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ACADEMY SECOND MODERNISM

No more excuses: With the Academy Second Modernism, an initiative was founded in 2024 as part of the Vienna Festival (Wiener Festwochen) | Free Republic of Vienna that aims to promote gender equality in music culture and thus change centuries-old inequality. (Equality & Diversity in Global Repertoire Report by Donne, Women in Music #DonneReport2022)

Feminist, global and for everyone: the academy's goal is to increase the proportion of works by female composers* in the concert and music theatre sectors, expand the traditional canon and create a committed system of partner institutions around the world. The result is a female, global, diverse composition and performance network! To this end, the Zweite Moderne Academy is inviting 50 internationally influential female composers from around the world to Vienna by 2028.

* Women and/or trans, inter*, non-binary persons

„The road is long, but the impact of our collective efforts can transform not only music, but society itself.“

Chi-chi Nwanoku

WOMXN COMPOSERS*

Every year, ten women composers* perform their compositions as ambassadors* of the Academy in two concerts during the festival weeks. At the additional summit meeting, participants engage in panels and workshops on relevant issues addressed in the Academy Declaration and strengthen their powerful alliance.

Since the academy was founded, more and more alliance partners worldwide have joined, setting an example for a gender-equitable, diverse music culture.

The New York Times on the Academy Second Modernism

2025

Katharina Ernst
Katharina Ernst
Katharina Ernst
Katharina Ernst, born in Austria, is a composer, performer and visual artist. In her work, she deals with polymetric, complex and chaotic structures in the field of tension between music, visual arts and choreography. She is also one of the most sought-after percussionists in the experimental…
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© Steven Kazuo Takasugi Chaya Czernowin
Chaya Czernowin
Chaya Czernowin
Chaya Czernowin, born in Israel, lives in United States, Japan and Germany, is a major distinctive voice in new music. Her compositional oeuvre includes operas, orchestral, chamber and vocal music, which have been performed at the most important festivals and opera houses and concert venues…
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© Alik Barsoumian Mary Kouyoumdjian
Mary Kouyoumdjian
Mary Kouyoumdjian
The Armenian-American composer Mary Kouyoumdjian realises projects ranging from concert works to multimedia collaborations and film scores. Having come from a family directly affected by the Lebanese Civil War and Armenian Genocide, she uses a sonic palette that draws on her heritage and her…
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© Emily Denny Hannah Kendall
Hannah Kendall
Hannah Kendall
Hannah Kendall is a British composer. Her work bridges gaps between different musical cultures, both honouring and questioning the contemporary tradition while telling new stories through it. Contrasting fine detail with limitless abandon, she confronts collective history with narratively driven…
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© Muthukia Wachira Niloufar Nourbakhsh
Niloufar Nourbakhsh
Niloufar Nourbakhsh
Born in Iran, Niloufar Nourbakhsh is known for her contemporary classical compositions for piano, orchestra, chamber ensemble, voice, electronics, and mixed media. Her music has been performed at numerous festivals and venues including Carnegie Hall, Washington Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center.…
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© Christiane Keller Lucia Ronchetti
Lucia Ronchetti
Lucia Ronchetti
Lucia Ronchetti is an Italian composer and was the artistic director of the Biennale Musica. Her works ranges from large scale and chamber operas for professional singers to choral operas for ensembles with amateur choirs, as well as experimental music performances, commissioned and premiered by…
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© M.A. Jamie Man 文珮玲
Jamie Man 文珮玲
Jamie Man 文珮玲
Jamie Man 文珮玲 is a British-Chinese composer. She uses the forms of opera, live performance and dark room installations to create works primarily concerned with music and the poetic mystery of the transtopian body. Moulding physiological phenomena such as auditory illusions and visual afterimages…
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© Muthukia Wachira Nyokabi Kariũki
Nyokabi Kariũki
Nyokabi Kariũki
Nyokabi Kariũki is a Kenyan composer, sound artist and artistic researcher. Her sonic imagination spans from classical contemporary to experimental electronic music, explorations in sound art, pop, and (East) African musical traditions. Her impactful work is illuminated by a commitment to the…
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© AUROREFOUCHEZ Cassie Kinoshi
Cassie Kinoshi
Cassie Kinoshi
Cassie Kinoshi, is a British composer, arranger and alto-saxophonist with a focus on creating multi-disciplinarily and genre-blending performance work. She has received commissions by orchestras and ensembles such as London Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, BBC Philharmonic and the Ligeti…
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© Mateja Vrckovic Sara Glojnarić
Sara Glojnarić
Sara Glojnarić
Sara Glojnarić was born in Croatia. Her artistic practice explores pop culture, including its aesthetics and socio-political impact, collective memory, nostalgia and the intricate web of pop cultural data and their interactions. Her work spans various media, encompassing opera, orchestral…
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2024

