IAWM’s concert in September celebrates women across the ages. The location is St. Cäcilien church, one of 12 Romanesque churches in Cologne Germany. Its origin was a women’s convent founded in the 9th century. In the 12th century, the building was replaced with t three-ailed column basilica without a tower, and in 1474 the abbey morphed into an Augustinian convent. Since 1956, St. Cäcilien has served as the collection for the Museum Schnütgen for medieval art.

We have six winners for the 2025 Call for works, five for chamber orchestra and one for smaller ensemble. A review of the concert will be in issue # 4 of the IAWM journal in November.

 

IAWM 2025 Annual Concert Call for Scores Winners

Tao Yu – Desert Reign

Adi Shapiro – Dragonflies

Stefania de Kenessey – Unorthodox Redux

Ala Gialla – Dearly Beloved

Ayça Akin – Tempesta

Indigo Knecht – Self-Destruction at its Finest

 

The Winners’ Biographies

 

Tao Yu, Desert Reign, is distinguished as a composer, performer, and organizer of international cultural projects. She studied at the China Conservatory of Music and the Geneva Conservatory of Music and her works have been commissioned by prestigious institutions, ensembles, and artists. Selected to participate in seminars at IRCAM in Paris, she further honed her mastery of modern compositional techniques. Her compositions include works for symphonic orchestra, chamber music, traditional Chinese instruments, and electroacoustic setups. Originally from Beijing, she currently resides in France. TAO Yu’s works have been performed on all continents, covering countries such as China, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Poland, Russia, Israel, Australia, Brazil, and the United States. Her music contributes significantly to the dialogue between Eastern and Western musical cultures. http://www.composers21.com/compdocs/taoy.htm

Adi Shapiro, Dragonflies, is an Israeli-British composer and singer songwriter whose orchestral, chamber and vocal compositions have been performed internationally and have received multiple awards. At age 17, she was awarded the Promising Young Talent Prize, Vienna Classical Music Academy International Composition Competition. She currently studies composition at the Purcell School in the UK,  and has been accepted to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.

 

Stefania de Kenessey, Unorthodox Redux, DE KENESSEY’s music has been performed throughout New York City, from Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center to Joe’s Pub and La Mama; internationally, it has been heard in more than 35 countries, from Australia to Venezuela. Her output ranges from choral, vocal and operatic pieces to chamber and orchestral work, as well as scores for film, theater and dance. De Kenessey is the inaugural Composer-In-Residence for the Dal Sogno Ensemble, which commissioned “The Names of Woman”, a cantata dedicated to women who have been unjustly neglected by history; the piece premiered at Bargemusic in 2024 and since then has been presented at several venues in the metropolitan area. De Kenessey is also the first Composer-In-Residence for the Accord Treble Choir, which commissioned and premiered her “Urgent Earth” (2024), feminist eco-cantata about the climate change crisis, setting a text by the noted Wiccan poet Annie Finch. She has collaborated regularly with the all-female Ariel Rivka Dance Company and its founding choreographer Ariel Grossman, and now also serves as that company’s Composer-In-Residence. De Kenessey is committed to helping women composers and musicians achieve parity in an unequal, biased world. She is the founding president of the International Alliance for Women in Music and serves on the board of New York Women Composers. http://www.stefaniadekenessey.com/about

Ala Gialla, Dearly Beloved, has a multi-faceted background: she is a pianist, composer, teacher, an arranger and author. She has an extensive classical music background, with a Master’s degree in Piano Performance from Indiana University (USA), and is a Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music (UK). Having performed with singers, instrumentalists, choirs and orchestras around the world, Ala has also been a juror for international music competitions and a consultant for piano students and teachers worldwide. Ala has recently started focusing on composing and performing her own original music of a classical crossover style. Her first piano album, “A New Beginning”, including her most popular singles “Autumn” and “Running Away”, was released in 2022. Her newest single “Dearly Beloved” was released in 2024 with positive acclaim. Ala’s mission is to tell a story through her own music and words, and make them accessible for everyone.

