🌄 Festival of Music and Science «Higher than Sound» from August 12 to 26, 2026
🎼🌌 «Higher than Sound» is 2 weeks when Karachay-Cherkessia transforms into a space where music, science, and mountains merge into a unified experience of perceiving the world. From August 12 to 26, Arkhyz, Nizhny Arkhyz, Cherkessk, Nizhnyaya Teberda, and high-mountain venues become a living stage for concerts, expeditions, lectures, and meetings that unite art and the exploration of reality.
🏔️ For the fifth year, the festival brings together events — from symphony concerts and organ evenings to scientific walks, field research, and theatrical performances for the whole family. This year, there will be over 40 (!).
🎶 Music in the Mountains
🎻 The festival presents a large-scale musical program:
• symphony and chamber concerts featuring works by Brahms, Schubert, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Bizet, Strauss, and other composers;
• performances by leading soloists from Russia and the world, including artists from the Mariinsky Theatre and European opera houses;
• organ concerts by Gleb Mikhailov and Dániel Somogyi-Tóth;
• a piano evening by Anna Tsibulova;
• vocal and chamber programs with international performers;
• musical performances where sound enters into dialogue with nature.
🎹 Concerts take place in unusual spaces: MFC «Romantik», «Sofia» and «Jissa» halls, «Soyuz» and «Orbita» cable car stations, as well as in open mountain venues.
🔬 Science as a Journey
🌠 The festival's scientific program transforms lectures and research into a living experience of connecting with the world:
🔭 Space and Astrophysics:
• meetings with Gennady Valyavin, Director of the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SAO RAS) (BTA and the structure of the Universe);
• Petr Tsybulyov (RATAN-600 and radio astronomy);
• discussion of modern methods for observing the Universe and cosmic processes.
🧠 Medicine and Future Technologies:
• lectures by Alexey Vodovozov on the medicine of the future, diagnostics, new technologies, and the development of human science;
• a conversation about how our understanding of health, nutrition, and medical technologies is changing.
🌿 Nature and Mountain Ecosystems:
• expeditions with botanist Alim Kipkeyev to waterfalls and high-mountain lakes;
• study of flora, ecological processes, and biological communities.
🪶 Ornithology:
• walks with Irina Morozova — observing birds, their calls, and behavior patterns;
• «translating» bird language and studying their communication.
🌍 Earth and Landscapes:
• lectures by geoecologist Shamil Tokhchukov on mountain formation, rock movement, glaciers, and landscape changes at altitudes up to 3000 meters;
• understanding how the Earth «rewrites» itself.
🏛️ History and Culture:
• walks with Rustam Begulov through ancient temples and settlements;
• a conversation about the Alan civilization, Byzantium, and the formation of the cultural space of the Caucasus.
🧠 Human and Perception:
• neuro-gymnastics with Ganna Lyakina;
• practices focused on body awareness and inner state.
🎭 Theater and Family Programs
🎪 Performances by the «Sabi» Youth Theatre participate in the festival:
• puppet and musical productions;
• fairy tales about justice, honesty, and human choice;
• programs for children and family audiences.
🌌 Special Formats
✨ Unique festival events:
• concerts near the telescopes of SAO RAS and RATAN-600;
• organ music in the mountains and at cable car stations;
• musical performances involving natural objects;
• expeditions where science and music unfold simultaneously;
• lectures and concerts combined into a single spatial experience.
🌄 Why You Should Come
💫 «Higher than Sound» is not just a festival, but a way to experience the mountains as a space of meaning. Here, music becomes landscape, science becomes a journey, and every route becomes a form of discovery.
🎫 In one trip, you can:
• hear world-class performers in the mountains;
• become a participant in real scientific research;
• travel routes through ancient monuments and natural sites;
• see how art and science become a single language.
📅 August 12–26, 2026
📍 Karachay-Cherkessia, Arkhyz, Cherkessk, Teberda, and high-mountain venues
🎼 Festival of Music and Science «Higher than Sound»
Russia, Arkhyz
