Competition for new choral music

The International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2022. As part of the "ISCM Collaborative Series", various ISCM sections are organizing an international choral composition competition in various categories with the aim of motivating the choral scene, which has suffered greatly in Corona times, with new impulses for contemporary choral music. The Swiss ISCM Section (Swiss Society for New Music SGNM)which will also be 100 years old in 2022, is leading the way by writing a Competition in the category for choral works for equal voices out. The award-winning pieces will be premiered at two choral concerts in spring 2022: In the Stadtcasino Basel by the Männerstimmen Basel under the direction of US composer Eric Whitacre and in Andelfingen by the Zurich Youth Choir under Marco Amherd. In addition to the world premieres, the publication of the prize-winning works from all competition categories and further performances at the International Society for Contemporary Music's World Music Days (ISCM World Music Days) are planned. The competition is open to composers of all ages and nationalities. The deadline for entries is June 30, 2021.

The ISCM is the oldest international umbrella organization for the promotion of New Music. It is considered one of the most important music-cultural societies in the world. One of its central tasks is to organize the World New Music Days, which have been held annually in a different country since 1923. In 2021, the festival is expected to take place in Shanghai and Nanning. The current ISCM President is Glenda Keam from New Zealand. The SGNM (Swiss Society for New Music) is the Swiss section of the ISCM, which was also founded in 1922. Together with its members, it has organized the ISCM World Music Days in Switzerland six times in the last 100 years: 1926 (Zurich), 1929 (Geneva), 1957 (Zurich), 1970 (Basel), 1991 (Zurich) and 2004 (Switzerland-wide). The World Music Days in Switzerland are associated with several important world premieres in music history, including the world premiere of Anton Webern's 5 orchestral pieces op.10 under his direction in Zurich in 1926 and the staged premiere of Arnold Schönberg's opera fragment Moses and Aron 1957 at the Zurich Opera House. Henriette Bosmans and Emmy Wegener, the first female composers in the history of the World Music Days, performed in Geneva in 1929. And in 1957, electronic music was performed for the first time at the ISCM World Music Days in Zurich in a concert by the pioneering Studio di Fonologia della RAI with works by Henri Pousseur, Luciano Berio and Bruno Maderna. Arturo Corrales, Antoine Fachard, David Rossel and Javier Hagen (President) are on the current SGNM Board.