recordings, but in one shared, live moment. In June 2027, Brussels becomes one of the key nodes in this network, with musicians playing across distances of up to 2,200 kilometers. With Europasinfonie, the Brussels Philharmonic, together with partners including Dresdner Sinfoniker, Hochschule Anhalt (Köthen), and others across Europe, is part of a project that is both technologically groundbreaking and artistically visionary, demonstrating how digital innovation can revolutionize classical music.