World New Music Days Festival comes to South Africa

In celebration of the 100^th anniversary of World New Music Days (WNMD), the International Society for Contemporary Music is set to bring the festival to South Africa for the first time. Running from 24 November to 3 December in Johannesburg (and Soweto) and Cape Town, this year's festival is curated by composer Lukas Ligeti.

The 2023 festival also marks the first time in WNMD’s 100-year history that an African panel has adjudicated the selection of works to be performed at the festival. The festival will present one composition by each ISCM chapter organisation.

Lukas Ligeti, the artistic director of this year’s festival, said: ‘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.’

The 2023 festival will honour the legacy WNMD has built with the inclusion of some of the festival’s highlights over the past 100 years. It will also repeat performances from the Oluzayo African Music Futures Festival, organised in the run-up to this year’s WNMD, alongside newly commissioned works performed by the Ensemble Modern which engage with African music theories and practices.

Having developed his own fascination with African music, Ligeti’s work has involved collaborations in Egypt, Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Mozambique, and embraces what he describes as ‘experimental intercultural collaboration’. Talking about the festival’s 2023 location, Ligeti said: ‘It will be a special adventure to be in a cultural environment that is equally Western and African, all at the same time, and see where this can lead artistically. This will be a unique opportunity to experience a unique selection of music in a unique environment.’