November will be hot! At least where rainy days, the Philharmonie's festival of contemporary music, is concerned. Headlining another multi-faceted, open-minded programme, festival curator Catherine Kontz has chosen «Heat» as the theme of this year's programming, turning up the temperature in all the Philharmonie's spaces. As always, a deliberate game of associations is a given when curating a diverse programme for the entire family. New Music fans are just as much the target audience as people who have never encountered contemporary sounds: from the concrete heat of summer or the notion of a sauna to the tackling of «hot» topics, and of course anything that refers to energy or energies…

Catherine Kontz has chosen time-tested festival elements while sharpening the event's profile further, for example by accentuating the concert by the Luxembourg Philharmonic. It will feature four new orchestral works about energies and fever dreams, notably a world premiere by Roland Wiltgen and a violin concerto created between the Waley-Cohen sisters. This concert also brings the percussion/piano quartet Yarn/Wire back to the Grand Duchy, appearing as soloists in a concerto which the festival co-commissioned from trailblazing American composer George Lewis together with the New York Philharmonic.

Multimedia experiences once again are juxtaposed with fundamental self-discovery. Old acquaintances from all over the world and, of course, from Luxembourg, and «fresh faces» meet within the unique atmosphere of a festival which sets great store by this very form of commonality. Focusing on truly «hot» issues, the festival also continues discussions which began with last year's theme, «bodies» – hearing loss in musicians, ageing (for example) in the lives and lived experiences of opera singers… Finally, the 2026 edition of rainy days is not confined to the pillared «safe space» of the concert hall, but seeks out dialogue with other institutions – this time, the Théâtre National and the Casino Luxembourg – Forum d'art contemporain, which is celebrating its 30th birthday.