With a heavy heart, we are postponing the International Realtime Festival for New Music scheduled for May 12, 2021 to May 16, 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It is quite unfortunate as we had already planned everything down to the last detail and had been extensively promoting this unique festival of ours -which is second to none in Bremen and in the whole of Germany. Unfortunately, many events with our host country Poland cannot be realized in these pandemic-related circumstances. But we won’t let our heads hang as we still have a few aces up our sleeves:

On the 22nd and 23rd of October 2021 and on the first weekend of November, we will present selected highlights from our festival program including a phenomenal gala evening to award the highly endowed Köster Prize in the Metropol Theater.

In exciting concert formats, multimedia contributions and lectures coupled with excellent entertainment, we would like to present the diversity of contemporary classical music to a wide audience. We would also like to take the chance and address the youngest in our society with a program particularly designed for children, as they are having an especially hard time in this corona crisis.

Opening horizons, breaking shackles and unleashing the creative self: our artists will celebrate with you – our audience – a splendid and breathtaking International Realtime Festival. Experience enchanting light shows, performances, concerts & poetry, thrilling musical theatre, exciting workshops with new instruments, pop-up concerts in the historic hanseatic city centre, amazing video performances and enigmatic music films.

Let yourself be taken away by sounds you have never heard before along with sublime images that transcend cultures, disciplines, genres, conventions and boundaries of any kind.

Always outside the box. Expect the unexpected.

realtime NOW – The decision has been made!


Finally the time has come. Thank you very much for all who took part in the voting and thus voted for the three most popular music videos. We don't want to keep the result from you any longer. We will present the winning video in the genre of contemporary music at a festive award ceremony on March 26, 2021 at the Metropoltheater Bremen.


Learn more

realtime

International Festival for New Music

The €30,000 Köster Award.
The music video award with the largest financial prize in the field of contemporary music

Movie directors and video artists are invited to submit a contemporary music video for the Köster Award. The winning entry will be selected from the submissions by a top-class jury and its creator will receive prize money of €30,000. The jury will also award prizes to the Best Newcomer and an Audience Award. The Award winners are to be announced at the festival’s grand gala on Sunday. As a little appetizer the winning videos of the Audience Award will be presented at a festive award ceremony on March 26, 2021 in Schauburg Bremen. Admission to the awards ceremony is free.

 

The REALTIME Festival
The sound of new new.

This festival will be a truly banquet of new sounds, new forms and new perspectives on the ordinary. Four days of experimental music, new instruments, dance, light- and film installations and poetry, presented in a diverse and innovative way, exploring new combinations and contexts. And of course a party is definitely mandatory: At the end of each festival day, DJs play the beats. More than anything else, this event is about encounters – between artists and audience, between different arts, new sounds and accustomed listening habits. Contemporary classical music challenges acoustic traditions and impresses with the inspiring and unique listening experiences it offers the audience.

 

Be prepared to be surprised.

Sounds new. Sounds good.

New encounters.

Several extraordinary artists from the worlds of dance, music, words, light art and electronica will be performing for full whole days at the realtime – international festival for new music in May 2021, creating unique sound and movement art!

Bremen welcomes new encounters! And the public is invited to join in the celebrations. Experience new encounters and discover the diversity of contemporary music.

The first realtime - international festival for new music 2021 in Bremen.

when?

The first realtime – international festival for new music will take place from Friday 22nd to Saturday 23rd October 2021 and Saturday 06th to Sunday 07th Novenber

where?

In Bremen! On the streets. On the tram. In museums. In theatres. In cafés. For four full days the hanseatic city will be completely filled with contemporary classical music.

who?

Artists and ensembles from the guest country Poland, from Bremen and from all around the world. This international variety promises a smorgasbord of visual and acoustic excitement.

The Programme.
Unique! Exciting! Surprising!

From street performers to film screenings: realtime – international festival for new music is one of the biggest contemporary classical music events in Germany. Its versatile and diverse programme combines audio-visual concerts, musical theatre, dance, spoken word events, singing, electronica, improvisation, video art, light projections and interaction, which all are taking place in various locations of cultural interest in the hanseatic city.

Highlights will include the opening concert with light show, featuring musicians from Poland and Bremen; the opening of a sound installation in the city; a concert accompanied by a video projection, focussing on the end of the Second World War; and finally the grand closing gala to announce the winner of the Köster Award.

Programme to follow.

Serdecznie Witamy!
Poland is our guest country in 2021.

Poland is the guest country of the first realtime – international festival for new music! For many years, there has been a close relationship between the musical scenes in Bremen and Germany’s neighbour, Poland, a country which has produced many great artists and ensembles of high international standing. Several ensembles and solo artists from a variety of genres have been invited and will be presenting an exciting programme.

Zu den Künstlerporträts

Sponsors