For their hundredth year, the International Society for Contemporary Music takes World New Music Days to South Africa for the very first time
This year’s festival is curated by Lukas Ligeti, who leads the ISCM’s exchange, celebrating the innovative and experimental new music developed in Africa. Celebrating the festival’s centenary, the International Society for Contemporary Music’s World New Music Days will run from the 24th November to 3rd December 2023 in Johannesburg (and Soweto) and Cape Town in South Africa. This is a first not only for the WNMD but for South Africa, too, as no comparable new-music festival of this scale has been held in the country before.
Speaking on the unprecedented opportunity for musical exchange that this year’s festival brings, Artistic Director and composer Lukas Ligeti says: ‘African audiences will hear music they’ve never been exposed to. Audiences from the rest of the world will hear music they’ve never been exposed to. People will meet, discuss, exchange ideas, and connections will be made in a much more direct way than would be possible 99.9% of the time. We are building new communities for a globalised world of new music.’