January 2026
This year, I will dedicate my time to explore how it is possible to co-create a piece of music with a river – with the Danube River.
I want to nourish and deepen my relationship with the river that runs through Vienna, the city where I live. I have known the Danube River since my childhood. The plan for this year is to create a longer composition for soprano, orchestra, two performers and electronics WITH THE DANUBE – that’s also the title of the piece. The music, text, scenography and performance will be co-composed through an interactive process that invites the river as a living being. As a composer and artist, I want to cultivate multispecies thinking and a co-creative relationship.
I’m delighted to announce that I have received a state scholarship in composition from the Republic of Austria for this work. This will enable me to further deepen and expand the explorations. However, I am not the composer of the piece. I’m a partner, a co-composer, I work in collaboration with the Danube River.
The Danube River is a complex fluvial ecosystem and a living landscape. I approach it as a great entity, a plurality with which I can interact as a human being. I communicate with the river, and vice versa the river communicates with me. This is a bodily form of communication. I belong to the Danube landscape, because I live in the city of Vienna that has been shaped by the river since its very beginning. It was the rich fluvial landscape that attracted human beings to settle down at their shores, a long time ago.
In the creative process I will collaborate with more-than-human partners, including human artists, the river being, and selected technologies as well. The piece will not be “about” the river or “inspired by” the river, nor will it be composed or performed “on the shore of the beautiful blue Danube” (“An der schönen blauen Donau”).
Work has already begun. I spend many days in the Donau-Auen National Park, a protected river landscape stretching from Vienna and to Bratislava. The landscape along the river constantly changes. These fotos are from my most recent exploration in early January, when I hiked towards the river starting from the small village Schönau an der Donau. In this region, the current winter is very dry with rather low temperatures. The river has shrunk, the water level is extremely low.
Over the last months, I have been visiting the same spot many times, By now, the landscape has become familiar – yet, it appears different every time I visit. It looks and feels different. Every time, the river is in a different state and mood. So am I, and our relationship is changing, too. I have to get used to that.
All fotos by Pia Palme 2026
Donau-Auen National Park