Biennale Musica 2025: tickets are available online as of 18 August

Starting today, Monday August 18th (12 noon), ticket sales begin online for Biennale Musica. Advance tickets and subscriptions may be purchased online for the events scheduled from October 11th to 25th exclusively on the website of La Biennale di Venezia at https://labiennale.vivaticket.it/en/tour/la-biennale-di-venezia-musica/3755

There is a range of offers that include:

• A subscription to three concerts (except for Star Chamber – Secret Island) at the price of 60 euro (instead of 75)
• For students and young people under 26 a subscription to three concerts (except for Star Chamber – Secret Island) at the special price of 36 euro (instead of 48)
• A combined ticket Biennale Musica + Biennale Architettura, which includes the choice of one concert among those in the programme of the 69th International Festival of Contemporary Music (except for Star Chamber – Secret Island) and one admission ticket to the 19th International Architecture Exhibition at the price of 35 euro (instead of 50).

From October 11th to 25th Venice will be the stage for the 69th International Festival of Contemporary Music directed by Caterina Barbieri and titled The Star Within. A poetic-symbolic image that, in the words of Caterina Barbieri, evokes “the desire for great things and for vastness. A vibration that permeates the cosmos and pierces through us with awe, from molecule to planetary motion, sound escapes the boundaries of the ego and opens us up to the encounter with the Other — the unknown.”

In this sense Star Chamber – Secret Island reflects the essence of the festival, inviting audiences to a special event on October 19th (at 1 pm and 4 pm) that departs from Riva degli Schiavoni on a dedicated boat for a mystical musical journey towards an island of the Venetian lagoon steeped in mystery. An island that becomes the stage for site-specific sonic and performative interventions in a continuous flow that explores sound, space and perception.

“Emphasizing dislocation, attentiveness, and the suspension of conventional audience’s expectations, Star Chamber – Secret Island unfolds as a continuous, time-based experience. The audience is guided through musical epiphanies that celebrate the island’s unique architecture and atmosphere, inviting complete immersion in ephemeral, site-responsive acts” (Caterina Barbieri).

Focusing on cosmic music understood not as a genre but for the generative power it wields beyond all genres and styles, the programme of the 69th International Festival of Contemporary Music delves its “roots in electronic music and minimalism branching out into multiple directions that explore connections between past and present, juxtaposing musical traditions that seem distant from one another in terms of style, era, geography, and community expression. There are forays into ancient music, contemporary sounds, folk, drone music, techno, and afrofuturism. A programming conceived for resonance, offering the most vivid and fluid possible view of the contemporary, representing the richness, diversity, and inclusivity of present-day music.”

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 Achivement, many are the musicians that compose the mosaic of the Festival. They include: 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. With them, the musicians under 30 selected for Biennale College: Luka Aron, francesca fabrizi, Jasmine Morriss, res_, Morgana.

Also appearing at the 69th Festival will be a legend of the second Detroit techno wave, Carl Craig, whose groundbreaking electronic music explores the rich Afro-Futurist legacy of the city in a cosmological perspective of sound understood as imagining possible new futures. The two-night programme From the Far Future at Forte Marghera is inspired by these ideas, and has invited Carl Craig to participate with one of his dj sets at the inaugural event in Padiglione 30. Opening the event, for an encounter between generations, will be a new voice in English bass culture, Mia Koden, a Sudanese-English artist with musical roots in reggae, drum & bass and dubstep. The programme of From the Far Future will feature other live and dj sets, including DJ Marcelle, a cult figure in experimental dance, known for her explosive and undefinable sonic collages, which move with radically punk energy between different genres and styles; and STILL, the pseudonym for Simone Trabucchi, a multidisplinary artist and legend of the Italian underground, one half of the duo Invernomuto and founder of the Hundebiss Records label, who brings to Venice his sophisticated sound, suspended between dub and digital abstraction.

And finally, the LSD Centre (La Stella Dentro Centre), will be a space dedicated to the deep listening, encounter and exchange that reflect the principles of the festival. Located inside the Sale d’Armi at the Arsenale, in addition to the audio-visual installations Songs of Ascension Shrine by Meredith Monk and Elevations by Maxime Denuc, the LSD Centre will host a programme featuring contributions by the artists participating in the festival, with live performances, listening sessions and lectures.

Ticket information for the 69th International Festival of Contemporary Music is now available on the website of La Biennale di Venezia: https://www.labiennale.org/en/music/2025/information#tickets