The 5th outHEAR New Music Week (13–21 April, 2026) is an intensive international program in music composition held in Thessaloniki. Composer Fellows work closely with the ensembles Klangforum Wien and PPCM Graz (Performance Practice in Contemporary Music), alongside distinguished faculty Mark Andre, Annesley Black, Dimitri Papageorgiou, and Orestis Toufektsis. The program includes one-on-one lessons, mentoring, masterclasses, workshops, rehearsals, and concerts. The Piano Automaton project is presented by Winfried Ritsch.

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Co-organized by the Department of Music Studies, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz and under the auspices of the Austrian Embassy in Athens, the event was initiated by Christos Lenoutsos, Dimitri Papageorgiou, Orestis Toufektsis, and Dimitrios Polisoidis.

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International Symposium Fragile Present, Imaginative Futures (13–15 April, 2026)

Held at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall (M2 – Mouseio Hall), under the auspices of the Department of Music Studies of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the symposium explores sound as fragile presence and imaginative potential, focusing on timbre as ontology and addressing themes of disappearance, memory, visual sound, open forms, and post-digital experimentation. The keynote speaker is composer Mark Andre, Professor of Composition at the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music Dresden.

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​Workshops & Rehearsals (16–20 April, 2026)

Held at the Goethe Institute in Thessaloniki, the selected composers collaborate with performers through coaching sessions, rehearsals, and masterclasses.

 

​Concerts (19 & 21 April, 2026)

At the Thessaloniki Concert Hall (M2), thirty young composers and musicians from Klangforum Wien and PPCM Graz (Performance Practice in Contemporary Music) present world premieres created specifically for the event.

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• In between bodies and machines – 19 April, Foyer M2: 18 works for solo instrument, solo with electronics, and—presented in Greece for the first time—works for piano automaton.

• Contrasting Currents – 21 April, Emilios Riadis Hall: 12 works for mixed ensemble including mezzo-soprano, winds, strings, brass, and percussion.