 

 

Ayça Akın, Tempesta, is a Turkish-American composer. Akın studied piano performance for ten years at Carnegie Mellon University’s Music Preparatory School under teacher Ralph Zitterbart. From 2022 to 2024, Akin completed her orchestral composing studies under composer and teacher Leon Willett. Recognized for her strong musical intuition and emotional depth, Akın has since composed concert works and scored several films. In 2025, Akın was nominated for “Best Composer of the Future” at the Cannes World Film Festival for her original score for award-winning film The Balloon (2025). Recent commissions include new work that was recently premiered in New York City for Ensemble Ipse, and newmusic for Confluence Ballet Company for the Spring 2026 season. Akın produces and publishes electronic music in addition to writing for film, chamber ensembles, and symphonic orchestras. She lives with her husband, two children, and dog in Pittsburgh, PA.

 

 

Indigo Knecht, Self-Destruction at its Finest, is a composer, tubist, and educator fascinated with the challenges people face as they navigate this world. Through a synthesis of contemporary classical music and rock & roll, Indigo explores themes such as environmentalism, mental illness, and self-realization. Indigo has a BM in Composition from Bowling Green State University and a MM in Composition from University of Michigan. They are currently in their fourth year at University of Miami pursuing a DMA in Composition under the guidance of Dr. Dorothy Hindman. Their multimedia installation, “The Chanting of Coral Reefs: Bringing Awareness to the Endangerment of Coral Reefs Through the Sonification of Settling Larvae,” received the 2024 Presser Foundation Graduate Award. After graduation, Indigo intends on teaching music theory and composition at the university level while continuing to develop expansive compositions that bring awareness to issues in our world with groundbreaking technology.

 

 

 

The Annual Concert 2025

Featuring

Virago Symphonic Orchestra

SEPTEMBER 25, 2025 17:30

SCHNÜTGEN MUSEUM IN COLOGNE, GERMANY

Cäcilienstraße 29-33, 50667 Köln, Germany

Program Annual Concert IAWM 2025

 

Emilie Mayer – Overture 2 in D

Indigo Knecht – Self-Destruction at its Finest

Ayça Akin – Tempesta

Ala Gialla – Dearly Beloved

Caroline Shaw – Entr’acte

Alice Mary Smith – Andante for Clarinet and Orchestra in D major

Tao Yu – Desert Reign

Adi Shapiro – Dragonflies

Stefania de Kenessey – Unorthodox Redux

 

Virago Symphonic Orchestra

Conducted by Pascale Van Os

Concertmeister: Anna Popil

First violin: Alexandra Leonova, Viktoria Bohuta, Edith Haesendonkx

Second violin: Ruth Dekeersmaeker, Veerle Weckx, Tinne Smolders, Jana Mestdag

Viola: Chika Sasaki, Nataliia Lozova, Doroteya Yankova

Cello: Katelijn Van Kerckhoven, Radoslava Lascar

Double Bass: Eline Cote

Flute: Anke Lauwers, Sone Mikaelin

Oboe: Raphaëlle Nenert, Tina Jacobs

Clarinet: Silvia Cantó Gómez, Tadeja Malc

Bassoon: Stefanie Palumbo, Zoya Smirnova

Horn: Bie Van Dingenen, Sofie Huyghe

Program Notes

Self-Destruction at its Finest

Self-destruction at its finest begins with a 12-tone row and gradually deconstructs into tonality.

Tempesta

Tempesta is a meditation on the slow, inevitable arrival of a storm. The piece unfolds as a single breathing entity—like shifting winds beneath a thickening sky. Tension and release move through the ensemble in long, immersive waves, carried by sustained tones that pass between players. Low, resonant bass grounds the texture, while high voices suggest something distant, approaching. The first peak rises like an omen, followed by a greater rupture where the ensemble becomes the storm itself—thunder, lightning, and release—before gradually returning to stillness.

Inspired by memories of watching summer storms from a farmhouse porch, the composer channels the charged quiet of waiting, the force of the downpour, and the sense of relenting in its wake. Tempesta does not impose a fixed narrative; instead, it offers space for reflection. Within its suspended tones and silences, listeners may find echoes of loss, transformation, or calm—whatever form their own storm may take.

Dearly Beloved

“Dearly Beloved” was composed in 2024 dedicated to my late Father, who passed away due to cancer complications.

