Minutes of the ISCM General Assembly in Zagreb, 19-20-21 April 2005

FIRST SESSION, 19 April morning.

36 Sections were present in this meeting.

1. The president Richard Tsang opened the meeting by asking a minute of silence in remembrance of Hugh Davies, other composers and the pope who all recently passed away.

He welcomed the honorary members Reinhard Oehlschlägel and Zygmunt Krauze to the meeting.  Of course, Dr. Franz Eckect, being a working member of the Executive Committee, is also an honorary member.  The agenda was adopted; proposals such as the one from Portugal concerning a new membership fee structure will be dealt with at the relevant agenda point.

2. Paul Steenhuisen and Fons Willemsen were elected as vote tellers .

3. Reports of the ISCM World New Music Days 2004. Paul Steenhuisen’s report was printed in the assembly booklet, Emilio Mendoza’s report was handed out. In Steenhuisen’s report there is a misprint on page 8: 400,00 Swiss francs should read: 400.000,- Swiss francs. Then Steenhuisen and Mendoza were thanked for their report.

Michael Blake and Andreas Engström volunteered to write the report about the 2005 ISCM World Music Days. Reinhard Oehlschlägel proposed that the organizers would also write a report.

4. Minutes. The minutes were unanimously adopted.

16. Elections. The procedures for the elections for president and 1 member of the Executive Committee were explained. Richard Tsang and Jean-Luc Darbellay are both eligible for re-election.

6. ISCM CASH Young Composer Award 2005. HH explained the new procedure to award this yearyear’ss prize. Because not all delegates are able to attend the whole festival and thus are not able to hear all candidates for the prize, it is decided to ask the assembly to appoint a jury amongst themselves. Paul Steenhuisen, David McMullin, Ahmet Yürür, Daniel Judkovski, Anna Dorota Wladyczka, André Laporte, Harry Crowl and Adrian Perbal volunteered. They will meet on Wednesday afternoon. Andre Laporte was nominated by the President to be Chairman of this Jury.

11. ISCM VICC Residency. Ramon Anthin explained that the slots in April and September 2005 were not filled; only 2 composers from Canada and Portugal applied. Therefore the procedures for 2006 will be changed: also private composers can apply directly to the ISCM secretariat and then ask for endorsement of the Section in their country; there will be no fixed period, but now decided in discussion with the applicants. The assembly agreed to this new procedure.

7. Report of the Executive Committee. The report was accepted unanimously.

8. Finances.

Lars Graugaard explained that 4 members are still suspended; the ExCom will remain in contact with them, but if nothing changes their membership will automatically end at the end of 2005. That however opens the possibility for other organizations to ask for membership.

For the Membership Support Fund 2005 the ExCom received 7 applications from Portugal, Argentina, Sweden, Chile, Luxembourg, Mexico and Brasil. Deadline for applications for 2006 is January 1. Forms can be found at the ISCM website.

The audit 2004 was explained. There is less income on entry fees for the World Music Days, probably because the deadline for entries was a rather short notice. ISCM should wait for some years to see if this perhaps is a trend. The auditors John McLachlan and Marcel Wengler have looked into the books and now state that they found everything in order. Lars Graugaard also thanked Gaudeamus for its support. The audit 2004 then was unanimously accepted by the Assembly.

Lars Graugaard explained the budget for 2006. It was unanimously accepted.

Richard Tsang proposed to plan the General Assembly as of next year in 5 days, with a day in the middle on which working groups or focus groups have time to discuss certain issues (which should be reported back to the Assembly afterwards); now there is always too short time to really discuss certain topics more extensively.

SECOND SESSION, 19 April afternoon.

36 Sections were present at this meeting.

5. New Members. Ulo Krigul presented the Estonian Composers Union, which applies for ISCM membership. The legal counsel Franz Eckert informed the assembly that all papers are in order. The Estonian Composers Union then was unanimously elected as ISCM Estonian Section.

15. Future events. Marion Demuth gave a short update on the 2006 festival; the director of the festival, Christine Fischer, could unfortunately not come because of sudden illness. HH reported that the ExCom had its winter meeting in Stuttgart and has seen all concert halls, meeting rooms, hotels etc. and find that all is set for a good festival in 2006.

Richard Tsang reports that last year there were hardly any options for 2007. In the months after the meeting in Switzerland 3 Sections proposed to host the ISCM WMD. These proposals were discussed during the winter meeting of the ExCom; the proposals from Portugal and Lithuania were postponed to 2008, leaving the proposal from Hong Kong as only option. Wing Wah Chan presented the plans for 2007. The festival is a combination of the annual meetings and festivals of the ISCM and the Asian Composers League. It will take place in the second half of November, including 24 concerts with 150 works, meetings, symposia and composers’ workshops. The Call for Works was distributed. The assembly unanimously voted to have the ISCM World Music Days 2007 in Hong Kong.

