For the 40th anniversary of the death of the artist and intellectual Pier Paolo Pasolini in November 1975, Azio Corghi has composed ‘...tra la carne e il cielo...’, a piece for concertante cello, male reciting voice, soprano, piano and orchestra on texts by Pasolini.

For centuries, classical music was mostly composed and performed by men. It took until 1994 for the first women to be appointed professor for composition in German-speaking countries; and it took until 1980 for the first women to get a commission for an orchestra work from Donaueschinger Musiktage – both times it was Korean-born composer Younghi-Pagh Paan. To celebrate her upcoming 70th birthday, Liza Lim introduces her music as part of our series Female Composers: “We need to celebrate our mother-figures as much as our father-figures”, says Lim.

For centuries, classical music was mostly composed and performed by men. Luckily this has changed in the past decades; an increasing number of women now play an important role in classical music. In our new series, we are introducing the female composers of our publishing group with in-depth articles, interviews, sound samples and by showing selected scores.

This month we start with Liza Lim, whose violin concerto was just premiered on September 29 in Geneva by Ensemble Contrechamps.

Fabio Vacchi’s new composition Sull'acqua (Sotto di noi il diluvio): l'acqua che illumina Milano for speaker and orchestra will be performed in Milan on 3 October by the Giuseppe Verdi Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Claire Gibault. Lella Costa will recite the text written by Michele Serra.

On October 2, the WDR Sinfonieorchester Cologne will perform the world premiere of Luca Francesconi’s MACCHINE IN ECHO at the Philharmonie in Cologne under the direction of Peter Rundel in collaboration with the piano duo GrauSchumacher. The piece was commissioned by the WDR, the Strasbourg MUSICA festival, and Wiener Konzerthaus. (The Strasbourg MUSICA festival will present the French premiere on 3 October at the closing concert of the festival’s 33rd edition.)

Franco Alfano (1875-1954) undisputedly played a leading role in early 20th century Italian music – an era that was heavily influenced by the music of Wagner and Strauss, the early works of Debussy and the rise of neo-classicism. He, along with the other members of the 'generazione dell’ottanta', a group which also included Pizzetti and Respighi, came to dominate the Italian classical music scene after the death of Puccini and invited extended tonality into Italian classical music. This marked a substantial departure from the works of the beloved Italian composers – Verdi, Donizetti and Bellini – of earlier generations.

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On 26 September, as part of the Italian contemporary music concert series Play It! at the Teatro Verdi in Florence from 23 to 26 September, the Orchestra della Toscana, conducted by Marco Angius, will perform the world premiere of Claudio Ambrosini’s Morte di Caravaggio, a still-life for bassoon and orchestra (soloist: Paolo Carlini).

On August 20, 2015, Hungarian president János Áder handed over the Order of Saint Stephen to composer Péter Eötvös and chess grandmaster Judit Polgár.

The world premiere of Lorenzo Pagliei’s A.L.M.A. for cello and orchestra will take place on September 24 in Florence as part of the Play It! festival. The Orchestra della Toscana and the cellist Francesco Dillon will be conducted by Francesco Lanzillotta. The work takes its name from A.L.M.A. (Atacama Large Millimiter/submillimiter Array) the world’s most powerful radio telescope capable revealing aspects of space and time that are invisible through other telescopes.