GAIA 2026
Programme

Meet the Artists

Thursday, 26 November 2026, 6:30 p.m.
Museum of Communication ∙ PHBern Media Library ∙ ALPS

GAIA Night of Music in the Bern Museum Quarter

Three short concerts with intervals for changing venues
Total duration approx. 2 hours 30 minutes
Reception (apéritif) afterwards

For our opening evening, we invite you to a promenade concert experience, attuned to this year’s festival theme, “TO LIFE – and the Stories Between its Beginning and End”. Set in three cultural or academic institutions in the Bern Museum Quarter, three concerts of 30 minutes each feature works that delve into diverse perspectives on this year’s existential theme. Saariaho’s composition inspired by the ephemeral nature of a butterfly intersects with the remoteness of Mahler’s world. Memory and transience meet as Schubert recognises himself in his Doppelgänger whilst elsewhere Casulana, Europe’s first woman to have her music printed and published, writes about love’s departure. Between these short concerts, visitors move from the Museum of Communication to the ALPS – Swiss Alpine Museum and the PHBern Media Library. The evening concludes with a reception at the Museum of Communication, to which the public is warmly invited to meet the artists.

6:30 – 6.45 p.m.
Welcome and introduction to the concert evening
Museum of Communication, Bern

7:00 – 7:30 p.m.
Concert I
at all three venues

7:45 – 8:15 p.m.
Concert II
at all three venues

8:30 – 9:00 p.m.
Concert III
at all three venues

from 9:00 – approx. 10:30 p.m.
Reception (apéritif) with the artists and the GAIA team 
– a space for exchange and encounter at the
Museum of Communication, Bern

 

Museum of Communication
Bern

Henry Purcell (1659–1695)
Dido’s Lament “When I Am Laid in Earth”
from: Dido and Aeneas, Z 626

Jean Sibelius (1865–1957)
“Kom nu hit, död!”, Op. 60, No. 1

George Butterworth (1885–1916)
"Loveliest of Trees"
"Is My Team Ploughing?"
from: A Shropshire Lad (1911)
in an arrangement by Moritz Achermann

Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
“Der Doppelgänger”
from: Schwanengesang, D 957

Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924)
Crisantemi (1890)
for String Quartet

Gustav Mahler (1860–1911)
“Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen”
from: Rückert-Lieder (1901)

Musicians
Mezzosoprano and Guitar: Mirjam Fässler
Violin: Joanne Green, Miriam Helms Ålien
Viola: Julia Wawrowska
Cello: Alfredo Ferre Martínez

 

PHBern
Media Library

Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643)
“Incenerite spoglie, avara tomba”
“Darà la notte il sol”
“Ma te raccoglie, o Ninfa”
“O chiome d’or neve gentil del seno”
from: Sestina – Lagrime d’Amante al Sepolcro dell’Amata, SV 111

Maddelena Casulana Mezari (1544–1590)
“Il vostro dipartir”
“Gran miracol d’amore”
“Morte! Che voi?”
from: Madrigali a 4 voci, Libro 2 (1570)

Nino Rota (1911–1979)
Sarabanda e Toccata (1945)

Stefano Landi (1587–1639)
Passacaglia della vita

Musicians
Vocal ensemble: tempo d’affetto
Harp: Alexander Boldachev

 

ALPS
Swiss Alpine Museum, Hodler Hall

Kaija Saariaho (1952–2023)
Sept Papillons (2000)
for Cello Solo

Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992)
from: Quatuor pour la fin du Temps (1940/41)
III. Abîme des Oiseaux

Georg Friedrich Haas (*1953)
“… aus freier Lust … verbunden” (1994)
for Viola, Cello and Double Bass

Musicians
Clarinet: Damien Bachmann
Viola: Patrick Jüdt
Cello: Samuel Niederhauser, Chiara Samatanga
Double Bass: Lina Humbel
 

Programme subject to change

Tickets available from August
Tickets: CHF 25.–
Students/Apprentices/KulturLegi: CHF 5.–
Children up to 12 years accompanied by an adult: CHF 0.–

