The International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) is a music organization that promotes contemporary classical music.
The organization was established in Salzburg in 1922 as Internationale Gesellschaft für Neue Musik (IGNM) following the Internationale Kammermusikaufführungen Salzburg, a festival of modern chamber music held as part of the Salzburg Festival. It was founded by the Austrian (later British) composer Egon Wellesz and the Cambridge academic Edward J Dent, who first met when Wellesz visited England in 1906.Fauser, AnneGret. 'The Scholar behind the Medal: Edward J. Dent (1876–1957) and the Politics of Music History', in Journal of the Royal Musical Association Vol. 139, No. 2 (2014), pp. 235–260Haas, Michael. 'Egon Wellesz: The Forgotten Modernist', in Forbidden Music, 4 June 2014
In 1936 the rival Permanent Council for the International Co-operation of Composers, set up under Richard Strauss, was accused of furthering Nazi Party cultural ambitions in opposition to the non-political ISCM. British composer Herbert Bedford, acting as co-Secretary, defended its neutrality.Bedford, Herbert. Letter to The Musical Times, February 1936, p 159
Aside from hiatuses in 1940 and 1943-5 due to World War II and in 2020–21 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the ISCM's core activity has been an annual festival of contemporary classical music held every year at a different location, the first of which took place in 1923 in Salzburg, which has come to be known as the ISCM World Music Days (sometimes World New Music Days, abbreviated either WMD or WNMD depending on which name is used). There have been a total of 92 of these thus far, the most recent of which took place in Tallinn, Estonia in May 2019. The 2021 WMD in Shanghai and Nanning has been postponed until March 2022 and the 2022 WNMD is scheduled to take place in New Zealand in August 2022.Each year, during the World Music Days. ISCM members also convene in a General Assembly. Membership in the ISCM is organized through national sections that promote contemporary music in each country. These sections are usually organizations independent from the ISCM that send delegates to the ISCM General Assembly. Each member of the national section is also a member of ISCM and may send in 6 works that are evaluated for performance at the World Music Days. National organizations that promote contemporary music, but have not been designated as the nation section of ISCM, are sometimes given an associate membership status. This status also applies to the members of these organizations. Some individual music professionals receive the "honorary membership" status. The ISCM is governed by an executive committee consisting of seven people; two (Secretary General and Treasurer) are appointed positions and the remaining five (President, Vice President, and three regular members) are chosen from and by the delegates in an election during the General Assembly.
Since 1991, the ISCM has also published an annual World New Music Magazine, a print publication that is distributed to its members for further dissemination. A total of 28 issues have been produced. Recent magazine issues are available as digitally downloadable PDFs from the ISCM's website. ISCM is a member of the International Music Council. The current members of the executive committee of the ISCM (as of the June 2025 General Assembly which took place at the O'culto de Ajuda in Lisbon, Portugal) are: Frank J. Oteri (USA), President; Rebecca Diependaele (Belgium), Vice President; Oľga Smetanova (Slovakia), Secretary General; David Pay (Canada), Treasurer; Chialin Pan (Taiwan); Magnus Bunnskog (Sweden); Deborah Keyser (Wales), and Wolfgang Renzl (Austria), Legal Counsel.Executive Committee, iscm.org, 2025.
ISCM World Music Days Source:
