This year’s Artist in Residence is Austrian Chris Janka, a mechanical engineer, musician, composer and sound researcher. In Saalfelden, he will be presenting his MIDI Orchestra as an independent interpretation and improvisation system as well as the new record Lutebulb by his trio Blueblut. He will also pay homage to electronic music pioneer Wendy Carlos with his converted guitar in a solo act.

A commission work by Iranian artist Mona Matbou Riahi is also on the schedule. Traditionally slated as the opening concert of the Mainstage on Friday evening, she will transform the Congress in Saalfelden into an atmospheric, experimental, dreamy sound space with the premiere of her project Nebulift.

Almost 200 musicians from 16 nations promise an eventful weekend full of musical discoveries and international gatherings. The Synesthetic Octet, otherMother and Purple Muscle Car are just some of the band names that prominently feature Austrian musicians.

Artists visiting from overseas include Sylvie Courvoisier, who brings together key musical personalities from the New York jazz scene such as Nasheet Waits (drums), Drew Gress (bass), Nate Wooley (trumpet) and Mexican-born Patricia Brennan (vibes and percussion) with the electro sound of Austrian guitarist Christian Fennesz in her latest formation, Chimaera. Erik Friedlander’s The Throw presents its brand new album Dirty Boxing as a captivating experience that explores the unexpected parallels between the disciplined artistry of music and the strategic combat of mixed martial arts. Also with a new album, saxophone titan James Brandon Lewis meets the trio Messthetics with guitarist Anthony Pirog, and cellist Tomeka Reid presents her suite 3+3 together with Jason Roebke on bass, Mary Halvorson on guitar and Tomas Fujiwara on percussion. Amirtha Kidambi’s Elder Ones will be performing in Saalfelden for the first time. The formation around the extraordinary singer pushes the boundaries of jazz and electronic forms.

Returning guests from European countries include Petter Eldh, the brothers Théo and Valentin Ceccaldi, Sofia Jernberg, Daniel Erdmann, Mats Gustafsson, Dan Nicholls and Oliver Steidle.

Flash mob artist and saxophonist Yvonne Moriel has just been accepted into the New Austrian Sound Of Music 2025/2026 funding program by a jury of experts consisting of organizers, journalists and university professors for her solo project sweet life, founded in 2022. What began with an album as a starting point is constantly evolving with free improvisation surfaces, trance-like grooves and avant-garde sound paintings — with the power to transform the town of Saalfelden into a creative playground during her eager awaited presence at the festival.

Another type of musical playground will be the hermitage on the “Palfen” in Saalfelden for the first time during this year’s festival. As early as the 16th century, people made pilgrimages to this rocky cave at an altitude of over 1,000 meters, which was taken as an opportunity by members of the Order of St. Francis to build a hermitage there, above Lichtenberg Castle, in the mid-17th century. Still inhabited today as a place of contemplation by a hermit, the trombonist Alois Eberl and the trumpeter Martin Eberle — both well known to connoisseurs of the festival — will hold a “brass-blown devotion” at the heights on Friday, Aug. 23.

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