October 2025: from Saturday 11th to Saturday 25th, Venice will be the stage for the 69th International Festival of Contemporary Music, directed by Caterina Barbieri and titled The Star Within.
The Star Within is a poetic-symbolic image that evokes, in the words of Caterina Barbieri, “the longing for great things, for vastness. A vibration that permeates the cosmos and crosses us with wonder, from the molecule to planetary motion; sound carries us beyond the boundaries of the ego and opens us to encounters with the other – the unknown.”
Focused on cosmic music understood not as a genre but in its full generative power beyond genres and styles, the program of the 69th International Festival of Contemporary Music is rooted “in electronic music and minimalism, branching out in multiple directions that explore connections between past and present, juxtaposing musical traditions seemingly distant from one another in style, era, and geography, and as expressions of a community – continues Barbieri – There are forays into ancient, contemporary, folk, drone music, techno, and Afrofuturism. A program by resonance, offering a view of the contemporary as vivid and fluid as possible, representing the music of the present in its richness, diversity, and inclusivity.”
From Laurie Spiegel and the Dither Quartet to Suzanne Ciani with Actress, from Catherine Christer Hennix and the Kamigaku Ensemble to Meredith Monk, recipient of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, many musicians shape the mosaic of the Festival. Among them: Chuquimamani-Condori, recipient of the Silver Lion, William Basinski, Yosuke Fujita, Moritz Von Oswald, Ellen Arkbro, Agnese Menguzzato, Maxime Denuc, Bendik Giske, Enrico Malatesta, Abdullah Miniawy, Aleksi Perälä, Christian Fennesz, Sunn O))), FontanaMIX, DeForrest Brown Jr, Nkisi, Mabe Fratti, Rafael Toral, Ecco2k. Alongside them, the under-30 musicians selected for Biennale College: Luka Aron, francesca fabrizi, Jasmine Morriss, res_, Morgana.
The 69th Festival will also welcome a legend of Detroit’s second-wave techno, Carl Craig, whose electronic pioneering explores the city’s rich Afrofuturist legacy in a cosmological perspective of sound as imagination of new possible futures. The two-evening program From the Far Future at Forte Marghera draws inspiration from these ideas, inviting Carl Craig to perform one of his DJ sets at the opening night at Pavilion 30. Opening the event, in an intergenerational encounter, will be a new voice of English bass culture, Mia Koden, a Sudanese-English artist with musical roots in reggae, drum & bass, and dubstep. The From the Far Future program also features other live acts and DJ sets, including: DJ Marcelle, a cult figure of experimental dance, known for her explosive and unclassifiable sound collages that move with radically punk energy across genres and styles; and STILL, the pseudonym of Simone Trabucchi, a multidisciplinary artist and Italian underground legend – part of the duo Invernomuto and founder of the label Hundebiss Records – who brings to Venice his sophisticated sound suspended between dub and digital abstraction.
The LSD Centre (La Stella Dentro Centre) will finally be a space dedicated to deep listening, meeting, and exchange, reflecting the principles of the festival. Located inside the Sale d’Armi at the Arsenale, in addition to the audiovisual installations Songs of Ascension Shrine by Meredith Monk and Elevations by Maxime Denuc, the LSD Centre will host a program featuring contributions from participating artists, marked by live performances, listening sessions, and talks.
The full program and all ticketing information for the 69th International Festival of Contemporary Music can be found on the official website.
main picture: Carl Craig
