The 2008 edition of Milano Musica, the festival for 17 years that has been striving to “light up” the obscurity in which contemporary music is often relegated, begins at the Scala with the Orchestra Filarmonica.

The programme of the first concert clearly exemplifies the theme chosen for this year, “Sounds from Europe”. It starts with two recent works (1992-93) by the 53-year-old Hungarian Peter Eötvös and the 43-year-old Norwegian Jon Øivind Ness. It then continues its foray into the history of European music with a piece by Messiaen (1931) and another one by Liszt (1857).