My Father was an immigrant like me – but from China to Hong Kong (in the 60s before the turnover). He grew up poor and struggled a lot to become who he was – a hardworking man who provided his family with everything he had. He gave me the amazing opportunity to study music and taught me to be strong and resilient.

“Dearly Beloved” is about love, loss, grief and hope, and everything in between. It is a sound of triumph rising from the ashes. No one should suffer alone, we need to build a loving community, where people connect and care, regardless of cultures, religions, genders and ethnicities.

The music starts quietly with the violins, joined by the flutes, echoing a longing feeling. Gradually, the momentum builds with various instruments playing different melodic fragments, mimicking the emotional ebbs and flows of the feelings of love and grief. Eventually all instruments come together, singing the triumphant sound of love. The last soulful melody leads to the end with the very first melody from the beginning, ever so gently.

My Inspiration:

I have always loved playing the piano. It has allowed me to express myself when words fail me, and to connect with others of different cultures and backgrounds all over the world.

I love the creativity behind composing, I can express my emotions and thoughts through my own music. Piano has been my instrument, but lately I have started to experiment with other instrumentation to create a richer sound in my music.

Creativity happens anywhere, anytime for me. It usually starts with an emotion I want to express, whether ignited by an event or an idea. It comes out from nowhere, but also from everywhere. It could be from waiting at the airport, a hiking trip, it could also be a deeply emotional experience (like my late Father passing). The whole process of creating from a single seed of idea or a motive excites me.

As a woman of minority and an immigrant, I feel the strong need to share my ideas and music with others, that I am capable of creating just like anyone else. I want to break free of the stereotype and feel empowered to have my voice heard as a composer. I want an equal opportunity to create as a human.

Sharing my music, my creation with others brings me not only joy, but it is also cathartic to my soul. My audience has told me they feel similar emotions listening to my music.

I want my music to be a voice of hope, to promote positivity and love, to connect and unite.

Entr’acte

This piece was written in 2011 after hearing the Brentano Quartet play Haydn’s Op. 77 No. 2 — with their spare and soulful shift to the D-flat major trio in the minuet. It is structured like a minuet and trio, riffing on that classical form but taking it a little further. Some of the music (like the menuets of Op. 77)  takes you to the other side of Alice’s looking glass, in a kind of absurd, subtle, technicolor transition. The music develops a refreshing blend of traditional harmony, contrasting dissonance and impressive string effects. The piece also contrasts rhythmic strictness (Minuet) with free riffing style and riffing against the viola’s strict broken chord repetitions in the Trio.

Desert Reign

Amid vast and boundless dunes, Desert Reign traces a journey where ancient melody meets modern orchestral color. The music begins in near stillness—like dawn before the first light—when a theme stirs the air, gentle as wind brushing slumbering sand.

Gradually, layers of sound grow richer, brighter, and more powerful, evoking the rising sun over an endless horizon.

Born from silence, this voice grows, transforms, and ultimately ascends.

Desert Reign is a tribute to what endures, and a celebration of rebirth—of stillness turning to sound, of memory turning to flame.

Dragonflies

This piece was first conceived in its earliest form when I was fourteen. It was a grandiose passion project that spanned around eight months, with the desired result being a full symphony exploring motifs of the earth. The first movement of ‘Symphony of the Earth’, which later became ‘Dragonflies Indoors’, was a piece I had kept in ‘storage’ for the following three years. My lack of orchestration knowledge at the time made the piece too juvenile to be used for anything, yet it was full of material dear to my heart, so I knew I would give it new life eventually. Several months ago, I finally fulfilled my promise to myself and rewrote the piece, keeping most of the material that made it special to me and giving it new meaning. This piece grew and changed with me, and encapsulates years of my life, which can be heard in the abundant transformations and diverse motivic material present throughout. The new name I gave the piece, ‘Dragonflies Indoors’, is a reference to the blue dragonfly fairy lights I got during my year in New York, when I first wrote the piece. Though seemingly mundane, these fairy lights have moved with me through three continents and are now in my room in London, a consistent and whimsical defining factor of my environment. I named the piece after them due to the parallels between them and the piece itself; they are both things that, with time, have become dear to me and have continued to be present in my life through many changing environments.

