synesthesia lab 2026
INTERNATIONAL
new music festival
and lab

deadline - 31.05.2026
festival time - october, 2026
In October 2026 International new music festival and laboratory Synesthesia lab (Artistic Director – composer Roman Parkhomenko), will take place in Kazan, Russia.

The project, which will be held for the fourth time, will feature concerts featuring world premieres, multimedia special projects, lectures, and master classes from international and Russian composers, contemporary music experts.


Synesthesia Lab's mission is to enable composers from around the world to write new music while simultaneously participating in unique multi-genre collaborations.
In 2025, 230 applications were received from composers from 35 countries, 28 world premieres were performed, and four special projects were held.

This year, the selected composers will have the opportunity to create new works for ensembles such as the Orchestra of the Sofia Gubaidulina Center for Contemporary Music, the Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble (MCME), sound artist and viola d'amore player Sergey Poltavsky, singer and viola da gamba player Alisa Ten, and multi-instrumentalist Rust Pozyumsky.


All new works will be performed in October at Kazan's main venues.
The festival program will feature the percussion ensemble Space of Rhythm, singer and founder of the vocal ensemble N'Caged Arina Zvereva, pianist and soloist of the Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble Michael Dubov, accordionist Saidash Fakhraziev, the KV/EF (Vsevolod Krassa and Elizaveta Fomina), erhu player Zhu Jing (China), assistant principal conductor of the Ensemble Intercontemporain (France) and conductor of the Kolobov New Opera Theatre Lyubov Nosova, composer and conductor Roman Parkhomenko.

Special guests of the festival will be composers Vera Ivanova (Russia-USA), Deqin Wen (China-Switzerland), and Do Hong Kuan (Vietnam).
TERMS
Application deadline: May 31
No entry fee
Free participation
Citizens of any country can participate
Online participation
(personal live presence is not required)
No age limit

for questions: synesthesia.musiclab@gmail.com
for partners: synesthesia.musiclab@yandex.ru


If you wish to write a composition for orchestra, please, if possible, attach one orchestral piece or a piece for a large ensemble.
If you would like to write a piece with electronics, please attach one example of your already completed piece with electronics.
ENSEMBLES | MUSICIANS
"This season, we want to show how music creates an invisible bridge across centuries," say Artistic Director Roman Parkhomenko and Creative Producer of the Synesthesia Lab Vladimir Zhalnin . "Imagine: exquisite Renaissance madrigals softly dissolve into contemporary ambient and rave landscapes—ancient forms take on a new resonance. The festival will feature a new version of Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire, featuring electronics and atmospheric sound textures, while symphonic music by Webern, Varèse, Scelsi, and Ligeti—the patriarchs of the European avant-garde—will meet the profound, contemplative scores of Sofia Gubaidulina."

special projects
  • Pierrot Lunaire in the Moonlight
    a new electroacoustic reading of ARNOLD SCHÖNBERG's great work

    Composer: Arnold Schoenberg


    Project idea: Roman Parkhomenko and Vladimir Zhalnin

    Electroacoustic canvas Composers: Roman Parkhomenko and the KV/EF

    Audio programming: KV/EF (Vsevolod Krassa and Elizaveta Fomina)

    Visual concept: Rita Valeeva

    Musicians: Arina Zvereva and the Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble (MCME)

  • Light from the past
    an experimental electronic project featuring the sounds of baroque instruments and voices

    Сurator: Roman Parkhomenko


    Viola d'amore and electronics - Sergey Poltavsky

    Voice and viola da gamba - Alisa Ten

    Viola da gamba - Rust Pozyumsky

    In collaboration with 8 selected composers

SYNESTHESIA TEAM
  • ROMAN PARKHOMENKO
    ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
    Composer, conductor, curator
  • VLADIMIR ZHALNIN
    CREATIVE PRODUCER
    Musicologist, journalist, producer
  • RITA VALEEVA
    DESIGNER
    Designer, 3D - Artist
  • RUSLAN ZINNUROV
    LINE PRODUCER
    Organizer of major events
  • LEILA MONASYPOVA
    ORGANIZER
    Musicologist, Gubaidulina Center deputy director
  • LILIA ISKHAKOVA
    SMM & PR - MANAGER
    Composer, music journalist
  • NIKITA LEONTYEV
    FESTIVAL MANAGER
    Organizer
  • NIKITA PETYAEV
    COORDINATOR
    Musician, organizer