1923 in Salzburg, Austria 1924 in Prague, Czechoslovakia and Salzburg, Austria 1925 in Prague, Cezechoslovakia and Venice, Italy 1926 in Zürich, Switzerland 1927 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany 1928 in Siena, Italy 1929 in Geneva, Switzerland 1930 in Liège/Brussels, Belgium 1931 in Oxford/London, England 1932 in Vienna, Austria 1933 in Amsterdam, Netherlands 1934 in Florence, Italy 1935 in Prague, Czechoslovakia 1936 in Barcelona, Spain 1937 in Paris, France 1938 in London, England 1939 in Warsaw/Krakau, Poland 1941 in New York, New York, U.S.A. 1942 in Berkeley, California, U.S.A. 1946 in London, England 1947 in Copenhagen/Lund, Denmark 1948 in Amsterdam/Scheveningen, Netherlands 1949 in Palermo/Taormina, Italy 1950 in Brussels, Belgium 1951 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany 1952 in Salzburg, Austria 1953 in Oslo, Norway 1954 in Haifa, Israel 1955 in Baden-Baden, West Germany 1956 in Stockholm, Sweden 1957 in Zürich, Switzerland 1958 in Strasbourg, France 1959 in Rome/Naples, Italy 1960 in Cologne, West Germany 1961 in Vienna, Austria 1962 in London, England 1963 in Amsterdam, Netherlands 1964 in Copenhagen, Denmark 1965 in Madrid, Spain 1966 in Stockholm, Sweden 1967 in Prague, Czechoslovakia 1968 in Warsaw, Poland 1969 in Hamburg, West Germany 1970 in Basel, Switzerland 1971 in London, England 1972 in Graz, Austria 1973 in Reykjavík, Iceland 1974 in Rotterdam/Utrecht/Amsterdam/Den Haag/Hilversum, Netherlands 1975 in Paris, France 1976 in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. 1977 in Bonn, West Germany 1978 in Stockholm, Sweden and Helsinki, Finland 1979 in Athens, Geeece 1980 in Jerusalem/Tel Aviv/Be'er Scheva/Kibbuz Schefajim, Israel 1981 in Brusells/Gent, Belgium 1982 in Graz, Austria 1983 in Aarhus, Denmark 1984 in Toronto/Montreal, Canada 1985 in The Netherlands 1986 in Budapest, Hungary 1987 in Cologne/Bonn/Frankfurt am Main, West Germany 1988 in Hong Kong 1989 in Amsterdam, Netherlands 1990 in Oslo, Norway 1991 in Zürich, Switzerland 1992 in Warsaw, Poland 1993 in Mexico City, Mexico 1994 in Stockholm, Sweden 1995 in Essen/Bochum/Dortmund/Duisburg (Ruhrgebiet), Germany 1996 in Copenhagen, Denmark 1997 in Seoul, South Korea 1998 in Manchester, England 1999 in Romania/Moldova 2000 in Luxembourg 2001 in Yokohama, Japan 2002 in Hong Kong S.A.R., China 2003 in Slovenia 2004 in Switzerland 2005 in Zagreb, Croatia 2006 in Stuttgart, Germany 2007 in Hong Kong S.A.R., China 2008 in Vilnius, Lithuania 2009 in Sweden 2010 in Sydney, Australia 2011 in Zagreb, Croatia 2012 in Belgium 2013 in Košice/Bratislava, Slovakia and Vienna, Austria 2014 in Wroclaw, Poland 2015 in Ljubljana, Slovenia 2016 in Tongyeong, South Korea 2017 in Vancouver, Canada 2018 in Peking, China 2019 in Tallinn, Estonia 2020 in Auckland/Christchurch, New Zealand postponed to 2022 2021 in Shanghai/Nanning, cancelled 2022 in Auckland/Christchurch, New Zealand 2023 in Johannesburg/Soweto/Cape Town, South Africa 2024 in the Faroe Islands 2025 in Lisbon/Porto, Portugal 2026 in Bucharest, Romania (forthcoming)
ISCM Honorary Members Source:
Louis Andriessen Milton Babbitt Béla Bartók
Ferruccio Busoni John Cage Elliott Carter Alfredo Casella Friedrich Cerha Chen Yi Chou Wen-chung Edward Clar Paul Collaer Aaron Copland Luigi Dallapiccola Edward Dent Franz Eckert Óscar Esplá Manuel de Falla Michael Finnissy Jacqueline Fontyn Vinko Globokar Sofia Gubaidulina Alois Hába
Ernst Henschel Paul Hindemith Arthur Honegger Klaus Huber Sukhi Kang Zoltán Kodály Charles Koechlin Zygmunt Krauze Ernst Křenek György Kurtág André Laporte Doming Lam György Ligeti Witold Lutosławski Walter Maas Gian Francesco Malipiero Yori-Aki Matsudaira Arne Mellnäs Olivier Messiaen Darius Milhaud Conlon Nancarrow Arne Nordheim Per Nørgård Vítězslav Novák
Arvo Pärt Krzysztof Penderecki Goffredo Petrassi Willem Pijper Maurice Ravel Karin Rehnqvist Hans Rosbaud Hilding Rosenberg Albert Roussel Antonio Rubin Kaija Saariaho Paul Sacher Hermann Scherchen R. Murray Schafer Arnold Schoenberg Roger Sessions Jean Sibelius Linda Catlin Smith Igor Stravinsky Karol Szymanowski Toru Takemitsu Chris Walraven Ralph Vaughan Williams Iannis Xenakis Isang Yun Jōji Yuasa