Unorthodox Redux

Unorthodox Redux is a transcription and reinterpretation of Unorthodox, originally commissioned by Ariel Rivka Dance, where I serve as Composer-In-Residence. The piece is loosely based on a book of the same title by Deborah Feldman (which was also turned into an Emmy-nominated Netflix show) about a young woman who struggles against societal restrictions and ultimately leaves a very strict religious sect. I was inspired to write melodically catchy, rhythmically insistent music that is influenced by the drive and tradition of Klezmer music – but I decided to create a purely electronic score, in order to modernize the setting.

In Unorthodox Redux, I have reimagined that earlier electronic piece in a more typical concert format. The result is a new hybrid: the shortened and streamlined electronic track plays in the background, while live musicians now take center stage.

The first setting for full orchestra plus chorus was commissioned by the all-female Virago Symphonic Orchestra and its founder, Eline Cote. The work received its premiere on March 8, 2025 at the Bourla Theater in Antwerp, Belgium, under the baton of Pascale Van Os, with the Cantemus Merksem Choir. The performance was augmented by Dansstudio Arabesque with choreography by Andres De Blust-Mommaerts.

I have crafted a second version of Unorthodox Redux for chamber orchestra, again for the Virago Symphonic Orchestra under the direction of Pascale Van Os, for a premiere on September 25, 2025 in Köln, Germany.

 

Biographies

Pascale Van Os is an award-winning conductor, recognized for her dynamic leadership and collaborations with prominent European orchestras.

​In 2023, she claimed the 1st Prize, Orchestra Prize, and Audience Prize at the International Conducting Competition Opéra de Baugé, following a successful year in which she earned a Honorable Mention at the “Vienna New Year’s Concert” International Music Competition (2022) and 2nd Prize at the New York Classical Music Competition (2023). She also received the Ernest van der Eycken Award in 2021 as a promising young conductor. Early in her career (2011), she won the conductor’s competition organized by Klara, where she conducted the Belgian Chamber Philharmonic in a live broadcast. ​

In the 2021-22 season, Pascale served as Assistant Conductor of Gergely Madaras for the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège.  Her work as a conductor includes performances with orchestras such as the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra,  Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, Philharmonic Orchestra Flanders, Orchestre de Picardie, Orquesta de Cámara del Municipal de Santiago, KLK Symphony Orchestra, Lviv Philharmonic, Rousse Philharmonic Orchestra, Elblag Chamber Orchestra,…

She is the principal conductor of the Flemish Chamber Philharmonic, Virago Symphonic Orchestra, Stringendo and Symphonic Orchestra Artemis, and has collaborated with ensembles such as Bachwerk, Kempens Symfonisch Orkest, the Ghent Singers and Jong Symfonisch Antwerpen. Dedicated to education, Pascale teaches orchestral and choral conducting at the Academie Ekeren, where she inspires aspiring conductors and musicians alike.

Emilie Mayer, Overture 2 in D,  was born in Friedland, Germany in 1812. She began her musical education early, enrolling in piano classes with organist Carl Heinrich Ernst Driver; however, she was said to interpret the pieces so loosely that she was told to write her own music instead.

Mayer’s compositional style was originally influenced by the First Viennese School—the trio of Classical composers Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven—later developing into the Romantic styles, the feeling-infused music that people like Tchaikovsky are so well known for. This was largely due to Adolph Bernhard Marx’s influence on her compositions later on in her life. Mayer studied with, and was influenced by, composers Carl Lowe, Adolph Bernhard Marx, and Wilhelm Wieprecht

Mayer was able to defy many of the social norms placed upon her, the expectations being that she would present single line compositions in places like salons. Instead, being financially independent, she was able to pursue a musical education with notable musical theorists of the time. Sadly, few of her pieces have a score; many are still in their original handwritten form, making it difficult for groups to actually play her music.

Indigo Knecht, Self-Destruction at its Finest, is a composer, tubist, and educator fascinated with the challenges people face as they navigate this world. Through a synthesis of contemporary classical music and rock & roll, Indigo explores themes such as environmentalism, mental illness, and self-realization.

