The line-up is complete – combining club culture, transdisciplinary art and pop moments

International stars and local acts, experimental commissions, immersive installations and cross-genre club nights span the spectrum from intimate sound experiments to ecstatic dancefloor experiences. Whether at the Orpheum, PPC, GRNGR, Parkhouse or in public spaces, Elevate 2026 explores musical, political and aesthetic borderlands, transforming Graz into a vibrant hub of contemporary culture for a weekend.
 

Bendik Giske is the latest confirmed live act to complete the programme for the opening night at the Listhalle. The Norwegian musician and composer is one of the most dazzling saxophone players on the international scene. His playing is situated between minimal avant-garde, jazz, electronic music and traditional Scandinavian and Balinese sounds. His performances are as meditative as they are flamboyant and rousing, spanning the spectrum from academic music to underground aesthetics.
 

Another headliner of the festival, active in various fields, is Matthew Herbert. Musician, producer and film composer Matthew Herbert will be performing in a new duo with Momoko Gill. The producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist has long been one of the best-kept secrets of the British electronic and jazz scene. Together, Herbert & Momoko move between the energy of the dance floor and intimate moods. Rhythmic complexity meets emotional openness. Gill's melodic vocals and precise drumming merge with Herbert's electronic timbres to create atmospherically rich, gently lively songs that captivate with their elaborate musicality. 
 

Another highlight is the commissioned work “Pitch, Pigeon, Puerta” by Dominican producer and musician Kelman Duran, initiated by the Le Guess Who, Insomnia, Nuits Sonores and Elevate festivals as part of the EU project TIMES. Duran developed the transdisciplinary, multisensory piece together with Finland-based musician, artistic researcher and composer AGF aka Antye Greie-Ripatti, Puerto Rican movement artist Kianí del Valle and light artist Theresa Baumgartner. In addition, percussionist Lukas Koenig will join the crew as a residency artist at Elevate. “Pitch, Pigeon, Puerta” focuses on the human voice and addresses issues of migration and diaspora. Different languages, rhythms and sound fragments are woven into a raw, poetic structure of punk poetry and free jazz sounds, accompanied by dance and light choreography.
 

Friday evening will be experimental at the Orpheum Extra. In addition to Graz-based sound artist Benedikt Alphart, Mariam Rezaei and bela will also be performing here. Mariam Rezaei is a multi-award-winning British-Iranian composer, turntablist and performer who works at the intersection of experimental new music, free improvisation, club music and hip-hop. She is considered one of the most technically skilled and daring turntablists in the world. The media describe her work as groundbreaking. Her impressive live sets testify to her masterful command of classic turntablism techniques and numerous methods that Rezaei herself has developed. bela is known for confrontational performances and cathartic sound design. Originally from Paju in South Korea, bela expands on the Korean folk music pungmul and transforms it into a queer ritual through guttural singing and sub-bass-heavy metal noise, in which trauma is addressed and anger and grief are channelled.
 

At ppc, which is being used for the first time this year, there will be a second floor on Friday night in addition to the techno-heavy first floor, where ambient sounds will catapult the dance crowd into other spheres. The headliner on this stage is Berlin-based musician, producer and DJ Pavel Milyakov, better known as Buttechno, who consistently moves between the genres of techno, house, industrial, ambient and experimental club music. His sound is characterised by raw textures, minimalist execution and a conscious departure from classic genre logic. Live, Milyakov turns to transcendental drone and dark ambient.
 

Maxime Denuc, a leading figure in the European experimental music scene, will be represented with an installation in the Graz Mausoleum. The French composer and musician, based in Brussels, presents ‘Elevations’ – a computer-controlled organ instrument made up of individually controllable pipes that weaves an immersive soundscape in which acoustic and electronic elements become indistinguishable. Inspired by 1990s dub techno and hauntology, light, movement and machines operate autonomously, evoking the atmosphere of a reverberating after-party. ‘Elevations’ is being realised in the context of Kiör (art in public spaces) and is freely accessible on all festival days!

Beaks, one of the country's most hyped indie musicians, will complete the pop programme at the Orpheum alongside Eli Preiss, Uche Yara and Herbert & Momoko. Beaks is the stage name of Vienna-based musician, lyricist and model Anna Francesca. Coming from a background in poetry, her lyrics testify to her sensitive use of language. Situated between reality and daydream, her songs are introspective snapshots embedded in minimalist sounds, somewhere between dark wave and indie pop, which recently earned her a nomination for the FM4 Award.
 

GRNGR is also back as a venue. On Friday, the extraordinary club location will be transformed into a hardcore/gabber stage. International guests will include none other than Somniac One and Talita Otović, two exceptional producers and female role models in the male-dominated hardcore scene. Lithuanian producer and DJ Somniac One has already performed at festivals such as Awakenings, Defqon.1, Dream Nation and Bang Face. Her sound combines heavy kicks with innovative sound design and pushes forward relentlessly. Her colleague, Paris-based producer and DJ Talita Otović, is closely associated with the Casual Gabberz and is part of the Paris collective Explity, which impresses with its hard-hitting hardcore that can be both humorous and melancholic.

On Saturday, GRNGR will be hosted by Atropa. The Graz crew is celebrating its 10th anniversary and has invited DJs Romain FX and Rena Volvo to join them. Residency DJs Attila & Goldberg will also be performing.
 

On Sunday, Parkhouse will become a daytime location. Everyone will dance together from early morning until early evening. Between 6:00 and 20:00, local Graz stars such as Olgica and Milès Borghese will be joined by Vienna's scene DJs, including jess_whereyouat, Vince, Apua and DJ Deadlift.

The daytime line-up is further complemented by Sibil, the Slovenia-based artist whose high-energy sets weave classical musicality with house and techno, funky basslines and trippy vocal fragments into an equally elegant and euphoric club sound. The extended after-hours party will be broadcast via live video stream by Berlin's themuddshow.

Among the numerous confirmed local DJs are Graz local heroes Mama Feelgood & Mr. Farmer, who will open Marc Almond's closing concert on Sunday with their moody and entertaining DJ set.
 

Festival passes and tickets for all categories are available via NTRY, oeticket and Resident Advisor. Further information can be found in our ticket shop.