Friday, 27 November 2026, 7:30 p.m.
The Town Church of Thun

Coda – The Final Masterpiece

Concert with interval
Approx. 2 hours 15 minutes
Reception (apéritif) afterwards

According to ancient myth, the “swan song”, an artist’s final work, is often considered their most beautiful. But are these final compositions those that musicians themselves would wish to perform if it was the last thing they played? Our artistic director posed this question to this edition’s musicians. Their responses led to this programme of “final masterpieces”. At its heart is Schubert’s String Quintet in C major, as well as Chausson and Britten’s reflections on past loves and Strauss’s joyful wedding piece. Schubert’s Schwanengesang, composed shortly before his death, and Lili Boulanger’s Pie Jesu, written in the days before her untimely passing lead us to wonder: will we create art in our final days?

Lili Boulanger (1893–1918)
Pie Jesu (1918)
for Voice, Harp, Organ and String Quartet

Edward Elgar (1857–1934)
Sospiri, Op. 70
for Harp, Organ and String Quartet

Ernest Chausson (1855–1899)
Chanson perpétuelle, Op. 37
for Voice, Piano and String Quartet

Benjamin Britten (1913–1976) / Anonym
“Il est quelqu'un sur terre” / “Vreneli ab em Guggisberg”
for Voice and Piano

Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
“Der Hirt auf dem Felsen”, D 965
for Voice, Clarinet and Piano

Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
“Frühlingssehnsucht”
“Ständchen”
from: Schwanengesang, D 957

Richard Strauss (1864–1949)
“Morgen!”
from: Vier Lieder, Op. 27
for Voice, Violin and Piano 

INTERVAL

Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
String Quintet C Major, Op. post. 163, D 956
I. Allegro ma non troppo
II. Adagio
III. Scherzo. Presto – Trio. Andante sostenuto
IV. Allegretto

 

Musicians
Soprano: Marysol Schalit
Clarinet: Damien Bachmann
Violin: Miriam Helms Ålien, Daniel Dodds, Eoin Ducrot, Gwendolyn Masin
Viola: Martin Moriarty, Julia Wawrowska
Cello: Nil Kocamangil, Alfredo Ferre Martínez, Samuel Niederhauser, Chiara Samatanga
Harp: Alexander Boldachev
Piano: Finghin Collins, Fiachra Garvey
Organ: Babette Mondry
Répétiteur: Clémence Hirt

Programme subject to change

Tickets available from August
Tickets: CHF 65.–/45.–
Students/Apprentices/KulturLegi: CHF 15.–
Children up to 12 years accompanied by an adult: CHF 5.–
Preschool children accompanied by an adult: CHF 0.–

Saturday, 28 November 2026, 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
Münstergasse Library · bsd. Fitness · beans & nuts · Lunaire Bern

GAIA Roams

Four consecutive short concerts at different venues
Total duration approx. 2 hours 30 minutes
Start: Münstergasse Library, Lounge
Light refreshments at beans & nuts

Welcome to a sonorous tour of GAIA’s world of music! Our city guide will lead you not only through the winding streets of Berne, but also through a programme of the city’s first chamber music festival. The tour begins with energetic harp music, then dashes on to a vocal ensemble whom we find working out at a local fitness studio. We pause for a break at a vegan café all the while listening to Johann Sebastian Bach’s mythical Chaconne, before reaching our final destination: a Lied evening at the Lunaire music cellar. Here, poems of love, of night and of dreams await you, set to music by Florence Price, Cécile Chaminade, Jacques Offenbach, and siblings Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn.

Münstergasse Library
Lounge

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
Toccata D Minor, BWV 565

Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741)
from:“Winter” of The Four Seasons, Op. 8
Allegro

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
from: Requiem D Minor, KV 626
Lacrimosa

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)
from: The Nutcracker, Op. 71
Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy

Alexander Boldachev (*1990)
Between Life and Death

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975)
from: Suite for Variety Orchestra
Waltz No. 2

Musicians
Harp: Alexander Boldachev

 

bsd. Fitness
Co-curated with Emilie Inniger, Moritz Achermann and David Zürcher

Jennifer Walshe (*1974)
“Affair” (2011)
from: A Folk Song Collection (2011 & 2016)

Robert Jones (around 1577–1617)
“Farewell, Dear Love”
from: The First Booke of Songes or Ayres (1600)

