The winter edition of the Orchestral Sessions unfolds on the Berghain floor, transforming the dance space into a vast resonator for amplified string instruments, exploring the threshold between orchestra and electronics. With works by Grégoire Simon, Liam Segal, Maxim Turbo, Nazanin Noori, Rebecca Saunders and Avi Caspi.
Each performance expands the instruments’ natural resonance through contact microphones, feedback systems, and subtle electronics. The result is neither purely acoustic nor electronic, but a hybrid zone where physical gesture meets the spatial power of sound reinforcement. Through this meeting of electricity, breath, gesture, signal, and extreme register, the winter edition continues the ongoing evolution of orchestral sound at Berghain.
Nazanin Noori’s performance uses the format she refers to as a sound scenario, a method combining sound collages with her own compositions to form a hybrid set. Here, she integrates rearranged classical material and elements from Eastern musical traditions within one structure, linking acoustic and electronic sources, notated and improvised music, and fixed recordings and live processes into a continuous emotional dramaturgy.
Rebecca Saunders’ music often treats sound as matter: something to be carved, eroded or exposed. In Fury, the double bass becomes a slab of resonance scraped open to reveal the unstable forces inside it. According to the publisher’s note: “Despite the choleric nature of the sound material, silence is regarded as the canvas upon which all sounds surface out of, and disappear into. Fury was conceived of as a melody, stretched to breaking point over the full 8 minutes of this solo.”
Grégoire Simon’s Under the Voice for three violas (with Yodfat Miron and Allan Niles) explores altered resonance through metal dampers that filter the instruments’ spectrum, evoking electronic textures while remaining acoustic. Developed collaboratively, the trio balances strict form with spontaneous sonic encounters.
Avi Caspi presents Pillars for eight amplified double basses, a work exploring the instrument’s physical and psychological thresholds. The double basses become eight monolithic objects under pressure, transforming the ensemble into a dark choir of low frequencies. The piece positions sonic pressure as an epistemological fog: obscuring clarity while revealing deeper structures.
Maxim Turbo is an experimental performer working with noise, trumpet, voice, and electronics. His practice is both musical and performative, driven by an emotionally charged, chaotic approach to real-time improvisation. His live sets often carry ritual intensity, blending folk traditions with avant-esoteric textures and combining elements of religious themes and pop culture. Active in both club and exhibition contexts, he creates dense sonic environments marked by layers of poetic noise, extended trumpet techniques, and a commanding vocal presence. Liam Segal closes the evening with a DJ set; gradually returns the space to silence.
Orchestral Sessions: Winter Edition
Wednesday, 21.1.2026 | Doors/Start 19:00 CET
Berghain | Am Wriezener Bahnhof in 10243 Berlin
