Between 6 and 11 November, Kraków will turn into a haven for new music, filled with the rhythms of the ritual and the sounds of instruments from all over the world. The 24th edition of the Sacrum Profanum festival features events combining ancient traditions with future-oriented experiments, bringing life to places and venues which are usually filled with silence, including the Main Reading Room of the Jagiellonian Library. At the heart of the 2026 Sacrum Profanum programme is a joint installation by the Korean-Polish duo Si On and Jakub Ziółkowski.

The main theme of the 24th edition of the festival is The Ritual – six concerts, which are going to take place in a space created by the festival’s artists in residence, Si On and Jakub Ziółkowski, at Cricoteka. “Large-format painted fabrics and humanoid figures made of second-hand clothes will create a world reminiscent of a ritual tent – a space established for the duration of the festival, reminiscent of a gallery and a ceremonial space,” says Krzysztof Pietraszewski, Artistic Director of the Sacrum Profanum festival. “Inside, there will be an intimate stage, around which the audience will be seated. Every day, the two performances will be linked by a musical and ritual intervention by Ziółkowski, who will take on the role of master of ceremonies,” he adds. “The concept proposed by Jakub Julian Ziółkowski and Si On for the Sacrum Profanum festival breaks down the distinction between the stage and the public, as well as between the high and low culture,” notes Kamil Kuitkowski, curator of the Up in the gods installation co-produced with Cricoteka.

This unusual setting will encourage the audience to get closer with the artists from all over the world. The Ritual programme will comprise a series of concerts bringing together artists representing a variety of styles – from Clara Lévy’s meditative dialogue with the music composed by Hildegard of Bingen to Ryosuke Kiyasu’s energetic explosion of sound. The six concerts comprising the Ritual programme will also feature Timothy Archambault (Pibigwan – a traditional Algonquin flute), Eyvind Kang (viola d’amore), Jessika Kenney (vocals), Madhuvanti Pal (rudra veena – an Indian stringed instrument) and the WCIAS ensemble, who explore the avant-garde potential of Greater Poland folk music. The audience will have the opportunity to listen to the ancient aulos, restored and played by Lukas de Clerck, as well as novel instruments designed and built with contemporary compositions in mind.

In the evening, the festival will move from Cricoteka to spaces usually filled with silence. The Sinfonietta Cracovia will be joined by Katarina Gryvul and Agata Zemla to take the audience on a musical journey inspired by the paintings of Józef Chełmoński. The Polish Radio Choir will create a unique and immersive musical experience featuring music by Krzysztof Penderecki and contemporary composers, which will resonate from almost every corner of the Main Reading Room of the Jagiellonian Library. The concert will conclude with Come to the Edge! by Cecilie Ore – a composition dedicated to the people opposing Putin’s regime, which has taken on an even stronger anti-authoritarian message in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Sacrum Profanum festival remains committed to addressing the current and pressing issues of our time by giving a voice to the artists. This year’s programme features creative environmental manifestos and music that challenges the omnipotence of algorithms. The French La Nòvia collective will perform works by Conlon Nancarrow and Jessica Ekomane for the first time in Poland as part of a programme exploring the interplay between future technologies and the human dimension of music.

The November festival also encourages the listeners to come and experience new music together. Everybody will find the best way for discovering new music and sounds for themselves – from casual get-togethers with contemporary artists (including Barbara Drazkov) during our House Party at Hevre in Kraków’s Kazimierz district, all the way to workshops and events for children and the March of Independent Music. This year, the colourful procession – which is becoming a staple of the Sacrum Profanum festival – will be led by the La Nòvia collective, our artists-in-residence. “Our joyful celebration of Independence Day is open to everybody. We encourage all residents of Kraków to join the parade along Grodzka Street to the Main Market Square. We are not going to sing from the same hymn sheet – we will be brought closer together by polyphony and the space to hear one another,” says Carolina Pietyra, Director of the Krakow Festival Office.

Source: press release