Indigo has a BM in Composition from Bowling Green State University and a MM in Composition from University of Michigan. They are currently in their fourth year at University of Miami pursuing a DMA in Composition under the guidance of Dr. Dorothy Hindman. Their multimedia installation, “The Chanting of Coral Reefs: Bringing Awareness to the Endangerment of Coral Reefs Through the Sonification of Settling Larvae,” received the 2024 Presser Foundation Graduate Award. After graduation, Indigo intends on teaching music theory and composition at the university level while continuing to develop expansive compositions that bring awareness to issues in our world with groundbreaking technology.

Ayça Akin, Tempesta, is a Turkish-American composer. Akın studied piano performance for ten years at Carnegie Mellon University’s Music Preparatory School under teacher Ralph Zitterbart. From 2022 to 2024, Akin completed her orchestral composing studies under composer and teacher Leon Willett.

Recognized for her strong musical intuition and emotional depth, Akın has since composed concert works and scored several films. In 2025, Akın was nominated for “Best Composer of the Future” at the Cannes World Film Festival for her original score for award-winning film The Balloon (2025). Recent commissions include new work that was recently premiered in New York City for Ensemble Ipse, and new music for Confluence Ballet Company for the Spring 2026 season. Akın produces and publishes electronic music in addition to writing for film, chamber ensembles, and symphonic orchestras. She lives with her husband, two children, and dog in Pittsburgh, PA.

Ala Gialla, Dearly Beloved, is multi-faceted as a composer, pianist, educator, arranger and author. With a Master’s degree in Piano Performance from Indiana University she is a Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music in the UK. Ala has recently started focusing on composing and performing her own original music of a classical crossover style. “Dearly Beloved” was released in 2024 with positive acclaim. Ala’s mission is to tell a story through her own music and words, and make them accessible for everyone.

Caroline Shaw, Entr’acte, is a musician who moves among roles, genres, and mediums, trying to imagine a world of sound that has never been heard before but has always existed. She is the youngest recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in Music for Partita for 8 Voices (Roomful of Teeth). In addition to composing, Shaw is active as a violin soloist, chamber musician, and ensemble singer. She works often in collaboration with others, as producer, composer, violinist, and vocalist. She wrote over 100 works in the last decade, her works have appeared in several films, series and podcasts.

Alice Mary Smith, Andante for Clarinet and Orchestra in D major, During her lifetime, British composer Alice Mary Smith (1839 – 1884) was respected and renowned. Her orchestral compositions were performed and received positive feedback from the British press, which was quite an accomplishment given the fact that she was only in her mid-twenties when her first works were premiered. However, her initial success did not lead to her orchestral music being published, meaning that after these first performances, there would not be many additional performances for an extended period of time. One of the reasons for this included her gender. At that time, few female composers had works for orchestra published, regardless of the merits of the composer or the quality of the compositions. She also died at a relatively young age and was therefore not in a position to promote her works. In fact, all of her hand-written manuscripts lay dormant in the possession of her heirs for well over a century. Fortunately, near the end of the 20th century her music resurfaced and due to the thoughtful efforts of numerous individuals, the world can once again know of Alice Mary Smith.

Tao Yu, Desert Reign, is distinguished as a composer, performer, and organizer of international cultural projects. She studied at the China Conservatory of Music and the Geneva Conservatory of Music and her works have been commissioned by prestigious institutions, ensembles, and artists. Selected to participate in seminars at IRCAM in Paris, she further honed her mastery of modern compositional techniques. Her compositions include works for symphonic orchestra, chamber music, traditional Chinese instruments, and electroacoustic setups. Originally from Beijing, she currently resides in France. TAO Yu’s works have been performed on all continents, covering countries such as China, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, France, Poland, Russia, Israel, Australia, Brazil, and the United States. Her music contributes significantly to the dialogue between Eastern and Western musical cultures.

