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Showcase Festival

Classical:NEXT presents artists and ensembles from around the world who push the boundaries and extend the horizons of art music.
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The Showcase Festival features a live concert series, spotlighting artists and productions across different formats. It offers a unique opportunity to experience multiple performances in a short amount of time.

The Festival features Daytime and Evening Showcases, Club Showcases, performances at the Innovation Award ceremony. Stay tuned for updates about the programme for Classical:NEXT 2026 in Budapest!

2026 Showcase Highlights

Showcase

An Old Future

(Chile)

“An Old Future” is an electroacoustic live set by Sebastián Vergara, an immersive musical and audiovisual experience lasting between 30 and 40 minutes (duration can be adapted). It explores the intersections between classical and contemporary music traditions, including experimental music, and filmmusic.
Presenter: Sebastián Vergara
CN26_Showcase_ILSANG ENSEMBLE

Showcase

MU

(South Korea)

MU is a contemporary classical performance combining Korean dance and daegeum with piano, strings, and percussion, reimagining classical music through innovation and a dialogue between Eastern and Western traditions.

Composer: Shin Kim
Presenter: ILSANG ENSEMBLE
April 9, 2026, 21:00
- 21:30
Budapest Music Center
, Concert Hall

Showcase

Söndörgő

(Hungary)

Bartók reimagined: Söndörgő transforms field recordings into a living contemporary classical language.
Presenter: Söndörgő
April 10, 2026, 21:30
- 22:00
Budapest Music Center
, Concert Hall
CN26_Showcase_Chloe Creates

Showcase

LIMBO Sonata

(Australia /Austria)

LIMBO Sonata is a ground-breaking interdisciplinary work uniting composer Chloé Charody, acrobatic violinist Sonja Schebeck, acrobat Josh Frazer and pianist Chanda Vanderhart to tell a poignant narrative through dynamic partner acrobatics, duo unicycle and cyr wheel, completely embracing contemporary circus and classical music in one captivating world.
Presenter: Chloé Charody Creations
April 10, 2026, 20:30
- 21:00
Budapest Music Center
, Concert Hall
CN26_Showcase_Conversation LAB Charles Ives Project

Showcase

Conversation_LAB: Charles Ives Songs 2.0

(Switzerland)

Have you ever thought even in your wildest dreams that Charles Ives Songs could sound like this??
Charles River is a crossover project led by Swiss drummer Florian Arbenz, reimagining Charles Ives’ songs through bold arrangements that unite classical and jazz musicians in an unexpected, playful, and creative sound world.
Presenter: Florian Arbenz
April 9, 2026, 20:00
- 20:30
Budapest Music Center
, Concert Hall
CN26_Club Showcase_Ladom Ensemble

Showcase

Ladom Ensemble

(Canada)

Ladom Ensemble is a mini-orchestra made up of four musicians who play a kind of acoustic fusion drawn from Western classical, klezmer, rock, tango, jazz, east coast traditional and classical Persian influences.
Presenter: Ladom Ensemble
April 9, 2026, 22:30
- 23:00
Budapest Music Center
, Opus Jazz Club

Showcase

Hlaskontrabas Oktet

(Czech Republic)

Hlaskontrabas Oktet is an expanded voice-and-double-bass ensemble blending jazz, improvisation, and contemporary music, featuring original compositions that balance intimacy, experimentation, and powerful collective energy.
Presenter: Ridina Ahmedová
April 10, 2026, 23:30
- 00:00
Budapest Music Center
, Opus Jazz Club

Showcase

Nimikry

Austria

Nimikry’s work combines technological innovation and artistic research on the highest level. The use of cutting-edge technology combined with the virtuosity of their classical instruments allows Nimikry a great flexibility and variety of output. Their augmented instruments are the basis and the inspirational playground for ongoing investigations on new sonic possibilities.
Presenter: Nimikry
April 9, 2026, 21:30
- 22:00
Budapest Music Center
, Opus Jazz Club
Gabriel Prokofiev

Showcase

Gabriel Prokofjev

(UK)

Gabriel Prokofiev is a composer of classical and electronic music, and the founder of Nonclassical record label and events (launched in 2004). Through Nonclassical, he is one of the leading proponents of presenting classical music in non-traditional venues, and pioneered the concept of bringing DJ sets to late-night classical gigs.
Presenter: Gabriel Prokofiev