ISCM ExCom (Update: July 17, 2025) Frank J. Oteri, U.S.A. (President) Rebecca Diependaele, Belgium (Vice President) Magnus Bunnskog, Sweden Chia-Lin Pan, Taiwan Deborah Keyser, Wales David Pay, Music on Main/Canada (Treasurer) Oľga Smetanová, Slovakia (Secretary General)
ISCM World Music Days jury members Source:
Ernest Ansermet, 1923, 1924, 1929, 1932, 1936, 1938 Béla Bartók, 1924 Alban Berg, 1928, 1931 Nadia Boulanger, 1932, 1934, 1951 Pierre Boulez, 1961 Elliott Carter, 1954, 1960, 1963, 1976 Alfredo Casella, 1924, 1925, 1928, 1931, 1934 Aaron Copland, 1942 Luigi Dallapiccola, 1950, 1953, 1966 Franco Donatoni, 1971, 1975 Henri Dutilleux, 1956, 1962, 1967 Brian Ferneyhough, 1978 Luc Ferrari, 1972 Wolfgang Fortner, 1958, 1960, 1969 Vinko Globokar, 1972 Alois Hába, 1927, 1932, 1938, 1958, 1961 Cristóbal Halffter, 1968, 1970, 1975, 1980 Roman Haubenstock-Ramati, 1980 Arthur Honegger, 1926 Klaus Huber, 1965, 1969 Jacques Ibert, 1930, 1937, 1948 Zoltán Kodály, 1925 Marek Kopelent, 1977 Ernst Křenek, 1934, 1941 Rafael Kubelík, 1947 Helmut Lachenmann, 1981 Rolf Liebermann, 1955, 1957 György Ligeti, 1966, 1972 Witold Lutosławski, 1959, 1964, 1966, 1968, 1971 Gian Francesco Malipiero, 1930, 1933, 1949 Olivier Messiaen, 1955 Darius Milhaud, 1938, 1942 Maurice Ravel, 1929 Aribert Reimann, 1976 Wolfgang Rihm, 1977 Frederic Rzewski, 1981 Hermann Scherchen, 1923, 1926, 1935 Dieter Schnebel, 1977 Erwin Schulhoff, 1930 Mátyás Seiber, 1953, 1955, 1958 Kazimierz Serocki, 1961, 1969 Heinrich Strobel, 1955 Hans Heinz Stuckenschmidt, 1951 Karol Szymanowski, 1926 Anton Webern, 1932, 1936 Egon Wellesz, 1923, 1925 Christian Wolff, 1977 Iannis Xenakis, 1975
Significant premieres at ISCM World Music Days Source:
1923, Salzburg, Paul Hindemith, Quintett für Streichquartett und Klarinette, op. 30 (Amar Quartet) 1923, Salzburg, William Walton, Streichquartett Nr. 1 1924, Prague, Arnold Schoenberg, Erwartung, op. 17 (Alexander von Zemlinsky) 1924, Prague, Alexander von Zemlinsky, Lyrische Symphonie, op. 18 1924, Salzburg, Ernst Křenek, Streichquartett Nr. 4, op. 24 1924, Salzburg, Paul Hindemith, Streichtrio, op. 34 1924, Salzburg, Erwin Schulhoff, 5 Stücke für Streichquartett 1925, Venezia, Hanns Eisler, Duo für Vl/Vc 1925, Prague, Gian Francesco Malipiero, Variazioni senza tema for piano and orchestra 1926, Zurich, William Walton, Portsmouth Point, overture for orchestra 1926, Zürich, Anton Webern, 5 Stücke für Orchester, op. 10 1933, Amsterdam, Willem Pijper, Halewijn (music drama) 1934, Florence, Gian Francesco Malipiero, Symphonie 1 quattro stagioni 1935, Prague, Karl Amadeus Hartmann, Miserae 1935, Prague, Anton Webern, Konzert für 9 Instrumente, op. 24 1936, Barcelona, Alban Berg, Violinkonzert (Louis Krasner) 1936, Barcelona, Ernst Křenek, Fragmente aus Karl V. 1937, Paris, Michiko Toyama, Yamato no koe 1938, London, Anton Webern, Kantate Das Augenlicht, op. 26 1941, New York City, Mátyás Seiber, Streichquartett Nr. 2 1942, Berkeley, California, Rebecca Clarke, Prelude, Allegro, Pastorale for clarinet and viola 1946, London, Anton Webern, Kantate Nr. 1, op. 29 1950, Bruxelles, Anton Webern, Kantate Nr. 2, op. 32 1951, Frankfurt, Karl-Birger Blomdahl, Symphonie Nr. 3 'Facetter' 1951, Frankfurt, Roberto Gerard, La Duenna (opera) 1954, Haifa, André Jolivet, Symphonie Nr. 1 1955, Baden-Baden, Pierre Boulez, Le Marteau sans Maître (SWF-Orchester Baden-Baden) 1957, Zürich, Arnold Schoenberg, Moses und Aron (stage premiere) 1959, Rome, Gunther Schuller, Contours 1960, Köln, Leni Alexander, De la muerte a la mañana 1960, Köln, Mauricio Kagel, Anagrama 1960, Köln, György Ligeti, Apparitions 1960, Köln, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Kontakte 1960, Köln, Isang Yun, Streichquartett Nr. 3