Adi Shapiro, Dragonflies, Adi Shapiro (18), an Israeli, UK-based composer and singer-songwriter, has gained international recognition for her fresh voice in contemporary music composition. Most notably, she won the fourth edition of femfestival for Devotion, the 1 st movement of her quartet For What We Give; first prize in the 1 st International Sound Ensemble Competition (High-School Category) for her mixed ensemble piece Flourish Regardless; and the Promising Young Talent prize in the Vienna Classical Music Academy 2024 International Composition Competition for her woodwind quintet The Quiet Before the Storm. Her orchestral works Dragonflies Indoors and Emergence were finalists in the ORIENT/OCCIDENT Music Composers’ Competition 2025 – 10th Edition, in Lviv, with Emergence receiving a Special Mention. A recent graduate of The Purcell School for Young Musicians, Adi now studies composition at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. Adi has been commissioned by the Salzburg Piano Trio, the Israeli Chamber Quintet, and the Purcell School Orchestra. Her pieces have been performed internationally in Seattle, New York, London, Lviv, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and across Brazil.

 

Stefania de Kenessey, Unorthodox Redux, DE KENESSEY’s music has been performed throughout New York City, from Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center to Joe’s Pub and La Mama; internationally, it has been heard in more than 35 countries, from Australia to Venezuela. Her output ranges from choral, vocal and operatic pieces to chamber and orchestral work, as well as scores for film, theater and dance. De Kenessey is the inaugural Composer-In-Residence for the Dal Sogno Ensemble, which commissioned “The Names of Woman”, a cantata dedicated to women who have been unjustly neglected by history; the piece premiered at Bargemusic in 2024 and since then has been presented at several venues in the metropolitan area.

De Kenessey is also the first Composer-In-Residence for the Accord Treble Choir, which commissioned and premiered her “Urgent Earth” (2024), feminist eco-cantata about the climate change crisis, setting a text by the noted Wiccan poet Annie Finch. She has collaborated regularly with the all-female Ariel Rivka Dance Company and its founding choreographer Ariel Grossman, and now also serves as that company’s Composer-In-Residence. De Kenessey is committed to helping women composers and musicians achieve parity in an unequal, biased world. She is the founding president of the International Alliance for Women in Music and serves on the board of New York Women Composers.

 

IAWM

The IAWM is the world’s leading organization devoted to the equity, promotion, and advocacy of women in music across time, cultures, and genres. IAWM offers membership to anyone advocating for women in music. A connective and informative global organization, with members in 28 countries and growing, IAWM increases opportunity and visibility for women in music. Welcoming members of all genders and disciplines, this forward-thinking advocacy alliance helps reshape the music industry’s landscape for greater equity and inclusion in the 21st century.

IAWM amplifies the progress women have worked so hard to achieve in every aspect of musical life, helping to ensure its continued momentum. IAWM members represent a diverse spectrum of creative specialization across genres within the music field and include composers, orchestrators, sound ecologists, performers, conductors, interdisciplinary artists, recording engineers, producers, musicologists, music librarians, theorists, writers, publishers, historians, and educators. Join IAWM’s 400+ international members to make a difference in the future of music!

 

Virago Symphonic Orchestra

Feminism and gender equality have been cornerstones of my creative practice and research interests since 2015. Though ideas of female empowerment and feminist thought can be traced back to at least the late eighteenth century, the past few years have brought renewed attention to these issues. Movements such as #MeToo and Time’s Up have leveraged the power of social media to put sexual harassment front and center. First brought to light by a few brave women in Hollywood and the entertainment industry, the cultural reckoning quickly spread to politics, the media, and all other levels of society. Of course, sexual harassment is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg; other issues such as equal pay and discrimination are equally troubling and should have been remedied decades ago. In an attempt to continue the debate on gender equality, I have written a thesis and realized this project: an all-female orchestra, which will perform repertoire of female composers, conducted by a woman. In this project we will cover women in music whose voices should have been on the foreground a long time ago. We address the stereotyping of so-called ‘masculine and feminine’ instruments and what it is like to be a minority—not only because of being a female musician, but also by choice of instrument.

But the steps taken before the founding of the orchestra were not simple nor easy. It was a stressful, demanding, exciting and tiring journey. Structure, endurance and perseverance are keywords to succeed. Maybe one has to be just a tad crazy to take on such a big project. It has been quite a challenge, but one well conquered by everyone involved. We are very excited and proud to show you that gender does not define musical capabilities. -Eline Cote, founder