34th Alternativa festival to take place in Prague in October–November

From 30 October to 14 November 2026, Prague will host the 34th Alternativa festival of experimental music — one of the city's longest-running showcases of bold, dense sound, running since the early 1990s. The programme is split across two weekends and spread over several venues around Prague.

From the outset, Alternativa was conceived as a counterweight to the uniform line-ups of commercial festivals: its organisers seek out connections between foreign and local musicians that have not yet been explored. While the focus once fell on leading figures of the experimental, free-jazz and improvised scenes, today the festival places living legends and cult performers alongside emerging talents from the Czech and international scenes.

Opening night: a church and Petrohradská

On 30 October, the Church of St Simon and St Jude will host American musician Liz Harris, known as Grouper, supported by the Heartnoize Promotion platform: after a 17-year gap, she returns to Prague with her chamber music, in which ambient soundscapes merge with hushed vocals and melancholy songwriting. She will be joined by the London project Alpha Maid, which combines fragile guitar parts with brooding electronics.

On 31 October, the Petrohradská cultural centre will host an evening called AltShift, giving the stage to young musicians who took part in the festival's workshops in past years and are now presenting their own projects. Billed acts include noise experimentalist Gerty Adelaido, rap outfit Upground, the projects Xdekonstruktorx and Vermilion, musician Tym Dubenchuk, a string quartet, and the project Sinnbolic together with Rosálie Vacková.

Main programme at ARCHA++

The main part of the festival takes place on 13 and 14 November at the ARCHA++ hall. One of the most anticipated events is a joint performance by American singer Jarboe — one of the leading voices of the band Swans in the 1980s and 90s, who later launched a solo experimental career — and the Italian trio Zu, who work at the crossroads of jazz, metal and experimental music. Their joint programme will be played at just four exclusive concerts.

An electronic quartet has been put together specially for Alternativa: Czech experimentalists Ursula Sereghi and Sorbitol Drops will perform alongside French musician Oï les Ox, whose experimental pop follows the logic of dreams, and sound artist Isabella Forciniti, who works with delicate sound structures.

An unusual experience is promised by the Prague Quiet Music Collective together with percussionist Emilio Gorda: their four-hour programme LONG is built on meditative improvisation and focused listening. Vienna's experimental scene will be represented by guitarist Burkhard Stangl and Polish pianist Andrzej Karałow, whose duo rests on subtle yet unpredictable lines of guitar and piano.

The programme also includes a duo of Viola Yip and Michael Vorfeld, who use incandescent light bulbs simultaneously as a source of sound and light, Ukrainian composer Kateryna Hryvul, the international improvising quartet Open Family, the Austrian audiovisual group TOE, the French improvising trio TOC with saxophonist Sakina Abdou, and composer Hervé Birolini, who works with acousmatic music and sound installations.

As in previous years, Alternativa promises a colourful panorama of contemporary improvised, electronic and experimental music, bringing established names together with young musicians and one-off creative collaborations.

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Source: kudyznudy.cz