Heads up: due to the red heatwave alert, some events of the 2026 Music Day may be canceled, postponed, or altered. Check the latest information before you head out.
Free concerts to discover as part of the Fête de la Musique 2026— care to join? Then head to the garden of the Swedish Institute on Sunday, June 21!
June 21 sees the return of the Fête de la Musique, a popular, festive, convivial and, above all, free event. Every June 21, musicians, amateurs and professionals alike, bring out their instruments to offer music-lovers and the curious some fine musical moments. Whether in the street, in a bar, in a concert hall, in a museum, in a church or in a cultural center, the musicians and spectators enjoy the moment to the full.
The Fête de la musique also showcases the breadth and diversity of musical practices, and all musical genres: rock, electro, metal, classical music, French variety, reggae...
In 2026, the Fête de la musique returns to the Institut suédois, that sublime venue tucked behind the gates of the Hôtel de Marle in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris. Throughout the year, the Institut suédois showcases rich collections around Swedish artists and Franco-Swedish connections. Music is also well represented.
The Swedish Institute in Paris: Sweden's only cultural center abroad
For a trip to Scandinavia without even leaving the capital, head for the Swedish Institute! Housed in the sublime Hôtel de Marle since 1971, the Nordic cultural center offers a rich and varied program of events all year round, showcasing art, music, design and cinema straight from Sweden. [Read more]
For this Music Day 2026, the Swedish Institute of Culture welcomes a new slate of artists to perform live in its garden. On the program this year? Fågelle. Hailing from the Nordic experimental scene, this artist has already released several records, including Helvetesdagar in 2019 and Den svenska vreden in 2023. This year, Fågelle returns with a bold new project, titled Bränn min jord.
The Swedish Institute will also welcome on June 21 Sara Parkman. A violinist, singer, and composer, Sara Parkman returns with a new studio album titled "Eros, Agape, Philia". Previously, the singer and musician had unveiled "Sara Parkmans Skog", which earned her the title of “Artist of the Year” at the Folk & World Music Gala, followed by "Matriarkerna" and the release of "Vesper".
But that’s not all, because the Music Day at the Swedish Institute is also a yearly opportunity to celebrate the Midsommar, the renowned ancient tradition that signals the start of summer. Every year, during Midsommar, Swedes raise a flower-filled maypole around which people dance and sing, wearing a garland of flowers. On June 21, 2026, the garden of the Swedish Institute in Paris will host traditional Midsommar dances and songs, just before the famous concerts.
Midsommar
In Sweden, Midsummer is an ancient tradition celebrated in meadows, parks, and gardens with family, friends, and neighbors. People adorn themselves with flowers, dance and sing around a tall maypole, and sample pickled herring, potato salad, schnapps, and other local treats. At the Swedish Institute, the celebration carries on with the singer Eskelina, who graciously guides our steps and voices.
From the gates opening and throughout the evening, Café FIKA will be serving Swedish drinks and specialties to suit the occasion.
Participation requirements: Access via the garden at 10 Rue Elzévir — no reservation required
Hours: Sunday, June 21, 2026, from 5:00 PM to 7:30 PM
Concert: Fågelle
Emerging from the Nordic experimental scene, Fågelle embodies a stark collision between lyricism and sonic ferocity. Her music intertwines folk-inflected passages, orchestral walls of sound, electronic perturbations, and primal voices.
After two albums hailed by critics — Helvetesdagar (Days of Hell, 2019) and Den svenska vreden (Swedish Fury, 2023) — Fågelle presents today a new, ambitiously rooted project born in her homeland of Halland in southwest Sweden. The album Bränn min jord (Burn My Soil) marks a geographical and artistic shift: a listening ear turned to the forests and villages that shaped her. Far from nostalgia, it’s a reclaiming of space and memory, turning neglected places into sites of creation.
Sonically, the record stands out for a dark, textured, immersive atmosphere — saturated guitars, brass, on-site field recordings, and raw, exposed vocals. Both cinematic and organic, it vacillates between light and shadow, desolation and tenderness. By integrating musicians, dancers, and local ambient life directly into the recording process, Fågelle reimagines how music can depict and reshape a landscape, building a bridge between traditional folk and contemporary sound art. Yet the album also reaches beyond its local context to pose universal questions: how do places shape us? how does memory inhabit the land? and how can returning — even when painful — become a way to inhabit the world more fully.
Fågelle has performed across Europe, at festivals and iconic venues such as Roadburn, Way Out West, Berghain’s Kantine, and Petit Bain, among others.
Participation conditions: Garden-side access at 10 Rue Elzévir — no reservation required
Hours: Sunday, June 21, 2026 — 7:30 PM to 8:20 PM
Concert: Sara Parkman
For fifteen years, Sara Parkman has been interrogating and embracing traditions with honesty and grace, forging her own distinct musical universe and becoming a central figure in contemporary Swedish folk.
Parkman’s music moves with ease between the sacred and the raw, between the intimate and the forest’s mist at late-night raves. A violinist, singer, and composer for more than a decade and a half, she continues to push boundaries and redraw the contours of folk music. Today she returns with Eros, agape, philia – an album about love and the body.
Her debut solo album, Sara Parkmans Skog (“Sara Parkman’s Forest,” 2016), earned her the title “Artist of the Year” at the Folk & Världsmusikgalan, the Swedish ceremony dedicated to folk and world music. The following year she released her second album, Matriarkerna (“The Matriarchs”), a tribute record created in collaboration with her friend, folk musician Samantha Ohlanders. But Sara Parkman’s most acclaimed release to date remains Vesper (“Vespers,” 2019). Named after the Christian evening prayer, it’s an album devoted to the sacred. It was warmly received by critics and crowned with several prizes, including the cultural prize of the daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter.
With Eros, agape, philia, Parkman toys with three ancient Greek terms for different kinds of love: Eros, romantic or erotic love; Agapè, divine love; and Philia, friendship or familial love. The result is a record that whispers, in all the languages of love, about human tenderness. It speaks of desire, hope, silent vows, the dizzying mix of fear and the soft contact of mousse on skin, the fleeting nature of love and self-forgetfulness, surrender, longing, and doubt.
Tradition or innovation, intimate room or nocturnal club; Parkman’s music refuses to be one thing or its opposite. It blends multiple elements—sometimes perceived as opposites—into a strange, perfect harmony.
Participation requirements: Garden-side access at 10 Rue Elzévir – no reservation required
Schedule: Sunday, June 21, 2026 — 8:45 PM to 9:55 PM
Dates and Opening Time
On June 21, 2026
Starts at 05:00 p.m.
Location
Swedish Institute
11 rue Payenne
75003 Paris 3
Route planner
Prices
Free
Recommended age
For all
Official website
paris.si.se
More information
Meet us in the garden area, at 10 Rue Elzévir, starting from 5 p.m.
Free entry, subject to capacity.
The Swedish Institute’s interior spaces will be closed all day.
The Swedish Institute in Paris: Sweden's only cultural center abroad
