ISCM President Glenda Keam is a composer, music analyst, lecturer, educational leader, new music advocate, and festival organiser. Glenda lectured in Music at the University of Auckland from 1995-2006, and was Senior Lecturer and inaugural Programme Director for Music at Unitec, Auckland from 2006-2013. From 2013 to 2020, she served as Associate Professor and Head of Music at the University of Canterbury.
Glenda co-edited the 2011 Pearson publication, Home, Land and Sea: Situating Music in Aotearoa New Zealand, which included her chapter “Attachments to place: locative aspects of New Zealand art music.” A composer-analyst, her writings focus on New Zealand music studies, music education, music analysis, New Zealand cultural identity in music, and the psychology of creativity.
Glenda’s musical compositions have been performed in Australasia, the US, Canada and the UK. She was a member of the National Youth Choir of NZ, the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields chorus in London and the Britten Singers (formerly BBC Northern), and enjoys performing as a piano improviser.
Glenda was President of CANZ (the Composers Association of New Zealand) from 2007 – 2017. In 2019, she was elected first female President of the ISCM (International Society for Contemporary Music), an organization dating back to 1922. Earlier appointments included time on the ISCM Executive Committee (including Vice-President from 2016) and four years as Treasurer of the NZSME (New Zealand Society for Music Education).
