Archipel is an international festival of musical creation founded in Geneva in 1992. It promotes all forms of musical research and sound art, helping to give them recognition and sustained visibility in Swiss cultural life.
Each year, for ten days, visitors can enjoy a rich program including instrumental and vocal concerts, performances, improvised and electroacoustic music concerts, sound installations, listening sessions, workshops, meetings, and conferences. Particular attention is paid to conviviality and the reception of the works, with a listening room equipped with an acousmonium – an orchestra of loudspeakers – and carefully designed spaces for both the audience and the artists.
The Archipel Festival invites renowned and emerging ensembles and personalities, musicians from Switzerland and abroad, such as the Ensemble Ictus, the Collegium Novum Zürich, the Ensemble Contrechamps, Eva Reiter, Clara Iannotta, Alvin Lucier, Jürg Frey, Eliane Radigue, Cassandra Miller, Morton Feldman, John Cage, Kanako Abe, Rie Nakajima, Charles Curtis, Sarah Hennies, Felicity Mangan, Will Guthrie, Valerio Tricoli, Michèle Bokanowski, Rashad Becker, Christine Groult, Oren Ambarchi, David Toop, Max Eastley, Louis Schild, Olga Kocharova, John Luther Adams, Christina Kubisch, Attila Faravelli, Ellen Arkbro, Michael Ranta, Oscar Bianchi, and Aisha Orazbayeva. Transmission also plays an important role, which is reflected in the program through collaborations with universities, music conservatories, and other educational institutions.
