Promoters and festivals

A few years ago, Copenhagen began to receive international recognition for its blossoming techno scene, often characterized by trance-infused productions and a relatively fast tempo. Since then, some promoters have begun to take the local club scene in a new direction, with diverse and unpredictable lineups featuring experimental music across genres, with a mixture of club acts and performances. Some of these include Rewild and Unearth. Rewild often focuses on local contemporary acts, while Unearth also presents international artists, such as Toxe, Space Africa, Mykki Blanco, and Crystallmess.

When it comes to festivals, keep an eye out for the annual Strøm Festival (summer) or the more recent In Situ Festival (every second year), which takes place in the contemporary art gallery Simian and is co-presented by Rewild. Both festivals offer bold curation ranging from pioneering electronic acts to local sound art, and much more. If you’re in town during Strøm, remember to check out their reoccurring format Trans Metro Express, which showcases new live music by four Danish artists in the subway.

If what you’re looking for is a better glimpse into experimental and contemporary art music from Denmark, look after festivals such as Klang Festival (early summer), Festival of Endless Gratitude (fall), MINU Festival (late fall/early winter), or Organ Sound Art Festival (early winter). While Klang is the biggest festival for contemporary music in Denmark, MINU has positioned itself as a new exciting festival with a slightly similar profile, though with a bigger focus on multimedia work and performances. Organ Sound Art Festival focuses—perhaps unsurprisingly—on experimental organ music, both showcasing international and local acts, including premieres of commissioned work. The festival always takes place at KoncertKirken, a former church that is now a music venue.

Contrary to a festival like Organ Sound Art Festival, which focuses on a rather well-defined niche, Festival of Endless Gratitude always delivers a stylistically broad lineup; at the festival, you can be more or less sure to find everything from, say, international leftfield club music to avant-garde experimentation. If their program is your thing, you should also check if promoters like Final Descent and Noisy Beehive are organizing any shows while you are in Copenhagen.

While this piece focuses exclusively on Copenhagen, note that there’s a lot of great festivals elsewhere in Denmark, such as Alter and SPOR Festival in Aarhus, the second biggest city in Denmark. There’s also events on some of the smaller islands; for instance Øhavet on Ærø or Fanø Free Folk Festival on Fanø.

Now Playing

Playing Next