The seventh edition of Classix Festival took place in Iași between March 1–19, 2026. The concert programme ran from March 1–8, while the extended Classix in Focus programme continued until March 19, bringing together dialogues, exhibitions, and cultural interventions. Under the theme “Art & Mind,” the festival explored the ways we perceive, imagine, feel, and heal through art, highlighting its emotional, cognitive, and social functions.

The 2026 edition featured 9 concerts, bringing together more than 72 artists from 17 countries: Romania, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, France, Germany, Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland, Norway, Israel, Canada, Colombia, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Audiences experienced more than 50 works by over 40 composers, spanning Baroque and Romantic repertoire, Modernism, and contemporary music.

More than 10,000 people attended the concerts and accompanying events, while the festival’s online content generated over 75,000 views.

The festival also presented 3 panel discussions, 1 dialogue, 2 exhibitions accompanied by opening events, 1 showcase, 1 guided tour, 1 flash mob, and 1 pop-up concert, alongside a series of cultural interventions in public space. The two exhibitions, The Singing Garden Symphony and Gustav Klimt and the Künstler-Compagnie at Peleș, expanded the festival experience beyond the concert hall and remained open to the public until March 19.

Through the Classix in Art programme, three scholarships of €1,000 each were awarded, and the projects developed by Andrei Popovici, Alina Tofan, and Mariana Preda were presented during a dedicated showcase. The educational component included 57 masterclass sessions, led by 17 internationally acclaimed artists, with the participation of 98 young musicians, both active and passive attendees.

The Classix 2026 programme continued in the spring with the bonus concert Treeline, held on May 15 at the Palace of Culture in Iași, attended by 200 participants. Created by British composer and pianist Graham Fitkin and performed together with the Classix Quintet, the project offered a contemporary musical experience dedicated to trees, biodiversity, and the relationship between people and the natural environment, drawing on sound material inspired by Eminescu’s Linden Tree in Iași.

The 2026 edition continued the curatorial trajectory that has shaped the festival’s identity, following Revelations (2025), Desire (2024), Metamorphosis (2023), and Instinct (2022). In the context of the rapid development of artificial intelligence, Art & Mind brought irreplaceable human creativity, intuition, empathy, and imagination back into focus. The edition ultimately became an invitation to be present, to slow down, and to rediscover the human mind as the source of meaning and creation.