Showcase

Sing Nature Alive

(Canada/Germany)

Sing Nature Alive from My Insides is a 40 minute composition for self-accompanied soprano, piano, and live electronics, featuring live video projections.
Presenter: Rachel Fenlon
April 9, 2026, 22:00
- 22:30
Budapest Music Center
, Concert Hall

Showcase

Reflective Hold

(Iran/Austria)

Reflective Hold is a duo project by Iranian musicians Golnar Shahyar and Atena Eshtiaghi, blending Iranian art song, poetry, and original music into an intimate, resilient dialogue of vulnerability, resistance, and hope.
Presenter: Golnar Shahyar Presenter: Atena Eshtiaghi
April 10, 2026, 22:30
- 23:00
Budapest Music Center
, Opus Jazz Club

Showcase

MAOMAH (Music Army Of Mystery And Hope)

(Czech Republic)

MAOMAH is a daring string ensemble led by bassist Klára Pudláková, blending composed frameworks with fearless improvisation, where Romantic lyricism, contemporary classical textures and raw noise collide through collective interplay in performance.
Presenter: MAOMAH (Music Army Of Mystery And Hope)
April 10, 2026, 13:30
- 14:00
Millenáris
, Showcases (E)
CN26_Showcase_Luz y Fuerza

Showcase

Collectif Alliage

(Argentina/ France)

Collectif Alliage is a piano, percussion, and accordion trio performing contemporary Argentine music, promoting new works through commissions, premieres, and high-energy performances that honor Argentina’s evolving cultural identity.
Presenter: Collectif Alliage
May 10, 2026, 22:30
- 23:00
Budapest Music Center
, Concert Hall

Showcase

ZONAR

(The Netherlands)

Zonar is a new series of original works by the North Sea String Quartet that dives into electronic music worlds on acoustic strings through prepared instruments, extended techniques, and vibrant improvisations.
Presenter: North Sea String Quartet
April 10, 2026, 15:15
- 15:45
Millenáris
, Showcases (E)

Showcase

Kodály Reframed

(Poland/New Zealand/UK)

Kodály Reframed is a cross-genre trio project that reimagines Zoltán Kodály’s music through improvisation inspired by folk traditions, creating a vivid dialogue between written composition and spontaneous musical invention.
Presenter: Kodály Reframed
April 9, 2026, 13:30
- 14:00
Millenáris
, Showcases (E)

Showcase

Mother Soldier

(Denmark)

Mother Soldier is a music performance for three percussionists by Danish composer Sandra Boss, combining sound, movement, and visual design to explore motherhood, war, care, and resilience in times of crisis.
Presenter: Sandra Boss
April 9, 2026, 15:15
- 15:45
Millenáris
, Showcases (E)
2025 Showcase Programme
2024 Showcase Programme
viibra (Photo: Christoph Mangler / Classical:NEXT 2025)
Twincussion (Photo Chistoph Mangler / Classical:NEXT 2025)
Anzû Quartet (Photo: Christoph Mangler / Classical:NEXT 2025)
Jane Auburg (Photo: Christoph Mangler / Classical:NEXT 2025)
Aris Daryono (Photo: Christoph Mangler / Classical:NEXT 2025)
Roberto Maqueda (Photo: Christoph Mangler / Classical:NEXT 2025)
Arcis Collective (Photo: Christoph Mangler / Classical:NEXT 2025)
Schubert Now (Photo Chistoph Mangler / Classical:NEXT 2025)
Komuna Collective (Photo Chistoph Mangler / Classical:NEXT 2025)

About Showcases

What is a Showcase?

Classical:NEXT Showcases are selected by an international jury of experts to present a wide range of high-quality artists and productions in every category from early to contemporary, traditional to experimental. Soloists and small ensembles as well as large ensembles, opera productions or musical theatre projects can be presented through a showcase concert.

Late-night showcases offer the chance to see outstanding NEXT artists perform at the Budapest Music Center in an intimate and relaxed atmosphere, together with Classical:NEXT DJs.

The Opening Artists take the stage at the Opening Ceremony of Classical:NEXT, where the event kicks off! This gala celebrates the NEXT music and fresh ideas, setting the scene for discovery. Stay tuned for updates!