F°LAB. Festival for Performing Arts

What exactly is Frankfurt LAB? The F°LAB Festival from 1 to 4 October 2026 offers the perfect opportunity to find out. Over four densely packed days, audiences can expect a diverse programme of performance, dance and contemporary music. Dancers from the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company present their own works; students from the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts as well as various programmes of the Hessian Theatre Academy present their own projects. Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm presents guest performances from the independent scene. Ensemble Modern – the fifth partner institution of Frankfurt LAB – is represented by two events: on 3 October, contemporary music meets free jazz. Together with the NDR Bigband, the ensemble presents a concert programme featuring original works that move between notated music and improvisation, including works by Paul Cannon, Luigi Grasso, Hermann Kretzschmar and Percy Pursglove, created in April 2025 in Hamburg and now being performed for the first time in Frankfurt. On 4 October 2026, the masterclass ›epoche_f international‹ will be presented at the F°LAB Festival. Each year, more than 20 young prizewinners of national and international youth music competitions are given the opportunity to further develop their skills in contemporary music. To this end, they work for one week at the Lower Saxony State Music Academy in Wolfenbüttel together with musicians from Ensemble Modern as docents. In 2026, the results will be presented at the F°LAB Festival in Frankfurt, Wolfenbüttel and Linz.

Frankfurt LAB, located on the former factory premises at Schmidtstraße 12, is a vibrant site of artistic exchange. Visitors to the F°LAB Festival gain insights into rehearsal processes and workshop presentations, and experience contemporary performing arts in all their facets – complemented by numerous opportunities to celebrate and network.

www.frankfurt-lab.de