from 4th to 13th October

61 composers from around the world – Jordan, Kuwait, Israel, China, Korea, Japan, the United States and various European countries – with 17 commissions, 25 world premieres and 22 Italian premieres, will be the focus in Venice from 4th to 13th October for the 51st edition, directed by Giorgio Battistelli, of the International Festival of Contemporary Music from the Venice Biennale - chaired by Davide Croff.

The prestigious award for lifetime achievement, symbolised by the Biennale’s Golden Lion, will this year be assigned to Giacomo Manzoni. The prize is attributed “to the composer and intellectual of music who has spanned 50 years of activity, constantly exploring and renewing his language with an experimental approach stimulated by an intimate expressive need”. In homage, the Orchestra di Verona will perform the world premiere of La legge, an early work by the maestro.
An international jury will instead award the Golden Lion for music of the present, chosen from the music and musicians invited to the Festival.

The commissions for Made in Italy are joined by those for Claudio Ambrosini and Michele Dall’Ongaro, well-established and appreciated figures who will respectively be presenting Plurimo (per Emilio Vedova) and Avatar. Finally, a special place is reserved for the commissioned work from Michael Nyman, the famous and popular British composer who will open the festival, for the first time conducting one of the most prestigious and award-winning Italian orchestras, the Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia. To Aretino’s licentious Sonetti lussuriosi, Nyman will be adding another two world premieres: the rewriting for symphonic orchestra of the original music for The Libertine, the film starring Johnny Depp, and the Violin Concerto no. 2, dedicated to Francesco D’Orazio, the popular performer of classical and contemporary music, from Bach to Berio.