Jennifer Walshe (*1974)
“Dan & Serena”  (2011)
“So Lonely”  (2011)
“Man Up”  (2011)

John Bennet (around 1575–nach 1614)
“Weep, O Mine Eyes”
from: Madrigalls to Foure Voyces (1599)

Thomas Morley (1557–1602)
“Die Now, My Heart”
from: Madrigalls to Foure Voyces (1594)

Jennifer Walshe (*1974)
“My ADHD” (2011)

The Bee Gees (1958–2006)
“Stayin’ Alive” (1977)
arr. by Jonas Wolf

Jennifer Walshe (*1974)
“27” (2016)
“Yeast Infection” (2011)
“Her Teeth” (2016)
“No Bra” (2016)

Miley Cyrus (*1992) et al.
“Flowers” (2023)
arr. by David Zürcher

Imogen Holst (1907–1984)
“A Sweet Country Life: Folk-Song from Gloucestershire” (1937)
collected by Cecil Sharp and arr. by Imogen Holst

Jennifer Walshe (*1974)
“Free To Live My Life” (2016)

Clément Janequin (1485–1558)
“Je ne fus jamais si aise” (1529)

Jennifer Walshe (*1974)
“Hot Dude” (2016)

Britney Spears (*1981) et al.
“Work Bitch” (2013)
arr. by David Zürcher

Jennifer Walshe (*1974)
“Immigration” (2016)
“White Guy” (2016)
“Botox” (2011)
“Adrenaline” (2011)

Amy Beach (1867–1944)
“Peace I Leave With You”
from: 3 Choral Responses, Op. 8 (1891)

Musicians
Vocal Ensemble tempo d’affetto:
Soprano: Emilie Inniger
Mezzosoprano: Sarah Widmer
Tenor: Joël Morand
Bariton: David Zürcher

 

beans & nuts

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
from: Partita No. 2 D Minor for Violin Solo, BWV 1004
Chaconne

Musicians
Violin: NN

 

Lunaire Bern

Cécile Chaminade (1857–1944)
Duo d'étoiles, Op. 68

Florence Price (1887–1953)
“Night” (1946)

Pauline Viardot-García (1821–1910)
“Rêverie”, VWV 1024

Fanny Mendelssohn (1805–1847)
“Italien”
first published as Op. 8, No. 3 under the name of Felix Mendelssohn

Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847)
“Herbstlied”, Op. 63, No. 4

Fanny Hensel (1805–1847)
“Nachtwanderer”, Op. 7, No. 1

Jacques Offenbach (1819–1880)
Barcarolle “Belle nuit ô nuit d’amour”
from: Les Contes d'Hoffmann

Musicians
Soprano: Marysol Schalit
Mezzosoprano: Mirjam Fässler
Piano: Finghin Collins

 

Programme subject to change

Tickets available from August
Tickets: CHF 45.–
Students/Apprentices/KulturLegi: CHF 15.–
Children up to 12 years accompanied by an adult: CHF 5.–
Preschool children accompanied by an adult: CHF 0.–

Samedi, 28 November 2026, 6:30 p.m.
Bern, Old Town – Details available upon registration

GAIA Salon Night

Salon concert without interval
Approx. 1 hour
Reception (apéritif) afterward

You are cordially invited to our Salon! Reawakening traditions of the past in a contemporary light, our Salon Night brings the intimacy of chamber music back to life. Join Swiss author Meral Kureyshi alongside some of our musicians at an historic apartment in Bern’s old town for an extraordinary evening of vivid storytelling and legendary works. Kureyshi will read from her latest novel, her words breathing new life into Nadia Boulanger’s Vers la vie nouvelle. And when we perform Brahms’ first string quartet, the setting recalls the works premiere in 1873 when Brahms was seated at the piano.

Prologue: Meral Kureyshi

Nadia Boulanger (1887–1979)
Vers la vie nouvelle (1915)
for Piano

Reading: Meral Kureyshi

Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
Piano Quartet No. 1 G Minor, Op. 25
I. Allegro
II. Intermezzo: Allegro, ma non troppo – Trio: Animato – Tempo del Intermezzo – Coda: Animato
III. Andante con moto – Animato
IV. Rondo alla Zingarese: Presto
 

Musicians
Violin: Daniel Dodds
Viola: Patrick Jüdt
Cello: Nil Kocamangil
Piano: Fiachra Garvey

Programme subject to change

Admission by donation: from CHF 200.–
Your support makes this concert
and the GAIA Music Festival 2026 possible.

