Art & Culture

Hamburg – September 7, 2026 -- Casio Computer Co., Ltd. unveiled the European premiere of its digital sound source "Akiko's Piano" at the Martha Argerich Festival 2026, held in Hamburg, Germany, from June 20 to 30, 2026.

The original piano survived the Hiroshima bombing

The upright piano at the center of the project was built in 1926 and damaged in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Restored in 2005, it has since been played by musicians including Martha Argerich and has carried a message of peace through its sound.

Casio recorded all 88 keys to preserve the instrument digitally

To carry the piano's historic tone into the future, Casio's European subsidiary, CASIO Europe GmbH, led a project that meticulously recorded the sound of each of the piano's 88 keys and rebuilt it as a digital sound source.

Salt Lake City – September 07, 2026 -- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has opened reservations for tours of the renovated Salt Lake Temple ahead of a six-month public celebration running April 5 to October 1, 2027.

The celebration carries the theme "Rejoice in Christ"

Church leaders announced the theme at a media event held at the new West Temple Entrance Building on Temple Square. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, chair of the Salt Lake Temple Executive Committee, said the church wanted to invite people of any background to "come and see and love Jesus Christ and the people who come here."

The same phrase has also been chosen as the church's 2027 youth theme, drawn from Philippians 4:4. Young Women General President Emily Belle Freeman said the shared theme will connect youth worldwide to the celebration and to temple worship more broadly.

Hamburg -- The Elbphilharmonie Hamburg marks its tenth anniversary on January 11, 2027, and the concert hall has released figures showing its impact on the city's cultural life. Annual attendance at classical concerts in Hamburg has tripled since the venue opened.

7.4 million visitors have attended 6,400 concerts and events inside the hall.

A further 29.5 million people have visited the Plaza, the public viewing platform positioned 37 meters above the ground. Ten years after opening, the Grand Hall is currently running at 96 percent capacity.

The venue has hosted 130 world premieres over the past decade.

Programming spans classical repertoire alongside jazz, non-European musical traditions, pop, electronic music and contemporary composition. What was once a construction project criticized during its build-out has become a fixture for international orchestras, artists and visitors.

Chongqing – September 04, 2026 --A new music documentary pairing Danish producer HEDEGAARD with traditional musicians from ten Chinese ethnic groups has drawn over 25.8 million views outside China within weeks of its July 27 release.

The project covered 7,200 kilometers across western China

"Western China's Melody" was co-produced by the Western China International Communication Organization (WCICO) and HEDEGAARD, who is known for over 1.7 billion streams worldwide. Filming took the crew through ten cities and among ten ethnic groups, including Han, Tujia, Tibetan, Yi, Mongol, Yugur, Hui, Zhuang, Dong and Dai communities. The team documented endangered musical traditions such as the Adu High-Pitched Melody, the Mongolian Tobshur, and Xizang Layi.

Hamburg – September 04, 2026 -- German public broadcaster NDR is celebrating 20 years of its documentary series "Die Nordreportage" with a free cinema tour across northern Germany and a two-week television special starting September 28.

Four cities host premiere screenings between September 28 and October 2

The tour stops at Kino Center Husum on September 28, Ozeaneum Stralsund on September 29, Filmpalast Lüneburg on October 1, and ASTOR Film Lounge HafenCity in Hamburg on October 2. Each evening pairs a classic episode with an unreleased new production, followed by a chance for audiences to meet the filmmakers and the people featured on screen.

Premieres include "Notruf auf Fehmarn" in Husum, "110 hautnah" in Stralsund, a new installment of "Rollys Trucker-Imbiss" in Lüneburg, and a feature on Hamburg's Davidwache police station in the HafenCity screening.

Mainz – September 03, 2026 -- German broadcaster ZDF is marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks with a lineup of specials, a two-part docudrama, and a science-focused segment airing across ZDF, ZDFinfo, and 3sat in early September 2026.

A live special airs from New York on the anniversary itself

On Friday, September 11, 2026, at 7:25 p.m., "ZDF spezial: 11. September – Der Tag, der die Welt veränderte" broadcasts live from a set above Ground Zero in New York. Host Shakuntala Banerjee speaks with eyewitnesses and experts about the lasting impact of the attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people, and about how the anniversary is being marked amid shifting U.S.-NATO relations under President Donald Trump.

Chongqing – September 03, 2026 -- A new music documentary pairing Danish producer HEDEGAARD with folk musicians across western China has drawn more than 25.8 million overseas views within weeks of its July 27 release.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING – July 4, 2026 – Festival season hits its peak this weekend as Summerjam returns to the Fühlinger See near Cologne, Germany, promising three days of reggae, dancehall and hip-hop against a backdrop organizers describe as ideal summer weather. The event, which unfolds on the festival's signature island grounds, is built around music, community and a handful of low-key touches like a rooftop lounge and an on-site box office for last-minute arrivals. Organizers are framing the weekend less as a lineup showcase and more as a shared experience, urging attendees to stay hydrated, wear sunscreen and check in on each other throughout the run. For fans who missed presale or are still deciding whether to go, there's still a path in — tickets remain available both online and at the gate.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING – June 24, 2026 – Peugeot has just announced it is becoming the Official Automotive Partner of the Venice International Film Festival, the oldest film festival in the world, with the deal covering the 2026, 2027 and 2028 editions. The 83rd Mostra runs from September 2 to 12, 2026, and Peugeot will be right at the centre of it — fleet of vehicles on the Lido, a concept car in front of the Palazzo del Cinema, and the Lion badge on the red carpet itself. For a brand that has spent years building its credentials in cinema, this is arguably the biggest cultural partnership it has landed yet.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING – June 15, 2025 – A new book from German publisher R. G. Fischer Verlag is asking some quietly unsettling questions about the world we live in — and reaching back thousands of years for the answers. Der Verlust des Ideals (The Loss of the Ideal), written by Jürgen Hamacher and published in 2026, draws on the author's 25-year experience as a practicing druid to explore how ancient oracle traditions once shaped entire societies, why that knowledge disappeared, and what its absence means for us today. At 718 pages, it's an ambitious undertaking — and one aimed squarely at readers curious about history, spirituality, and the deeper structures that hold communities together.