The ISCM 2011 World New Music Days took place within the 26th Music Biennale Zagreb 2011 in Croatia from 7 to 17 April Theme of the festival is Mirabilia Memorabilia.
From Contemporaneous Reports…
“[I]n 1961, in the former Yugoslavia – Croatian composer Milko Kelemen boldly initiated its bi-annual International Contemporary Music Festival in Zagreb. Better known as the Music Biennale Zagreb (MBZ), it became one of the best-known festivals of contemporary music (along with Warsaw Autumn, which started in 1956). Well-known composers, conductors and performers came from all over the world to open a new chapter in our contemporary music history. … Yet after 50 years, in the Festival’s 26th edition (7-17 April 2011), apart from three guest orchestras (Wroclaw Philharmonic, Plovdiv PO and The Orchestra of the Arena di Verona Foundation) all the other performers … were local ones. … During the anniversary celebrations in Zagreb, the annual ISCM World New Music Days Festival was held there, with a symposium and concerts at the usual venues (both the Lisinski Halls and the Mimara Museum).”
–Donata Premeru, “50 Years of the International Contemporary Music Festival in Zagreb, Croatia,”
Tempo, Vol. 65, No. 258 (October 2011), p. 53.
“This World Music Days was short – 5 1/2 – days but very intense. There were 17 ISCM concerts in the larger Zagreb Bienalle with about 90 works. … There was a good deal of stylistic and instrumental variety overall, including some jazz bands and unusual groups such as tamburitza orchestra and tuba quartet.”
–Jim Hiscott, “Report on World New Music Days 2011 in Zagreb, Croatia,”
World New Music Magazine No. 23 (2013), p. 139.
“I had … never been exposed to the volume of music I was able to hear in these 11 days. … All concerts were well attended and audiences seemed open minded and accepting of all genres and aesthetics.”
–Angie Mullins, “The ISCM World New Music Days 2011: A Perspetive from the Indivisable Continent,”
World New Music Magazine No. 21 (2011), p. 87.
“[W]hat was probably truly a first for the WNMD in 2011 was that this year marked the first time that there ever has been a sitting head of state in this international music gathering. It turns out that the current President of Croatia, Ivo Josipović, is also a significant composer of chamber and orchestral music … [T]wo of his compositions were performed during the week including an orchestral piece conducted by none other than Krzysztof Penderecki.”
–Frank J. Oteri, “The 2011 ISCM World New Music Days in Zageb: Impressions from a 1st Time Attendee,”
World New Music Magazine No. 21 (2011), p. 83.
Also, check out the reports by Frank J. Oteri with extensive video on the daily events of the ISCM World New Music Days in Zagreb, the capital city of Croatia on NewMusicBox.
Program details listing complete repertoire performed during the festival is in progress.