Saturday, 28 November 2026, 10 p.m.
Lunaire Bern

GAIA Late Night

Concert without interval
Approx. 1 hour
Reception (apéritif) afterwards

Night’s end meets the end of time: our late-night concert frames one work alone, Olivier Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du Temps. Vibrant birdsong rises above the tragic circumstances of this work’s creation in a prisoner-of-war camp. Set against an apocalyptic backdrop, Messiaen offers musical resistance, translating the mystical visions of the Book of Revelation into musical form. He offers comfort to his fellow human beings – then as now, and until the end of time.

Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992)
Quatuor pour la fin du Temps (1940/41)
I. Liturgie de cristal
II. Vocalise, pour l’ange qui annonce la fin du temps
III. Abîme des Oiseaux
IV. Intermède
V. Louange à l’éternité de Jésus
VI. Danse de la fureur, pour les sept trompettes
VII. Fouillis d’arcs-en-ciel, pour l’ange qui annonce la fin du temps
VIII. Louange à l’immortalité de Jésus
 

Musicians
Violin: Miriam Helms Ålien
Cello: Chiara Samatanga
Clarinet: Damien Bachmann
Piano: Finghin Collins

Programme subject to change

Tickets available from August
Tickets: CHF 45.–
Students/Apprentices/KulturLegi: CHF 15.–
Children up to 12 years accompanied by an adult: CHF 5.–
Preschool children accompanied by an adult: CHF 0.–

Sunday, 29 November 2026, 11 a.m.
Thun Art Museum

GAIA Matinee on Sunday

Cross-genre concert without interval
Approx. 1 hour 15 minutes
Refreshments afterwards

Key to the GAIA Music Festival is the exploration and convergence of different art forms. In this spirit, artistic director Gwendolyn Masin and Sabine Hertig (Artist in Residence at Kunstmuseum Thun), open the doors to Kunstmuseum Thun’s current exhibition for a Sunday Matinee. Our musicians perform amongst Hertig’s artwork, works of today such as Caroline Shaw’s Entr’acte, and works that hold iconic status such as Schubert’s Death and the Maiden, reworked for chamber orchestra. The result is, like the namesake of the exhibition, a collage.

Caroline Shaw (*1982)
Entr’acte (2011)
arr. for String Orchestra by Caroline Shaw (2014)

Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
String Quartet No. 14 D Minor, D 810 (“Death and the Maiden”)
I. Allegro
II. Andante con moto
III. Scherzo: Allegro molto
IV. Presto
arr. for String Orchestra
 

Musicians
Violin: Daniel Dodds, Eoin Ducrot, Joanne Green, Miriam Helms Ålien, Gwendolyn Masin
Viola: Martin Moriarty, Julia Wawrowska
Cello: Nil Kocamangil, Alfredo Ferre Martínez, Samuel Niederhauser, Chiara Samatanga
Double Bass: Lina Humbel

Programme subject to change

Tickets available from September
Tickets: CHF 45.–
Students/Apprentices/KulturLegi: CHF 15.–
Children up to 12 years accompanied by an adult: CHF 5.–
Preschool children accompanied by an adult: CHF 0.–

Sunday, 29 November 2026, 5 p.m.
Hilterfingen Church

Death and the Maidens

Concert with interval
Approx. 1 hour 45 minutes

How do composers imagine death? In Schubert’s String Quartet in D minor Death and the Maiden – based on his eponymous song – the young girl at first recoils in fear from the “grim reaper”. Yet what follows are calm, measured passages that paint a strikingly unexpected vision of dying. The “maidens” Caroline Shaw and Joanna Marsh also reflect on the end of life in their works. Their differing perspectives on death are complemented by Anton Arensky’s Variations on a theme by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and brought to a close by Thomas Adès’s musical remembrance of the pastoral landscapes of Britain.