9. Rules of Procedure concerning Membership categories. After discussion in the 2004 General Assembly the ExCom has proposed these Rules as printed in the assembly booklet. The Rules will be valid ad experimentum for three years (until the 3^rd GenAss from now), so any problem which might arise can be dealt with (some members for instance are afraid that too many new members will come in, causing a financial problem for WMD-hosts; or many new members might cause less income on individual entries). After discussion the General Assembly unanimously adopts the new Rules of procedure (0 votes against, 2 abstentions).

8. Finances. The Portuguese Section has proposed to change the fee structure, for instance according to the differences in GNP. The ExCom has replied some months ago that this system doesn’t apply for ISCM members, because they are not funded according to the GNP. Richer Sections can always pay more and contribute into the support fund. With a fee structure which can change each year it will be difficult to make an annual budget for ISCM. Some members feel that Sections are only “poor” because of lack of good management. It is decided to first discuss the principle of having a different fee structure, and later discuss relevant details.

THIRD SESSION, 20 April 2005 morning.

There were 36 Sections present in this session.

5. New Members. Victoria Korshunova presented the activities of IACO – International Association of Composers Unions, which applies as ISCM Russian Section. Dr.Eckert explained that all papers of this application are in order, however IACO can only represent Russia and not the Russian Federation which consists of many states of which one is already a member (Tatarstan). Eckerts reads a letter of the Composers Union of Russia, which was received shortly before the Assembly; this organization also wants to be the Russian Section, but no formal application is received yet. The application of IACO is backed by the Tatarstan Section in a special letter to ISCM and delegates of several other Sections have also advised in a positive way because they co-operate with IACO since many years. IACO is then unanimously accepted as ISCM Russian Section, under the following condition (which was signed for agreement by IACO): “Membership of the ISCM means: National Section of Russia (art.10/1 of the ISCM Statutes), not of the whole Russian Federation. IACO agrees with the potential acceptance of the Composers Union of Russia as Associate Member of ISCM (art.11a of the ISCM Statutes) and of other members of the Russian Federation as National Sections of the ISCM (such as Tatarstan)”.

12. ISCM Ensemble. RT explains that the year 2005 is a year of experimentation for the ISCM Ensemble; not everything went as it ideally should. Thus the program in the ISCM WMD 2005 is not really an example for future concerts. Several delegates agreed to have a meeting with the leader of Antipodes after their concert in this festival. HH points out to the information about Insomnio, which will be ISCM Ensemble in 2007; further information and CD can be requested. Members are urged to start planning early and make contact with Insomnio for possible events in 2007.

10. Changes of the Rules of Procedure for the organization of the ISCM WMD, including a new contract between ISCM and organizers of the ISCM WMD. Paul Steenhuisen would like to describe the role of visiting composers in the contract: options for more interaction between composers and delegates, stay in the same hotel, invitation for minimally 3 days, and further same treatment of delegates and composers for receptions and transport etc. Several other proposals were made. It is decided to keep these items for future discussions about the festival, such as involvement of honorary members. A separate sentence about the use of a good festival website should be added to the contract. The proposal was then accepted unanimously.

FOURTH SESSION, 21 April 2005

43 Sections were present at this session.

6. ISCM CASH Young Composer Award.

André Laporte (chairman of the jury) announced that the jury has selected Sampo Haapamäki (Finland) for his composition “Signature” as the winner of this year’s ISCM-CASH Award. The Award will officially be announced during the evening concert this day.

15. Future events.

For 2008 there are several proposals.

* The Lithuanian ISCM Section, Daiva Parulskiene and Ruta Gostautiene, present the options for ISCM World Music Days 2008 in Vilnius. A proposal was made for 2007, but after contact with the ExCom postponed until 2008. This is a co-production of 4 Lithuanian organizations. It should take place during the annual GAIDA Festival, 2^nd half of October in Vilnius. There will be 2 national orchestras, many local ensembles, ensembles from neighboring Baltic countries and other foreign countries. They appoint 2 artistic directors: Remigijus Merkelys (of Gaida festival) and Vitautas Jurgutis (of Jauna Musica Festival, focus on multi-media arts).

* The Portuguese Section, Miguel Azguime, proposes to host the ISCM-WMD 2008 during the annual Musica Viva Festival in Lisbon in September. 70% of the funding is secured by the government. There are many local ensembles available.

* The Greek Section, Leontios Hadjileotiadis, proposes to host the ISCM-WMD 2008 in Anthens, Patra and Thessaloniki. There are different bigger halls in these cities. They want to make a ‘sound boat’. The festival acts as the Cultural Olympics in between the years of the sports Olympics.

