From 16 to 19 July 2026, the Ossola Valley will host the 13th edition of Nextones, an international festival dedicated to research and experimentation in contemporary music in dialogue with the performing and audiovisual arts. Set within a landscape of strong identity, the festival defines a mode of engagement in which sound and performance enter into direct relation with the geological, architectural and environmental characteristics of the territory.
As a platform for listening, experimentation and site-specific experience, Nextones brings together contemporary music, audiovisual practices and performance in a dynamic relationship with the environment, positioning itself as a curatorial device capable of activating the landscape through perceptual and participatory dynamics aligned with its own identity. In this sense, the festival is part of the broader vision of the Tones on the Stones Foundation, committed to the reactivation of natural and human-shaped contexts through culture.
Nextones unfolds as an itinerary across the Ossola Valley, expanding beyond the former granite quarry Tones Teatro Natura—its epicentre and now one of Europe’s most recognisable settings for exploring the relationships between sound, nature and space—into a constellation of heterogeneous locations and newly activated sites, while consolidating its curatorial focus on site-specific daytime performances. These include Premia Thermal Baths, the Orridi di Uriezzo, the medieval Village of Ghesc, and, for the first time, the Oratorio di San Marco in Veglio. Conceived to activate the landscape
through immersive and relational listening practices, these venues generate new synergies between the sonic dimension and the environment.
In 2026, Nextones thus reaffirms itself as an ecosystem of listening and a cultural platform, where performances, natural environments and landscape structures contribute to shaping a now recognisable community—an audience that returns, evolves and consolidates over time. A shared rite that takes form on site, through presence, listening practices and outdoor living, in active relation with the territory. Recent editions have recorded over 5,000 attendees, with camping playing an increasingly central role and around 600 participants involved in a collective immersive experience.
THE PROGRAMME
THURSDAY 16 JULY at Premia Thermal Baths
Miriam Adefris Activation of Hydromantique - sound installation by Michela de Mattei with Palm Wine
FRIDAY 17 JULY
Daily Programme
RBL dj set and talks programme at NEXTCamp Kenichi Iwasa at Village of Ghesc Shane Parish plays Autechre at Orridi di Uriezzo
Night Programme Tones Teatro Natura
Alessandro Adriani and cultural association AiEP present 'Koppelia' Daniel Blumberg Abdullah Miniawy e Simo Cell OK Williams DJ Hell.
SATURDAY 18 JULY
Daily Programme RBL dj set and talks programme at NEXTCamp
Kenichi Iwasa at Village of Ghesc Laura Masotto at Oratorio S.Marco di Veglio Night Programme Tones Teatro Natura
OKO DJ Carrier John T. Gast Helena Hauff Somatic Rituals.
SUNDAY 19 JULY NEXTCamp
Closing party curated by RBL with Nosedrip
TICKET SU DICE
Pass: 4 Days / 3 Days / 2 Days Single Day: Friday / Saturday