Hay Festival Arequipa 2026 – Crippled Symmetries: Listening to Invisible Worlds

Teatro Municipal de Arequipa / Instituto Cultural Peruano Alemán /
Biblioteca personal de Mario Vargas Llosa, Peru

Hay Festival Arequipa 2026 – Crippled Symmetries: Listening to Invisible Worlds

Thursday, 5 November 2026, 20:00
Teatro Municipal de Arequipa

A journey through sound, resonance, and transformation with works by Ana Maria Rodriguez, Giacinto Scelsi and a free improvisation. Crippled Symmetries explores fragile deviations from the familiar – moments where sound, image and perception reveal hidden connections. The programme explores hidden relationships between voice and instrument, nature and technology, memory and environment. Through acoustic and electronic sounds, video and subtle transformations of musical material, the works invite us to discover forms of listening beyond the immediately audible.

Programme

AnA Maria Rodriguez – Wavering
Version for bass clarinet, viola, double bass, electronics and video (2022)

Giacinto Scelsi – Manto II + III
for singing viola player (1957)

Theo Nabicht / Jonathan Heilbron – Deriva
for double bass and bass clarinet (2026)

Ana Maria Rodriguez – The Frequency of Flowers
for two musicians, electronics and video (2022)

Ensemble KNM Berlin
Theo Nabicht, bass clarinet ｜ Kirstin Maria Pientka, viola ｜ Jonathan Heilbron, double bass ｜ Ana Maria Rodriguez, electronics ｜ Thomas Bruns, video/sound

Workshop: Crippled Symmetries: Encuentros

Friday, 5 November 2026, 17:00–19:00
Instituto Cultural Peruano Alemán

Workshop in cooperation with the Escuela de Música Contemporánea de Arequipa

Encuentros – encounters – is an invitation to share the musical practice of the members of Ensemble KNM Berlin: their experience as specialists in contemporary music, their work as performers and improvisers, and their exploration of the technologies of our time. Through exchange and experimentation, the workshop opens a space for discovering different approaches to sound, listening and musical creation.

with Theo Nabicht, Kirstin Maria Pientka, Jonathan Heilbron, Ana Maria Rodriguez and Thomas Bruns

Hay Festival Arequipa 2026 – Crippled Symmetries: Sound Massages

Saturday, 7 November 2026, 15:00–19:00
Biblioteca personal de Mario Vargas Llosa

Sound Massages
(after Pascal Battus and Thierry Madiot)

Crippled Symmetries invites audiences to discover new ways of listening, where sound becomes a space for encounter, resonance, and imagination. A sound massage opens a field of listening and inner perception of extraordinary closeness and intimacy. Very close to the ears, yet without touching them, delicate sounds are created with small everyday objects. These subtle sounds reveal a microscopic inner world, surprising the listener through their fragility and detail.

Developed by the French sound artists and improvisers Pascal Battus and Thierry Madiot, the massages sonores create a unique experience between performance and listening. They invite us to slow down, to focus our attention and to experience sound as a physical and imaginative space.

Performed by:
Theo Nabicht ｜ Kirstin Maria Pientka ｜ Jonathan Heilbron ｜ Ana Maria Rodriguez ｜ Thomas Bruns

Crippled Symmetries is a project by Ensemble KNM Berlin in cooperation with Busan International Contemporary Music Festival, Department of Musicology of the Free University of Berlin, Frequenz_Festival Kiel, Goethe-Institut Peru, Greek National Opera Alternative Stage, Kultur Büro Elisabeth, MaerzMusik / Berliner Festspiele and Studio Acht Taipei.
Funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation). Funded by the Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media). With the kind support of the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion.