With less than two months to go until the 16th edition, Semibreve 2026 completes its programme with a wide-ranging parallel programme featuring installations, film screenings, talks, masterclasses, and a surprise performance on the festival’s opening night.

 

The installation programme will feature several works resulting from Edigma Semibreve Scholar, a programme dedicated to students in higher education working in the field of media art; the winner of this year’s Edigma Semibreve Award, an international prize dedicated to outstanding works at the intersection of art and technology; and Octophonic Listening Room, a sound installation bringing together works by four internationally acclaimed artists.

 

Chicago-born, Montréal-based multidisciplinary artist Matthew Biederman is the winner of the Edigma Semibreve Award 2026 with Situational Compliance, an interactive installation conceived as a game of Simon Says. Participants are placed in a tension between play and obedience, discovering how far they are willing to follow the instructions of a faceless, bodiless authority with whom there is no possibility of negotiation. The winning work will be presented at Muzeu, Braga’s new contemporary museum, from 22 October to 29 November 2026.

 

The Edigma Semibreve Scholar programme presents new works by emerging artists: World Wide Wood by Rita Castanheira; The Table of Discomfort by Catarina Alves, Lara Amaral, Nuno Santos, Ricardo Martins and Rita Pereira; RePercussão by Tomás Camacho; Relational Cartography by Bruno Mesquita; and Pequeno Laboratório de Recriar Humanos by Líria Varne.

 

The Edigma Semibreve Scholar will be presented at gnration from 22 to 24 October 2026, a former national guard headquarters turned contemporary cultural centre dedicated to the intersections of art, technology and music. The venue will also host Semibreve’s nocturnal performance programme, bringing together emerging artistic practices and late-night performances in a distinctive setting.

 

Curated by Semibreve as part of Re-Imagine Europe, a programme co-funded by the European Union, and co-curated and co-produced with INA grm and Sonic Acts, Octophonic Listening Room is a sound installation presenting works by Jana Irmert, Sarah Davachi, BJ Nilsen and Maria W. Horn. Octophonic Listening Room will be presented at Museu Nogueira da Silva, one of Braga’s most distinctive cultural museums, creating a dialogue between contemporary sound art and the museum’s historic setting.

 

The festival’s film programme brings together works that explore the intersections between music, technology, science, ecology and artistic research.

 

Universo Circular, a documentary by Dácio Pinheiro, focuses on pianist and Brazilian electronic music pioneer Jocy de Oliveira. The film looks back at almost seven decades of her career and artistic legacy, while following Jocy, now 90, as she creates a new experimental opera. The screening will be followed by a conversation with the artist and director.

 

Commissioned by festivals Nuits sonores, reworks, Terraforma and Sónar, all members of the TIMES – The Independent Moves for Electronic Scenes network, of which Semibreve is also a member, The Talk documents an ambitious multidimensional and multidisciplinary work presented through an immersive stage design. The performance brings together musicians Heith and James K with artist-researcher Günseli Yalcinkaya, featuring original set design by Andrea Belosi, and connects artists and researchers from across Europe and beyond.

 

Brute Force, by Felix Lenz and Ganaël Dumreicher, is the result of five years of artistic research at the intersection of geopolitics, ecology and technology. The film travels through silicon mines in France, data centres in Vienna and salt lakes in the United States, revealing how processes of measurement, mapping and computation do not merely represent landscapes, but actively transform, deplete and leave their waste within them.

 

In Messengers (2025), Canadian documentary filmmaker Jeffrey Zablotny takes audiences deep into three underground research centres in Canada, Japan and Antarctica. Beneath the surface, scientific institutions have built gigantic telescopes designed to detect invisible particles and investigate the properties of matter at scales smaller than atoms. The radioactive noise of neutrinos and its visualisation become the starting point for a mesmerising, poetic immersion into complex scientific instruments and the subatomic depths of black holes. The abstract imagery of gigantic machines, reminiscent of science fiction, contrasts with the precision of particle physics research, leading towards fundamental questions shared by scientific, philosophical and artistic communities: why does matter exist rather than nothing?

 

As part of its regular talks programme, and alongside the conversation with Jocy de Oliveira and Dácio Pinheiro, Semibreve presents Music, Media, Affections, a conversation between Manuel Bogalheiro, Professor at Universidade Lusófona, and musicologist and researcher Júlia Durand. The discussion will explore the intersections between sound, music and image, examining the different possibilities of meaning that emerge from this particular form of alchemy.

 

The festival will also host two masterclasses.

 

Marta Salogni will discuss her work as a composer and producer, drawing on her extensive experience and her distinctive use of tape as a tool for composition, production, mixing and live performance. The masterclass will explore her creative and production processes, offering participants an insight into the techniques and approaches that shape her work. Tickers are now on sale. 

 

Qasim Naqvi will present the second of our masterclasses. Qasim will speak to students on the composition course at the Calouste Gulbenkian Conservatoire of Music in Braga about his artistic journey, his working methods and the importance of undertaking artistically diverse projects that ultimately influence one another.

 

A surprise on opening night

 

The final announcement comes with a surprise. On the festival’s opening night, Thursday 22 October, Semibreve will present a secret performance at Basílica dos Congregados, the same venue that will later host a concert by accordionist Suzan Peeters.

 

The identity of the artist performing the surprise set will remain undisclosed until they take the stage. Audiences will only discover who is performing at the very moment the concert begins.

Semibreve closes the performance programme for its 2026 edition with a final wave of confirmations spanning commissioned works, world premieres, live performances and exploratory club culture.

