Since its founding eight years ago, the Pierre Boulez Saal has become one of the most respected venues for chamber music worldwide. The Berlin-based hall continues to redefine the relationship between performers and audiences through its intimate circular layout and bold programming. With a maximum distance of just 14 meters between listener and stage, the venue fosters a distinctive closeness that continues to attract leading international artists and ensembles. The 2025–26 season, announced on 21 May, reflects that same spirit of innovation and openness.
Recitals and farewells
A number of acclaimed soloists and chamber musicians return to the Pierre Boulez Saal this season, including Mitsuko Uchida, Christian Tetzlaff, Isabelle Faust, Jörg Widmann, Leif Ove Andsnes, Elisabeth Leonskaja, and Renaud Capuçon. The Hagen Quartet, one of Europe’s most celebrated string quartets, will give its final Berlin performance.
The season also features the return of Sir András Schiff with a six-concert cycle dedicated to composers who have marked his career, including Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, and Bach’s Art of Fugue. Christian Gerhaher and Gerold Huber revisit Schubert’s Lieder, and soprano Sabine Devieilhe makes her debut with pianist Mathieu Pordoy, performing French repertoire.
Voices across centuries
The hall continues its strong commitment to vocal music. Mojca Erdmann contrasts settings of Ophelia’s texts by Richard Strauss and Wolfgang Rihm. Andrè Schuen and Daniel Heide explore the dreamscapes of late-Romantic song, while Golda Schultz and Jonathan Ware present Dark Matter(s), combining works by Florence Price and Johannes Brahms. Alice Coote and Julius Drake juxtapose songs by Bach and Wagner with Nina Simone and Joni Mitchell. In The Knot, the RIAS Kammerchor Berlin and Ensemble Resonanz premiere a new work by Joanna Marsh, conducted by Justin Doyle.
A major focus is the legacy of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, commemorated 500 years after his birth. The Tallis Scholars under Peter Phillips offer three concerts that place his music in dialogue with composers like Tomás Luis de Victoria, Orlando di Lasso, and Claudio Monteverdi.
Early music and rediscoveries
Baroque and Renaissance repertoire remains central to the programming, with appearances by Kristian Bezuidenhout, La fonte musica (led by Michele Pasotti), Capella de la Torre, and Isabelle Faust. The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin presents a festival devoted to Emilie Mayer, performing newly reconstructed editions of her orchestral works – including her Piano Concerto in B-flat, with Alexander Melnikov as soloist.
Improvisation, jazz, and cultural dialogues
Improvised music and cross-genre projects continue to expand the Pierre Boulez Saal’s boundaries. Jazz figures such as Dee Dee Bridgewater, Bill Charlap, and Wadada Leo Smith are featured alongside Nicole Mitchell, Shabaka, David Virelles, and Aja Monet. Abel Selaocoe and Meshell Ndegeocello contribute programs that blend genres and address social themes.
Naseer Shamma curates The Journey of Instruments, a series tracing the oud’s influence across musical cultures. Guest soloists include Shujaat Khan (sitar), Carlos Piñana (guitar), Elizabeth Kenny (lute), and the viol consort Phantasm. Additional concerts spotlight artists such as Waed Bouhassoun, Simon Shaheen, Ghada Ghanem, Moslem Rahal, Bakr Khleifi, and Misagh Joolaee.
Ensembles and premieres
The Boulez Ensemble returns for three programs under Matthias Pintscher, François-Xavier Roth, and Thomas Guggeis. Repertoire spans from Olga Neuwirth’s trumpet concerto and Rebecca Saunders’ sound explorations to Schoenberg’s arrangements of Johann Strauss waltzes and Berg’s Chamber Concerto with Alina Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien.
Contemporary highlights also include a collaboration between Barbara Hannigan and the Belcea Quartet, and a performance by Martin Fröst and Roland Pöntinen featuring music by Brahms, Poulenc, and Anders Hillborg. The Albert Hofmann Sound System, led by Acid Pauli, explores minimalism and improvisation through electronics, vibraphone, and percussion.
For more information, visit Pierre Boulez Saal
Subscribe to our newsletter