17th International Pharos Contemporary Music Festival
The 17th International Pharos Contemporary Music Festival will take place from 2 to 14 October 2026 at The Shoe Factory in Nicosia. The Pharos Contemporary Music Festival was founded in 2009 as the first festival in Cyprus dedicated to new music. The programme includes four concerts dedicated to contemporary academic, electronic, experimental and interdisciplinary music.
On 2 October, Ensemble Klang Systematiek will perform. The programme includes world premieres of works by Stavros Hoplaros, Arturo Corrales and Barbara Monk Feldman, as well as Cyprus premieres of compositions by Kaija Saariaho, Oscar Bianchi, Jürg Frey and George Christofi. On 7 October, there will be a concert by BOOST Grupo de Percusión and clarinettist George Georgiou, featuring works by John Cage, Nebojša Jovan Živković and Mikel Kuehn, as well as the world premiere of a new work by Andis Skordis, “Zourrrrr…”.
On 9 October, LAB51 Duo — soprano Johanna Vargas and pianist Magdalena Cerezo — will present works by Bernhard Lang, Georges Aperghis and György Ligeti. On 14 October, the festival will conclude with the concert “Silence is Golden”, featuring soprano Sarah Maria Sun, clarinettist Julian Bliss and pianist Jan Philip Schulze. The programme for the final evening includes works by Schubert, Gershwin, Britten, Mahler, Weill, Aperghis and Bernstein. Lectures, masterclasses and educational activities for young people will take place in parallel.
