I.S.C.M.
The range of music that we have access to nowadays is greater than it has ever been, through the enormous technological advances of the 20th Century.
This means that a definition of what "contemporary music" might be is difficult, as composers are being influenced by more kinds of sounds - musical and other - than ever before. Performers are presenting contemporary music in many different k inds of environments to reach their audiences, and there is now a continual redefinition of the relationships which exist between composers, performers and the audience.
The International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) is an important international network of members from around fifty countries, devoted to the promotion and presentation of contemporary music - the music of our time. ISCM has had a distinguished history. From its foundation in Salzburg in 1922, a receptiveness to aesthetic and stylistic diversity has been a characteristic of the Society. Today more than ever with the incredible diversity which exists in contemporary musical expression around the world, this ideal is still strongly supported by ISCM members.
Each year, ISCM presents the World Music Days Festival , hosted by one of ISCM's members, which provides a feast of contemporary music across a broad range of contemporary practice. The host nation has some flexibility in determining the individual themes that drive the programming of the Festival, either presenting a showcase of activity from around the world, or applying other criteria for the selection and programming of works.
The ISCM World Music Days Festival also provides an opportunity for the ISCM members to meet in their annual congress, to discuss issues affecting contemporary music and matters of mutual concern.
WMD 2012 Belgium
The World Music Days are more than just a festival. They also are a meeting place,
a window to the world and a unique opportunity to put our new music sector in the
international spotlights. A world exhibition of new music, as it were.
From 25 October to 4 November 2012 this event will take place in Belgium.
87 works have been selected out of the 500 submitted compositions to the call for works of the Festival. This list is now online.
Subscribe to the WMD 2012 newsltetter
All information on the website of the World Music Days 2012
> WMD 2012 - Call for works - List of the selected pieces 1P
> WMD 2012 - Call for works - List of the selected pieces 3P
WMD 2011 - Zagreb
The Festival took place from 5 to 10 April within the Music Biennale Zagreb (MBZ), which celebrated its 50 years of existence : on 17 May 1961 one of the oldest European festivals of contemporary music was launched, with an opera of Prokofiev and a concert featuring Italian composers such as Dallapiccola, Casella, Malipiero...The following pieces sent by "Le Forum des compositeurs" have been performed at the Festival:
- Le rêve de Caliban for solo voice (Viviane Mataigne);
- ZAP's INIT for electric guitar (Claude Ledoux);
- Four darks in red for electric guitar and string quartet (Nicolo' Colombo).
> Programme
WMD 2014 - Wroclaw
Call for Scores/Projects!
Details available on page PROGRAM
The postmark deadline for all entries is 30 June, 2012
WMD 2013 - Slovakia & Vienna
To honour the fact that ISCM started its history in Salzburg,
Austria, and one of the founding members was then Czechoslovakia, the
idea of cooperation between the Slovak and Austrian ISCM sections
arouse.
Austria and Slovakia for a long time belonged to one state, the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This gives the two countries years of common history, even though the historical experience thence gained might be different for each one. We would like to celebrate this unity and diversity alike through the topic of Gates – gates between the countries, their history and present, between the artists and audience, between the young world of musical apprenticeship and professionalism, between the known and the forgotten which exists in contemporary music…
"Le Forum des compositeurs" sent the following pieces to the call for works of the festival :
- Claude Ledoux : Spazio dei Sospiri for orchestra;
- Geoffrey François : Un bruit couleur de ciel for saxophone and piano (+ CD);
- Denis Bosse : Flou sifflé for solo viola;
- Michel Fourgon : Trois poèmes du loup for piano 4 hands (children);
- Jean-Marie Rens : Chatakopéranvalnoutsu pour mixed choir;
- Baudouin de Jaer : Les clochettes de l'intérieur for ensemble ad libitum.