Concert recommendations for Berlin: hidden object pictures that have become sound

At the end of the week there will be another opportunity to experience the powerful-voiced Sofia Jernberg: in the Afrofuturist musical theater “Sunville”, based on texts by the Congolese author Fiston Mwanza Mujila. The singer with an affinity for improvisation moves between spiritual jazz and griot tradition. Referring to Sun Ra and Karlheinz Stockhausen, she immerses herself in a colorful underwater world. The piece is about new forms of living together (October 1st/2nd, 8 p.m., Tischlerei of the Deutsche Oper Berlin).

Not just with “Sunville”: When a stage becomes a hidden object, that can be great. It is therefore pleasing that the month of contemporary music opens with an ensemble festival. At the former CANK department store in Neukölln, which has been converted into a cultural venue, the local avant-garde ensemble scene can be experienced in all its diversity - 15 formations are at the start (2nd - 4th 10, CANK).

At the start (October 2nd, 7 p.m.) there are only three people on stage: Lange//Berweck//Lorenz, but they too can create pressure with their electro-acoustic means. The trio performs historical works of electronic music, but also works with contemporary composers. The significantly more crowded smoldering orchestra promises a raw, pulsating sound later in the evening.

Sunday (October 4th, 4 p.m.) also promises to be exciting, as “Autumn Leaves” (1968) by Terry Riley is on the program – brought to the stage by the Manufaktur für Aktuelle Musik (MAN) together with the musical theater company Nico and the Navigators and young residents of a housing project for refugees. The piece was created in the context of Riley's groundbreaking composition “In C” and has never been performed in Europe.

The ensemble festival, as exciting as it sounds, should not distract from taking a look at the rest of the contemporary music month's program. For example, the sound artist Hardi Kurda, who is interested in sounds that are otherwise ignored, meets the Lebanese artist Nour Sokhound and noise experiments by Karen Chalco (October 3, 8 p.m., Morphine Room) as part of the Disquiet concert and workshop series.

In addition, the queer BIPoC party series ¡MASH-UP! their 10th anniversary – and at the same time their farewell. The collective behind it was founded 15 years ago by activists from Brazil and brought artists from the Global South to local stages long before current cultural policy debates.

The queer post-punk band Mercenárias from São Paulo was also ahead of its time; it was founded 44 years ago. As a farewell, the iconic band will perform as part of a very colorful line-up (October 2, 9 p.m., SO36) - incidentally in the context of the “Club Culture Day” festival week. This year it's about the question of what the essence of club culture is in uncomfortable times like these.