© Maria Frodl
Pia Palme is a composer of contemporary and experimental music who places listening practice at the core of her work. Her oeuvre includes instrumental, vocal, and electronic music, media compositions and scenic works. For her, composing is a political activity that can extend into contextual disciplines such as performing, improvising, writing texts, field-recording, making videos and installations. Pia Palme holds a doctorate in composition from the University of Huddersfield, UK, and surrounds her practice with reflections and theoretical explorations. She is also known as a performer with her Kueng contrabass recorder. She was born in Vienna, where she currently lives, and studied music at the (former) Conservatory of the City of Vienna and Mathematics at the Technical University of Vienna. Pia Palme further merges her activities as a researcher and artist to develop a form of contemporary storytelling and performance lecture. Awards include the 2015 Gorge-Butterworth Prize (UK), the Outstanding Artist Award of the Republic of Austria 2015, as well as a number of scholarships such as from Sound and Music UK 2014, the City of Vienna, Siemens Foundation, and the Austrian Republic.