The president Richard Tsang informs that the General Assembly should vote on this next year; preferably however the assembly votes 3 years in advance so the organizers will have more time to really prepare their festival.

For 2009 there is still the option of Gothenburg / Visby / Vexjö, with the perspectives of composers / society / performers as themes.

For 2010 the Polish Section proposes to host the ISCM-WMD in co-operation with neighboring countries. The Irish Section did some research for 2008, but now thinks there will be better options for 2010; co-operation with new music festivals in Dublin and Belfast, and with Irish Radio. The Turkish Section also proposes to host the ISCM WMD 2010; the Borusan Cultural Centre in Istanbul has an orchestra and all necessary infrastructure to organize concerts, seminars etc. and has good financial resources. Each November the Mediterranean Music Festival is organized. In Izmir the Conservatory for traditional Turkish music is based; it could be interesting for composers from other parts of the world to write for these traditional instruments.

For 2011 the Australian Section and the Croatian Section propose to host the ISCM-WMD.

For 2012 the Belgian Section and the Portuguese Section (in case they don’t host the 2008 edition).

17. Discussion about the ISCM World Music Days 2005.

Many delegates are positive about the combination of the WMD with the Zagreb Music Biennale festival. The program was very diverse in styles. The organization was good, performances were generally of high standard. The length of the concerts was good, so no overlap with following concerts. More rehearsal time for the composers with the musicians was needed.

Richard Tsang thanked Ivo Josipovic, Berislav Sipus, Sanda Vojkovic, Niksa Gligo and all the other staff.

16. Elections for a member of the Executive Committee.

In the first round Jean-Luc Darbellay (Switzerland) got 16 votes, Anna Dorota Wladyczka (Poland) got 9 votes, David McMullin (USA) got 9 votes, Harry Crowl (Brasil) got 6 votes, Assuncion Claro (Denmark / Chile) got 3 votes. In the second round Jean-Luc Darbellay got 18 votes, Anna Dorota Wladyczka got 10 votes, David McMullin got 13 votes, Assuncion Claro got 2 votes. In the third round Jean-Luc Darbellay was elected with 16 votes; Anna Dorota Wladyczka got 11 votes, David McMullin got 13 votes.

18. Elections of auditors. Marcel Wengler and John McLachlan were elected to serve as auditors for the next 2 years.

16. Election of the president. Richard Tsang was the only candidate. He was elected with 42 votes, 1 abstention. He thanked the assembly. It is his aim to let people work together and first to take care of a good structure and good mechanisms for such co-operations.

13. World New Music Magazine. Keith Hamel informed about the meeting of the focus group: Keith Hamel, Paul Steenhuisen, Michael Blake, Anna Dorota Wladyczka, Andreas Engström. The group thinks there should be a printed magazine and a good web site with news from the Sections, annual reports, etc. There should be an editorial board for the magazine to assist an editor/publisher with proof reading, translations, etc. Hamel will look for such editor and research costs for publishing, distributing etc.

18. Miscellaneous. Emilio Mendoza informed about the discussions in Focus Group 3 about the role of the national entries for the ISCM WMD. They see problems for the organizers to present works from each member country, however the members see a performance during the festival as one of their biggest benefits. Problems for them can be: no performance, a bad performance, a cancelled performance. There are proposals concerning this issue from the Austrian, British and American Sections; they will be evaluated and the focus group will come with an advice.

Abigail Pogson informed about a continuous project in which the British Section promotes in its own country various works which have been selected for the ISCM WMD. This is a good example for other Sections.

Focus Group 2 (magazine) consists of: Keith Hamel, Paul Steenhuisen, John McLachlan, Anna Dorota Wladyczka, Michael Blake,…

Focus Group 4 (membership fees) consists of Paula de Castro, Emilio Mendoza, Daniel Judkovski, Abigail Pogson, David McMullin, François Bousch

It is advised to use the chat room of the web site for discussions.

Regional groups. Emilio Mendoza informed about a Latin American Regional Group, currently consisting of Sections from Venezuela, Mexico, Brasil, Chile.

There is also an initiative in which several music organizations in the Balkan countries are working together.

The Turkish Section is working on a Mediterranean group.

All these groups should report about their activities in the next General assembly.

The Polish Section announces that they will propose Louis Andriessen to the ExCom as a potential honorary member. The president announces that such proposals have to be made in writing to the ExCom including relevant information material and argumentation.

The new ISCM Statutes (including all changes and additions which were made in this and past assemblies) will be printed and distributed soon.

19. Closing. The president then closed the 2005 General Assembly with a word of thanks to the hosts.

Signed by:

Richard Tsang, president.

Henk Heuvelmans, secretary-general

Paul Steenhuisen, delegate of the Canadian Section

Fons Willemsen, delegate of the Dutch Section