Semibreve returns to Braga from 22 to 25 October 2026 for a sixteenth edition of experimental music, digital art and new technology. Over fifteen years the Portuguese festival has earned an international reputation through careful curation, long artistic relationships and a refusal to grow for the sake of growing. Its programme puts sound, image and technology in the same room with intention, giving audiences the time to stay with multidisciplinary work rather than pass through it.
Braga suits that approach. One of Portugal's oldest cities, it keeps centuries of architectural and religious heritage in view while working today as a UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts. The festival spreads across the historic Theatro Circo, the contemporary arts centre gnration and the small Capela Imaculada, letting each room change how a piece lands.
This year's programme gathers performances, exhibitions, cinema, talks and workshops, with attention on artists working in audiovisual composition, spatial sound and recent digital practice. Marta Salogni presents a,drift, written for multiple reel-to-reel tape machines and oscillators, co-commissioned with Berlin Atonal and Unsound. Ricardo Jacinto gives the world premiere of Manto, for prepared cello, electronics and multichannel diffusion. System Sophie premieres Carbolines, which treats the body as a biological synthesiser. Peder Mannerfelt and RONI play back to back, joined by Flora Yin-Wong, Dawn Dani, Christian Fennesz & Oscar Jockel, Noémi Büchi, TYGAPAW and Azu Tiwaline.
A free programme runs alongside it across the city, keeping Semibreve close to the people who live there.
SEMIBREVE 2026
Azu Tiwaline
Dawn Dani
Flora Yin-Wong
Fennesz & Oscar Jockel Saffron on Grey
João Carlos Pinto A1-0 N3 *
Malcolm Pardon & Gustaf Broms Flesh and Bones *
Marta Salogni a,drift **
Noémi Büchi Exuvie
Nuno Canavarro & Bruno Miguel Pinto /Radiant Rift *
Peder Mannerfelt B2B RONI
PYUR & Tarik Barri Mass Oneiria *
Qasim Naqvi & Steven Wendt Howlround *
Ricardo Jacinto Manto *
Sam Slater & Guests Lunng
Suzan Peeters Cassotto
System Sophie Carbolines *
TYGAPAW Together You Gather All Power Applied Worldwide
*World premiere
**Commissioned by Semibreve, Berlin Atonal and Unsound
+ installations, talks, workshops, cinema to be announced
Semibreve 2026
22–25 October 2026
Braga, Portugal