Locating the world’s greatest event in contemporary music, ISCM – World New Music Days – in Växjö may seem a bit abnormal, but, in actual fact, Växjö is only a stone’s throw away from Berlin.
In a global world, currents move in unexpected ways. The fact that Växjö has been the home for many years of new artistic expressions has helped create an open landscape – fertile soil for confrontation and cheeky values.
Our theme ”Listen to the World!” was conceived to challenge preconceived ideas about art music as an isolated phenomenon reserved for the chosen few. Nothing could be more wrong today.
For several years, new music in the region has collaborated with other musical genres and also other cultural forms such as dance, video, image, literary expression and new technology. One of the reasons for this is communicative and limitless ambition – an attitude including collaboration and confrontation with others.
We avoid lecturing. Contemporary music is what we make it, an impression in a rapidly changing world. We wish to mirror what is going on in our surrounding world and to strengthen the cultural growth of our own region. A simmering pot where the World New Music Days – the largest new art music event in the world – naturally and uniquely falls into place.