ISCM World New Music Days 2025 Portugal: representing Australia at the global stage of international music creation, collaboration, discourse and artistic exchange
The 2025 International Society of Contemporary Music (ISCM) World New Music Days (WNMD) promised 'to be a celebration of musical innovation and a platform for reflecting on the transformative role of music in times of change' and undoubtedly achieved this feat.
This year, host country Portugal and its respective organisation Miso Music Portugal, took on delivering an immensely vibrant and substantial WNMD over nine days 30 May to 7 June - where Portuguese orchestras, ensembles and musicians performed 135 works from composers from 44 different countries, across 27 concerts, hosted at 11 prestigious venues in Lisbon and Porto. The ISCM self-ascribed this year's festival as having one of the highest attendance rates to date by representative composers and delegates alike, and with the aptly subtitled theme of "Thirst for Change", this WNMD collectively reflected on the urgency of demands from our "blue planet" in light of current environmental and social challenges.
As an Australian composer, the 25-hour journey from Melbourne to Lisbon is quite the undertaking, so it is no small decision to decide whether one can and will make such a trip to see and hear their music performed. Personally, national selection by the AMC to submit my work to the ISCM International Jury, with subsequent selection by that jury to represent Australia's Section and Art Music community, was an honour and opportunity that I was determined to experience - meaning my search for support began.
A common impediment for many, if not all, is the gruelling process to secure funding via grants and the like. However, for this opportunity I was incredibly grateful to receive two major grants which helped remove barriers to access this transformative moment of professional development:
1. Creative Australia Export Development Fund (Market & Audience Development) (Round 4); and an
2. Ian Potter Cultural Trust Emerging Artists Grant (2025 Round 1)
Both applications processes were substantial, yet by reaching out to organisations and close friends/colleagues in our community who had either received this exact funding previously and/or who have secured or helped secured funding for international opportunities - I was able to locate appropriate funding sources, bolster my applications and tailor their impact. This is the main realisation I found, because although we are often in competition with each other for securing funding, we are also our best allies.
Speaking to the festival itself, the meeting of so many incredible minds and friendships created in finite yet intense moments of time, is always a highlight of opportunities like these. It truly was an experience of artistic exchange, particularly connecting with representative composers and/or section delegates from Finland, Canada, Wales, Scotland, Italy, China, Ireland, New Zealand, Wallonia Brussels, Croatia, USA and of course Portugal, amoung so many others. Shout-outs go to composer Bekah Simms (Canada/Scotland) and Music on Main AD David Pay (Canada), who in very Canadian fashion, were so incredibly welcoming of me to the ISCM community as they are impressive in their artistic practices. Similarly, seeing the incredible Steve Lias again, founder of Composing in the Wilderness (CITW) in Alaska, was a happy reunion of my time undertaking the program in 2022 that I was not expecting - particularly as there were two other CITW alumni there for ISCM!
It was exhilarating to consume as many of the concerts I possibly could, meeting composers, performers, musicologists, artistic organisation leaders and patrons alike from across the world. You could feel the passion and energy pulsing on the ground, particularly converging at the WNMD's home hub based at O'culto da Ajuda in Lisbon, which concurrently hosted electroacoustic concerts, an opera and a colloquium of keynote speakers discussing "Thirst for Change".
For me, a highlight was undoubtedly the abundance of mind-blowingly stunning artistic venues and spaces, the prime artists who take their stages, and how they both were so integrated together into the fabric of Portugal. Memorable places for sure include Belem Cultural Centre, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Jerónimos Monastery and São Luiz Teatro Municipal, where at the latter my work A Sea Spray of Ash for soprano and piano received its EU premiere by the entirely capturing Komorebi Duo, consisting of Camila Mandillo and João Casimiro Almeida, in their concert 'Whispers and Echoes' on June 4th specifically in the Sala Bernardo Sassetti.
Komorebi Duo performing 'A Sea Spray of Ash' and its signature 'shoosh'. Photo credit: Pedro Rosario Nunes
This was a different kind of high - where collaborating with such high calibre international artists who absolutely clicked with my compositional intent, while becoming instant friends in the space of a singular 20-minute rehearsal, was and is the composer dream. I distinctly remember watching Camila perform Vivier's Lonely Child and Ligeti's Mysteries of the Macabre with the Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa in complete awe during the festival's opening concert, before quickly realising in that concert's interval that Camila was the marvel soprano who later would be performing my work. Camila's introspective approach, dedication to new music and innate artistry equalled with João was a surreal collaborative moment I will never forget - especially with some family, existing and new friends, and an enchanted audience all there with me.
I highly recommend applying for the next year's ISCM WNMD 2026 hosted by Romania and am here to sound questions regarding the process, approaches to securing support and undertaking the transformative opportunity itself! I cannot wait to stay connected with my international colleagues and friends, and to hopefully attend and reconnect at future ISCM WNMDs if and where/when possible - as there is so much to gain for composers and Australia's Art Music community in playing a present part of this diverse and vibrant international community.