© Zhen Qin Du Yun
Du Yun
Du Yun
was born in Shanghai and lives in New York; she is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, performer, activist, curator for new music and has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize. Her wide range of works touches on many genres and is performed by the most important ensembles worldwide.
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© Ben Mc Donnell Bushra El-Turk
Bushra El-Turk
Bushra El-Turk
is a British-Lebanese composer in the field of concert, theatre, film, TV and live art performances. Her transcultural projects, which are performed by internationally renowned ensembles, opera and concert houses, seamlessly blend Western and Eastern music traditions.
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© Frederike Wetzels Brigitta Muntendorf
Brigitta Muntendorf
Brigitta Muntendorf
is a German-Austrian composer who stages often large-format music, dance theatre and 3D sound projects, creating a soundscape of analogue and digital forms of expression. Her works can be experienced at internationally renowned music and art festivals.
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Monthati Masebe
Monthati Masebe
Monthati Masebe
is a composer, sound artist and healer from South Africa. Blending South African indigenous and electronic music, Masebe opens new perspectives and researches the orchestration of traditional African instruments as well as microtonality and polyrhythm in inclusive notations.
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© Yury Lytko Marina Lukashevich
Marina Lukashevich
Marina Lukashevich
is a composer, sound engineer and musician from Belarus. Responding to the political crisis in Belarus in the year 2020, her compositions are positioned to interplay with documentary art. She currently lives and works in Berlin.
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© Aida Shirazi Aida Shirazi
Aida Shirazi
Aida Shirazi
is an Iranian composer and performer of (electro)acoustic music. Her work is focussed on timbre and structures, inspired by the Persian and English languages and literatures. Her music has been performed in Iran, in Europe and the USA.
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© Mark Ballyk Shasha Chen
Shasha Chen
Shasha Chen
is a composer, multi-media artist and performer from China. Her interdisciplinary and collaborative approach to composition focusses on socio-political topics such as identity, gender and violence. Her works have been performed in the USA, in Canada, Europe and China.
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© Pin Chen Lu Dilay Doğanay
Dilay Doğanay
Dilay Doğanay
was born in İzmir, Turkey. This composer’s works address such topics as geopolitical catastrophes and are performed by artists and ensembles in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France and Turkey, including the Ensemble Intercontemporain.
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© Rui Camilo Mirela Ivičević
Mirela Ivičević
Mirela Ivičević
born in Croatia, is a co-founder of the Black Page Orchestra. Her work centres on the subversive potential of sound. She recontextualises sound and media (side) products of everyday life. Her works are performed at renowned venues and festivals.
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© Marie Luise Calvero Feliz Anne Reyes Macahis
Feliz Anne Reyes Macahis
Feliz Anne Reyes Macahis
is a composer from the Philippines. Her artistic and scientific practice centres on Philippine epic song in the context of contemporary music. She has received the Kompositionsförderpreis of the Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung as well as other awards.
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ACADEMY SECOND MODERNISM 2026

The Summit

‘As long as historical works by deceased male composers constitute approximately 90% of all music performed in the publicly funded music scene, efforts at gender-based and cultural equality must remain merely cosmetic.’ (Declaration, Academy Second Modernism)

How is our cultural identity shaped? How do cultural contexts influence musical languages and how can they be combined? Under the motto ‘Considering Appropriation’, the 2026 summit will address issues relating to aspects of cultural inspiration. Over two days, the summit invites the public to join this year's composers and renowned international thought leaders in reflecting on transcultural music culture. This year's key question: What types of programming and representation do we need institutionally and artistically to minimise the power mechanisms of appropriation and maximise the mechanisms of global appreciation?

Programme 2025

Debate Admission free
Akademie Zweite Moderne – Gipfeltreffen 2025
Summit 2025
Stories that matter
Academy Second Modernism
7 / 8 June
ORF RadioKulturhaus
More info
Concert
© Muthukia Wachira NO MORE EXCUSES I
NO MORE EXCUSES I
Klangforum Wien, Irene Delgado-Jiménez
Concerts of the Academy Second Modernism
8 June
ORF RadioKulturhaus
More info
Concert
NO MORE EXCUSES II
NO MORE EXCUSES II
Klangforum Wien, Irene Delgado-Jiménez
Concerts of the Academy Second Modernism
9 June
ORF RadioKulturhaus
More info

Become an alliance partner

As an alliance partner, you share the values of the Academy Second Modernism Declaration and commit to proactively promoting gender-equitable, diverse programming to the best of your ability.

Get in touch: zweitemoderne@festwochen.at

A project of Vienna Festival (Wiener Festwochen) | Free Republic of Vienna
In cooperation with ORF RadioKulturhaus & Ö1

Team Academy Second Modernism
Head of Academy Second Modernism & Curation Summit Meeting Lisa Florentine Schmalz
Initiator Academy Second Modernism & Curation Concerts Jana Beckmann
Network and Project Content Collaboration Saskia Bladt
Process Support and Moderation Summit Meeting Nora Refaeil

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