Walraven, Chris

Chris Walraven was appointed as ISCM Secretary General in 1990. Prior to that, he worked for decades at the Gaudeamus Foundation, first as its Treasurer, starting in 1959, and then as its Executive Secretary from 1964, additionally serving as the Gaudeamus delegate to the ISCM from 1982. A non-musician, he nevertheless worked tirelessly for the cause of new music and was active in the International Music Council as well as the European Conference of the Promoters of New Music, which he co-founded and directed. As ISCM’s Secretary General, he spearheaded a reform of the statutes which among other benefits led to opening up of ISCM membership to more than one institution per country so that active new music organizations from a country that was already represented in the societry by an official Section could join as associate members. Walraven continued to work as ISCM’s Secretary General despite suffering from cancer which ultimately led to his death at the age of 65 in January 1996. He was posthumously elected as an Honorary Member of the ISCM later that year, at the third session of the ISCM General Assembly in September 1996.