Contemporary music is set to permeate Milan, resonating within its cultural memory sites and weaving a tapestry of sonic experiences. The new season of “Suoni Trasfigurati” (Transfigured Sounds), a music festival organized by the Fondazione Pasquale Battista, is launching in Milan. Returning in 2026, the festival presents a series of concerts dedicated to the fusion of acoustic music, electronics, and new technologies. The third edition, titled Costellazioni / Constellations, will run from March 14 to November 25, offering seven free events hosted across some of the city’s most significant museums and cultural centers. The artistic direction is led by Luca Carnicelli and Luisa Longhi.
Organized with the support of main sponsor Levigas Luce e Gas (part of the Augusta Ratio group) and in collaboration with entities such as MMT Creative Lab, NoMus, and the Società del Quartetto di Milano, the festival continues its mission to foster dialogue among cultural institutions, musical research, and the public. The “Suoni Trasfigurati 2026” program brings together musicians and performers from diverse fields of contemporary musical exploration. Invited artists include Kyoka, Katarina Gryvul, Véronique Vanhoucke with Francesco Leprino, Tony Yike Yang, Ermanno Novali with Rosario Grieco, and the Quartetto Itaca with Andrea Bacchetti and Andrea Ferrario.
Conceived as a sprawling sound laboratory within the museum space, the festival follows a research path that interweaves musical practices, visual arts, and architecture. The concerts will indeed take place in emblematic venues of Milanese cultural life, including the ADI Design Museum, Triennale Milano, Museo del Novecento, Gallerie d’Italia – Milano, Museo Teatrale alla Scala, Museo Nazionale della Scienza e Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci, and the GAM – Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Milano.
The season’s title, Costellazioni, draws inspiration from Walter Benjamin’s reflection that “Ideas are to things what constellations are to stars.” Here, the image of a constellation serves as a theoretical key to understanding the program’s structure, envisioned as a network of relationships between disparate elements that gain meaning precisely when brought into dialogue. This perspective also echoes Theodor W. Adorno’s thoughts on the tension between fragment and totality in aesthetic experience.
The 2026 edition will commence on Saturday, March 14, at the ADI Design Museum with a performance by Japanese producer and sound artist Kyoka, a leading figure in international electronic experimentation. Active between Berlin and Tokyo, Kyoka is renowned for a sound language built on radical manipulation of acoustic materials and for being the first solo female artist released by the German label Raster-Noton, a benchmark for experimental European electronics.
Following the opening, the calendar continues on April 14 at Triennale Milano with Ukrainian composer and producer Katarina Gryvul; on May 27 at Museo Teatrale alla Scala with pianist Tony Yike Yang; and on June 23 at Museo del Novecento with the Quartetto Itaca joined by pianist Andrea Bacchetti. In autumn, the festival will proceed at Gallerie d’Italia with the dialogue between amplified piano and video by Véronique Vanhoucke and Francesco Leprino; at the Museo della Scienza e Tecnologia with an audiovisual performance by Ermanno Novali and Rosario Grieco; concluding on November 25 at the GAM with a concert by guitarist Andrea Ferrario.
In addition to the main concerts, the project also includes a series of in-depth thematic sessions scheduled between June and November at the Centrale dell’Acqua di Milano, the corporate museum of MM Metropolitana Milanese, thereby reinforcing the research and dissemination dimension characteristic of the festival.
A significant role is also assigned to the visual imagery accompanying the season. The images created by photographer Cesare Di Liborio, constructed through architectural details, material textures, and luminous abstractions, are conceived as a narrative extension of the project, anticipating and amplifying the sonic experience of the concerts.
All events offer free admission but require mandatory reservation.
