Information

With Three Skies, we are launching a new festival for adventurous contemporary music, experimental sound and transdisciplinary practices in Cologne. Rooted locally and connected internationally, it is driven by curiosity, musical excitement and radical diversity.

In a world that often feels bewildering and oppressive, we bring the avant-garde, the unconventional and the experimental to the forefront. We celebrate the creative spirit, beauty and courage of extraordinary music – its lightness and its seriousness, its many possibilities and its power to resist and challenge.

Over three days, across six venues and deep into the night, Three Skies unfolds a universe of unexpected sounds: from raw emotional intensity to contemporary abstraction, from patient, immersive drones to high-speed electronic mutations, from spiritual depth to youthful exuberance.

As diverse as the music are the spaces that Three Skies brings together. Alongside established venues such as Stadtgarten, Gewölbe, JAKI and Theater im Bauturm, the festival also opens up the historic Klosterkirche Heilig Kreuz and the Stoff-Pavillon Moeller, creating fresh connections between music and architecture.

Despite changing circumstances, one thing remains essential to us: culture must be wild, polyphonic and free to find its own course – while remaining accessible, welcoming and open to all. Unlike Night of Surprise, this edition is not free of charge, but we are committed to keeping ticket prices fair and affordable.

Our heartfelt thanks go to all our funders and partners, friends and supporters, volunteers and, of course, our audience. You have helped make this new adventure possible. We wish you a festival full of beautiful encounters and discoveries.

A gathering in the spirit of difference and creative defiance, beneath one sky – or many.

Thomas Gläßer, William Gill, Juliane Höttges, Kieran Kaul and Klara Trawny