Dublin Sound Lab’s Music Current festival celebrates its tenth anniversary with four days of contemporary music, electronics and multimedia performance at Project Arts Centre.
Six concerts, three workshops and a panel discussion at Project Arts Centre from Wednesday April 8th to Saturday April 11th 2026.
Ten years in, Music Current has become one of the most quietly essential fixtures on Dublin’s music calendar: a festival with a genuinely international scope and a consistent track record for presenting work that sits at the furthest edges of what live music can be.
This year’s edition brings together artists and ensembles from Poland, France, Austria, Germany, the USA, Argentina and Ireland, with a strong emphasis on live electronics, interactive video, spatial sound and multimedia performance. The entire concert programme is composed of Irish and world premieres, including four specially commissioned works.
Music Currents Live Programme
The opening night on Wednesday April 8th is Dublin Sound Lab’s own ACTION! STATION! (8pm, Space Upstairs) – their in-house concert programme, this year focused on the gap between physical action and the moment sound begins: the point where a beater strikes a drum, and everything suspends.
Thursday brings Austrian violinist Judith Fliedl (6pm, Cube Space) for a tour de force programme of works for violin and electronics, including a world premiere from Benedikt Alphart and four Irish premieres, followed by French ensemble Proxima Centauri (8pm, Space Upstairs) presenting Mouvements – electroacoustic music that takes on what they describe as an almost sculptural quality as live instruments collide and merge with spatially diffused sound.
Friday April 10th sees Poland’s Spółdzielnia Muzyczna Contemporary Ensemble (8pm, Space Upstairs) – winners of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation Ensemble Prize and veterans of MaerzMusik, Unsound and Warsaw Autumn – performing works by Żaneta Rydzewska, Barbara Zach and rising Irish composer Yue Song.
Saturday closes the festival with two strong finishes: Austrian/Hungarian duo Ressi & Benes (6pm, Project Cube) for GAME OVER!, where a clarinettist uses an orientation sensor to navigate a 2D game world as musical instrument, followed by Topographies (8pm, Space Upstairs) – a homecoming of sorts for works by Berlin-based Irish composers Francis Heery, Ellen King and Elliot Murphy, originally developed for a 2024 Berlin residency in partnership with the Contemporary Music Centre and Culture Ireland.
Music Currents Workshops
The workshop programme runs parallel to the concerts and is free with a €5 contribution to cover refreshments. Judith Fliedl leads a Workshop on Listening on Wednesday April 8th (3pm); a public panel discussion on new models of community-based contemporary music organisations on Wednesday April 8th (6pm); Francis Heery hosts a composition workshop on non-linear and improvisatory score writing on Friday April 10th (3pm); and Ressi & Benes give a deep dive into the Game Over environment on Saturday April 11th (3pm).
All workshops require booking via projectartscentre.ie / see the full list on the Music Currents site.
The annual commission for 2026 is also open – Music Current is inviting composers to propose new works for Dublin Sound Lab to be performed in April 2027, with a €4,000 award for the successful applicant. Deadline is Sunday April 12th at 11:59pm. Details.
This year will see Bethany Younge’s (USA) 2025 commission unveiled as part of the festival’s tenth edition.
Music Current festival – Project Arts Centre, Dublin, Wednesday April 8th to Saturday April 11th 2026. Full programme and tickets at projectartscentre.ie.
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
