She also works as a performer with the 2m high contrabass recorder, designed in 2007 by Swiss manufacturer Kueng as a radically new form of instrument. From 2009 to 2011 she has commissioned several Austrian composers to write for her, among others Joanna Wozny, Jorge Sanchez-Chiong, Hannes Kerschbaumer, Katharina Klement. In 2014 she premiered two new works by French composer Eliane Radigue for her contrabass recorder, one of them a duo with harpist Rhodri Davies. As an improviser and experimentalist she amplifies her sometimes deconstructed recorder in various ways or/and uses electronic components.
Her studies include an artistic diploma and a teaching diploma in music (recorder) from the Conservatory of Vienna; improvisation at Naropa University, Boulder, Colorado. She also graduated in mathematics and projective geometry from the Technical University of Vienna. Currently she researches for her PhD in composition about ‘Composing the Noise of Mind’ at the university of Huddersfield, GB.
In 2007 she co-founded the annual “Festival e_may for new and electronic music” in collaboration with vocalist Gina Mattiello, and continued until 2012 as artistic co-director of the festival. Over 50 compositions by female composers were commissioned and premiered over the years in Vienna. With this unique policy the festival e_may contributed substantially to the development of contemporary music in Austria.
Pia Palme was awarded a number of grants from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Art as well as scholarships in composition from the City of Vienna. In 2014 she was awarded a year-long composer’s grant from the Austrian state