 

Newly announced artists include Nuno Canavarro & Bruno Miguel Pinto with “/Radiant Rift”, Marta Salogni presenting  “a,drift”, a commissioned work by Semibreve, Berlin Atonal and Unsound), Ricardo Jacinto with the world premiere of “Manto”, Suzan Peeters performing “Cassotto”, System Sophie with the premiere of “Carbolines”, Peder Mannerfelt B2B RONI, Flora Yin-Wong and Dawn Dani.

 

Full festival passes are now sold out, but it is still possible to experience the full festival through a combination of Theatro Circo passes and gnration day tickets, both on sale. Daily tickets for performances at Theatro Circo will be on sale today.

 

The parallel programme, including talks, workshops and cinema, will be announced soon.

 

Commissioned by Semibreve, “/Radiant Rift” marks a new collaboration between Nuno Canavarro, a seminal figure in Portuguese experimental music and author of the landmark 1988 album Plux Quba, and LA-based Portuguese composer and producer Bruno Miguel Pinto. Blending fragile ambient textures, acoustic resonance, electronics, piano and voice, the performance will also feature visuals created by Canavarro himself.

 

One of the most acclaimed recording engineers and producers working today, Marta Salogni — whose credits include Björk, Depeche Mode, M.I.A. and Gorillaz — presents “a,drift”, a new work for multiple reel-to-reel tape machines and oscillators commissioned by Semibreve, Berlin Atonal and Unsound.

 

In a world premiere, Ricardo Jacinto presents “Manto”, a new piece for prepared cello, electronics and multichannel diffusion exploring sound as a tectonic and physical phenomenon. Through amplification, electroacoustic feedback and immersive spatialisation, the work unfolds as a dense sonic environment inspired by geological pressure and the shifting states of matter within the Earth’s mantle.

 

Brussels-based accordionist, composer and improviser Suzan Peeters brings “Cassotto”, a work that expands the sonic possibilities of the accordion through extended techniques and textural experimentation. Named after the resonating chamber inside the instrument itself, the performance explores intimacy, resonance and acoustic transformation.

 

Premiering at the festival, “Carbolines” by System Sophie transforms the human body into a biological synthesiser where memory, emotion and physical sensation become sound. Built through irregular rhythms, digital textures and immersive electronics, the performance navigates the intersections of ambient, industrial and techno-inflected experimentation.

 

A rare back-to-back encounter between Peder Mannerfelt, half of the duo Roll The Dice, and Parisian-Malaysian DJ, producer and head of Nehza Records, RONI. Two uncompromising voices in contemporary electronic music, moving through industrial techno, experimental club mutations and intense rhythmic explorations, the set thrives on tension, unpredictability and raw energy.

 

Also joining the festival with a DJ set is Flora Yin-Wong, whose practice merges field recordings, electronic manipulation and deconstructed club music into deeply immersive sonic environments shaped by memory, mythology and diasporic narratives.

 

Closing this final wave of confirmations is Dawn Dani, a DJ from Braga whose sets move between dark atmospheres, deep basslines and emotionally driven storytelling, crafting immersive journeys shaped by introspection and underground club culture.

Azu Tiwaline
Fennesz & Oscar Jockel Saffron on Grey
João Carlos Pinto A1-0 N3
Malcolm Pardon & Gustaf Broms Flesh and Bones
Noémi Büchi Exuvie
PYUR & Tarik Barri Mass Oneiria
Qasim Naqvi & Steven Wendt Howlround
Sam Slater & Guests Lunng
TYGAPAW Together You Gather All Power Applied Worldwide

 

Premiered in February this year at the Berliner Philharmoniker, Semibreve will host the second presentation of Saffron on Grey, a new collaboration between composer and conductor Oscar Jockel and Austrian producer and guitarist Christian Fennesz. The performance features a 12-piece ensemble and a specially designed light setup.

 

Lunng is the new work by British artist Sam Slater. The sound designer, producer and composer, and two-time Grammy winner, will present this piece in a performance featuring collaborations with local artists, alongside stage and lighting design by Theresa Baumgartner.

 

In a world premiere, Berlin-based experimental electronic artist Sophie Schnell, or PUYR, will present Mass Oneiria, her fourth album, in an A/V show with visuals by renowned artist Tarik Barri, who has collaborated with Radiohead, Atoms for Peace, Paul Jebanasam and Nicolas Jaar, among many others.

 

Also in a world premiere, Pakistani-American composer Qasim Naqvi, best known as the drummer of the acclaimed trio Dawn of Midi, will present an A/V show based on his modular synthesiser compositions, accompanied by Steven Wendt’s video feedback projections.

 

Swiss-French composer and sound artist Noémi Büchi will present her new record, Exuvie, in an A/V show with visuals by Brigitte Faessler.

 

Flesh and Bones is the new album by Swedish producer Malcolm Pardon, one half of Roll The Dice. In a world premiere at Semibreve, the performance will be based on this new work, enhanced by film and set design by Swedish visual artist Gustaf Broms.

 

Set for release this May on Tresor Records, TYGAPAW’s third studio album explores industrial, dancehall and techno, focusing on Black queer and trans identity. At Semibreve, TYGAPAW will present a powerful, haunting, sensual and activating live performance.

 

Inspired by her roots in the Sahara desert, French-Tunisian artist Azu Tiwaline surprised audiences with her debut Draw Me a Silence in 2020. At Semibreve, she will present a live performance based on her latest work with Cinna Peyghamy, showcasing her distinctive blend of dub culture, techno hypnosis and Berber music.

 

After a year as artist in residence at Porto’s Casa da Música, Portuguese composer and musician João Carlos Pinto will premiere at Semibreve a new immersive sci-fi and techno-futuristic performance, presented across multiple moments.

 

+ to be announced

+ installations, talks, workshops, cinema