Thomas Adès (*1971)
O Albion
from: String Quartet “Arcadiana”, Op. 12 (1994)
arr. for String Orchestra by Thomas Adès (2019)

Caroline Shaw (*1982)
Entr’acte (2011)
arr. for String Orchestra by Caroline Shaw (2014)

Anton Arensky (1861–1906)
Variations on a Theme by Tchaikovsky, Op. 35a
for String Orchestra

INTERVAL

Joanna Marsh (*1970)
In Winter’s House (2019)

Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
String Quartet No. 14 D Minor, D 810 (“Death and the Maiden”)
I. Allegro
II. Andante con moto
III. Scherzo: Allegro molto
IV. Presto
arr. for String Orchestra
 

Musicians
Violin: Daniel Dodds, Eoin Ducrot, Joanne Green, Miriam Helms Ålien, Gwendolyn Masin
Viola: Martin Moriarty, Julia Wawrowska
Cello: Nil Kocamangil, Alfredo Ferre Martínez, Samuel Niederhauser, Chiara Samatanga
Double Bass: Lina Humbel

Programme subject to change

Tickets available from August
Tickets: CHF 65.–/45.–
Students/Apprentices/KulturLegi: CHF 15.–
Children up to 12 years accompanied by an adult: CHF 5.–
Preschool children accompanied by an adult: CHF 0.–

Monday, 30 November 2026, 7:30 p.m.
Casino Bern, Burgerratssaal

“Of night and light and the half light”

Concert with interval
Approx. 2 hours 15 minutes
Refreshments available for purchase during the interval
Reception (apéritif) afterwards

An ending that inspires new beginnings – the closing concert of the 2026 GAIA Music Festival centres on hope, peace, and light. Following the emergence of life from darkness, the musical settings of the Nunc dimittis by Amy Beach and Arvo Pärt turn their gaze towards a peaceful farewell, while Pärt’s Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten honours the 50th anniversary of Britten’s death. Works by Peter Sculthorpe and Wojciech Kilar trace a path from death to life and toward the eternity of nature. Finally, the new also finds its place as the festival presents the world premiere of a commissioned work by Swiss composer Xavier Dayer. And so, the festival draws to a close with joyful hymns “to (new) life”.

The concert is conceived as a composite work: Upon entering the Burgerratssaal, the audience is immersed in a soundscape of improvised textures and sounds. The evening opens with a poem by Gwendolyn Masin, flowing seamlessly into the first musical work. Throughout the programme, the musicians create bridging passages, guiding the audience organically from one composition to the next.

Peter Sculthorpe (1929–2014)
from: Sonata for Strings No. 3, “Jabiru Dreaming” (1994)
I. Deciso

Pau Casals (1876–1973)
El cant dels Ocells (Song of the Birds)
for Cello Solo and String Orchestra

Amy Beach (1867–1944)
Nunc dimittis, Op. 8, No. 1 (1891)
for Vocal Ensemble

Arvo Pärt (*1935)
Nunc dimittis (2001)
for Vocal Ensemble

Osvaldo Golijov (*1960)
Tenebrae (2002)
for String Orchestra

Xavier Dayer (*1972)
Commissioned Work
World Premiere

INTERVAL

Arvo Pärt (*1935)
Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten (1977)

Edmund Finnis (*1984)
from: String Quartet No. 1 “Aloysius” (2018)
IV. Hymn (after Byrd)
arr. for String Orchestra by Edmund Finnis (2023)

Caroline Shaw (*1982)
To the Hands (2016)
for Voices and Strings

Wojciech Kilar (1932–2013)
Orawa (1986)
for String Orchestra
 

Musicians
Vocal Ensemble: tempo d’affetto
Violin: Daniel Dodds, Eoin Ducrot, Joanne Green, Miriam Helms Ålien, Gwendolyn Masin
Viola: Martin Moriarty, Julia Wawrowska
Cello: Nil Kocamangil, Alfredo Ferre Martínez, Chiara Samatanga
Double Bass: Lina Humbel
Percussion: Zoi Argyriou

Programme subject to change

Tickets available from August
Tickets: CHF 65.–/45.–
Students/Apprentices/KulturLegi: CHF 15.–
Children up to 12 years accompanied by an adult: CHF 5.–
Preschool children accompanied by an adult: CHF 0.–