GAIA is Bern’s first international chamber music festival. We are also a platform where ideas, music, and people converge into dialogue, from which new works, impulses, and encounters take place. Our programming is at the heart of the festival, driven by curiosity around social issues and narratives. You can find us in concert halls, factories, fitness centres, places of worship, cafés, museums, libraries, and living rooms – we seek out venues that become part of the artistic experience themselves. Our curiosity leads us to building cross-genre and multidisciplinary productions with one specific goal in mind – to collectively be changed, invigorated, inspired after every performance

Ten days a year, established musicians and artists as well as emerging talents gather on location to rehearse, exchange, and interpret. Cultures intertwine and enrich. Site-specific performance concepts, co-curation, and impromptu programmes sit alongside familiar chamber music and chamber orchestra frameworks. Our complete line-up and festival team live together in one place during the entirety of the festival – which can be challenging when opposing opinions on the world around us collide. And just that is part of what we demonstrate – chamber music as language of reconciliation and peace. Equally, established, rarely played, and new works populate the festival space. This temporary but intense coexistence offers fresh perspectives and alternative approaches to how we think, play, and interact with our audience.

We believe in revitalising outstanding classical music programmes and bringing these to a curious, diverse audience. GAIA invites its audience to witness the creative process, attend rehearsals, and engage directly with the musicians.

Conceived, developed, and brought to life in Bern, we create bold, innovative art and cultural experiences that foster a welcoming community. What follows is an enriching, vibrant collaborative effort – in front of, behind, and on stage, set against the backdrop of one of Switzerland’s most beautiful landscapes.