Atalanta Festival of Women Composers
Friday: 4:00 p
.m. – 10:00 p.m. Saturday & Sunday: 1:00 p.m. – 10:00 p
.m.
The festival features chamber music by female composers from various centuries, ranging from the Byzantine composer Kassia to music from the Baroque and Romantic periods, all the way through the 20th and 21st centuries.
Atalanta—the huntress and fastest runner in Greek mythology, as well as a symbol of courage, freedom, and rebellion—is the festival’s namesake.
With a 20-hour program, Atalanta champions a pluralistic music scene, female composers as the core of the contemporary music canon, and the musicians who perform their works. The festival invites you to spend an entire weekend listening to, enjoying, and celebrating the music of women composers!
The festival is curated by Fidan Aghayeva-Edler.
Program (Selection)
Friday, October 23, 2026
5:30 p.m.: The Waves of Amphitribe: Myths of the Sea with the OpusXXX ensemble
7:00 p.m.: Atalanta & beyond: Text-and-music performance with Mareike Hein (acting), Kathrin von Kieseritzky (saxophone)
8:00 p.m.: Commissioned composition by Leonie Roessler, *Chrysa Mila* (Golden Apples), world premiere with Fidan Aghayeva-Edler (piano)
Saturday, October 24, 2026
1:00 p.m.: Lunch Concert—Works by Amy Beach, Mel Bonis, Caroline Shaw, and others, featuring the BarCa Duo (piano for four hands), Gabriel Ducomble (percussion), Yeo-Rhim Yoon (cello), Katrina Paula Felsberga (soprano) & Justine Eckhaut (piano)
2:30 p.m.: Discussion with female composers Jobina Timmermans, Rachel C. Walker, and Leonie Roessler
4:00 p.m.: “Music Herstories” with Samantha Edge (piano)
6:30 p.m.: Commissioned composition by Rachel C. Walker, *Glosses from a Frequency Burst* (world premiere) with Nina Guo (soprano)
8:00 p.m.: Modern Berlin Women Composers—works by Ruth Schonthal, Charlotte Schlesinger, Alice Samter, and others, featuring Margarete Huber (soprano), Marketa Janouskova (violin), Ehrengard von Gemmingen (cello), Fidan Aghayeva-Edler (piano)
Sunday, October 25, 2026
1:00 p.m.: Lunch Concert—Works by Caroline Shaw, Barbara Strozzi, Caterina Assandra, Ruth Zechlin, Amy Beach, and others, featuring the Trama Ensemble (vocal trio), Duo Amabile (clarinet, accordion), Lillia Keyes (cello), and Anna-Luise Oppelt (mezzo-soprano)
3:00 p.m.: Femmes de légende—works by Mel Bonis with Kyra Steckweh (piano)
4:30 p.m.: [HINTERLAND]—The Sweetness of Lonely Drifting. Works by Ying Wang (world premiere), Sarah Nemtsov (world premiere), Sabine Ulubeanu (world premiere), and Aya Metwalli (world premiere) with Claudia van Hasselt (voice), Nicolas Wiese (visual art), and T.B.A. (harpsichord)
7:00 p.m.: Commissioned composition by Jobina Timmermans, *Fermi Paradox* (world premiere), featuring Gunnhildur Einarsdottir (harp)
8:30 p.m.: Asteria—echo // fragment // light. Works by Lisa Streich, Bara Gisladottir, LUX:NM, and others, featuring Ensemble LUX:NM
The detailed program is available for download on the right. For more information, visit https://www.atalanta-festival.com.
Tickets (various categories):
Festival pass: 90 €, reduced 60 €.
Single ticket: 15 €, reduced 12 €; Friday day
pass: 25 €, reduced 20 €
; Saturday and Sunday day passes: 40 € each, reduced 30 €
plus advance booking fees online via Eventim and at the box office.
The festival pass price includes one free drink!
Admission to the performance “Atalanta & beyond” with a festival pass or day ticket is subject to seat availability.
The first edition of the festival will
feature three world premieres. Composers Jobina Tinnemans, Leonie Roessler, and Rachel C. Walker were commissioned to write works for harp, piano, and soprano, which will be premiered as solo performances by Gunnhildur Einarsdóttir, Fidan Aghayeva-Edler, and Nina Guo, and which have elements of experimentation and improvisation. These three concerts will be released from February through April 2027 on three digital albums via Aghayeva-Edler’s newly founded label, Salomé Records.
The festival presents chamber music by female composers from various centuries, ranging from the Byzantine composer Kassia through Baroque and Romantic music to the 20th and 21st centuries. A separate concert will be dedicated to the music of modernist female composers from Berlin, featuring works by Ruth Schonthal, Charlotte Schlesinger, Ursula Mamlok, and others.
Additionally, two pianists—Kyra Steckeweh and Samantha Ege (a musicologist researching Black female composers in the U.S.)—have been invited; both have long been advocates for the performance of music by female composers. Concert talks will be held with both artists.
Three Berlin ensembles, five duos, and a vocal trio
In addition to approximately one-hour concerts by the Berlin ensembles OpusXX, LUX:NM, and FrauVonDa, the festival program also features the duos BarCa, Ducomble & Yoon, Felsberga & Eckhaut, Keyes & Oppelt, Duo Amabile, and the vocal trio Trama Ensemble. In two lunch concerts, they will each present programs lasting about 20 minutes, spanning a musical arc from the Middle Ages to the present. OpusXX performs Baroque works, while LUX:NM focuses on contemporary music. Claudia van Hasselt, alias FrauVonDa, will present a song cycle featuring five world premieres. These works were commissioned specifically for the festival from five female composers.
Atalanta as a Live Performance
In a text-and-music performance by Mareike Hein (acting), Kathrin von Kieseritzky (music), and Teresa Reiber (director), Atalanta—as a mythological figure—serves as a canvas for exploring questions of autonomy and freedom, emancipation, and societal limitations on female artistic creativity.
Organizer:
Fidan Aghayeva-Edler in cooperation with Kultur Büro Elisabeth.
Funding:
Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion
© Jeremy Knowles