Date: Friday, September 4, 2026 9:00 PM - Following the success of her multimedia project Salon Mondialité, musician and artist Miho Hatori returns with the world premiere of Paris Syndrome, an EMPAC-commissioned performance created with Michiko Ogawa (shô) and Dan Peck (tuba). Surrounded by shifting fields of live sound, voice, and image, join us and encounter what happens when perception begins to slip. One show only. Included with festival pass.

Friday / September 4, 2026 at 9:00 pm Miho Hatori’s Paris Syndrome premieres at TOPOS Music Festival. Surrounded by shifting fields of live sound, voice, and image, encounter what happens when perception begins to slip. Performance, Commission Miho Hatori, with Michiko Ogawa and Daniel Peck

Date: Friday, September 4, 2026 7:00 PM - TOPOS Music Festival welcomes Vijay Iyer and Wadada Leo Smith, performing Defiant Life. Experience the spiritually and sonically intense improvised music of these two pioneering legends in the EMPAC Concert Hall. Included with festival pass & single tickets also available.

Friday / September 4, 2026 at 7:00 pm TOPOS welcomes Vijay Iyer and Wadada Leo Smith, performing Defiant Life in the EMPAC Concert Hall. Experience the spiritually and sonically intense improvised music of these two pioneering legends. Performance Vijay Iyer and Wadada Leo Smith

Date: Thursday, September 3, 2026 9:00 PM - Performing at TOPOS in the ambisonic environment of EMPAC’s Studio 1, IMA conjures a sound world suspended between destruction and renewal—searching for fleeting moments of beauty at the edge of collapse. Included with festival pass.

Thursday / September 3, 2026 at 9:00 pm Performing at TOPOS in the ambisonic environment of EMPAC’s Studio 1, IMA conjures a sound world suspended between destruction and renewal—searching for fleeting moments of beauty at the edge of collapse. Performance IMA

Date: Thursday, September 3, 2026 6:00 PM - TOPOS Music Festival 2026 welcomes filmmaker, writer, broadcaster, and musician Edward George to EMPAC for a live version of his acclaimed podcast The Strangeness of Jazz. Join us and listen in as George turns his attention to the generative possibilities of the slip—the mistake, stutter, or rhythmic deviation that opens new musical futures. At the center of the program is the work of Jamaican drummer Sly Dunbar. Included with festival pass.

Thursday / September 3, 2026 at 6:00 pm TOPOS 2026 welcomes filmmaker, writer, broadcaster, and musician Edward George to EMPAC for a live version of his acclaimed podcast The Strangeness of Jazz. Performance Edward George

Date: Wednesday, September 2, 2026 7:00 PM - Filmmaker Edward George is in Troy for the American premiere of Black Atlas, with author Fred Moten joining for the post-screening talk. Drawing from an archive of 3,000 images held by The Warburg Institute in London, George creates a new film that reanimates historical imagery through narration, sound, and montage. Followed by a conversation between George and scholar, NYU professor, Fred Moten. Part of TOPOS 2026. This one-night-only screening takes place at The Sanctuary.

Wednesday / September 2, 2026 at 5:00 pm Filmmaker Edward George is in Troy for the American premiere of Black Atlas, with author Fred Moten joining for the post-screening talk. A TOPOS festival add-on at The Sanctuary, with iEAR Presents. EMPAC / Sanctuary for Independent Media Workshop Edward George