TUFA Trier hosts Klangexperimente and New Music from February 7-9, 2025

We are celebrating 25 years of OPENING!

Since the year 2000, the OPENING Festival for Contemporary Sound Art has taken place at TUFA Trier and other venues across Trier's city center. This festival is one of a kind in Rhineland-Palatinate, having developed into a meeting place and an innovative space for artistic exploration over the past two decades. Its growing audience numbers confirm its success, as what was once considered a niche festival has now firmly established itself.

For participating artists, OPENING offers a workshop-like environment, serving as a space for new creations, experimental ventures, and artistic development. The festival also acts as a platform for young composers and musicians at the start of their careers. Over the years, many world premieres have been performed at OPENING (7 in 2023 alone), with some works being created explicitly for the festival.

However, OPENING is not just a festival for specialists. Its diverse programming—spanning Early Music, New and Contemporary Music, Modernist Classics, Non-European Music, improvisation, and interdisciplinary performance—seeks to engage a broad audience, including those unfamiliar with avant-garde contemporary music.

Special program for the 25th anniversary

To mark this milestone, the opening day will highlight artists from Rhineland-Palatinate. The day’s program will feature four projects and a student workshop led by regional artists, showcasing the strong presence of New Music initiatives in the region. Despite its geographical periphery within Germany, Rhineland-Palatinate has a vibrant contemporary music scene, which the festival aims to support and promote.

The Sound Art Class from the University of Music Mainz, under the direction of Prof. Peter Kiefer, has taken on the challenge of transforming the second floor of TUFA into an immersive sound space for the anniversary. An internationally diverse group of students will present a unique sound installation as part of OPEN-EXPO, which has accompanied the festival since 2011.

Additionally, the LandesJugendEnsemble Neue Musik Rheinland-Pfalz/Saar will host an interactive workshop for schools, offering students insights into their work and fostering engagement with contemporary music—a genre often perceived as inaccessible by younger generations. The opening concert of 2025 will be performed by the LandesJugendEnsemble Neue Musik Rheinland-Pfalz/Saar, featuring compositions from their own generation, including a world premiere by Jonah Ferdinand, a percussionist of the ensemble and winner of the "Jugend komponiert" competition.

📢 For all details and the full program, visit opening-festival.de or check our event calendar!

Presented by Tuchfabrik Trier e.V. on behalf of the City of Trier, in collaboration with the Gesellschaft für aktuelle Klangkunst.
Supported by the Ministry for Family, Women, Culture and Integration RLP, Sparkasse Trier, Lotto Foundation RLP, and the Nikolaus-Koch-Stiftung.