ISCM WORLD NEW MUSIC DAYS 2025 IN PORTUGAL
PRESENTATION & THEME
In 2025, the year of its 40th anniversary, Miso Music Portugal will host the World New Music Days in Lisbon and Porto, one of the largest and most vibrant annual contemporary music festivals today. This event, taking place from May 30 to June 7, is an initiative of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM / UNESCO), a century-old institution founded in 1922 in Salzburg. For the first time, the festival will be held in Portugal, marking an important moment for contemporary Portuguese music.
The festival carries the subtitle "Thirst for Change," reflecting the theme of urgency and transformation that our "blue planet" faces in light of current environmental and social challenges.
During the 9 days of the WNMD 2025, various institutions and artists will come together to promote musical creation and artistic exchange.
The World New Music Days 2025 promises to be a celebration of musical innovation and a platform for reflection on the transformative role of music in times of change.
THEME & INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIM · “THIRST FOR CHANGE”
curator Pedro Prista, anthropologist
O Antropoceno trouxe-nos ao limiar da nossa própria negação. É nesta condição extrema que de novo o Novo ressurge, agora. Imperativo e sequioso da própria mudança que cria.
Este é um colóquio para pensar e debater a sede de todas as mudanças; um colóquio sobre a criação depois do Antropoceno.
The Anthropocene has brought us to the threshold of our denial. It is in this extreme condition that the New resurges now. Imperative and thirsty for the very change it creates.
This is a colloquium to think about and debate that thirst for change, for all changes. A colloquium on creation after the Anthropocene.
In addition to the new music context, the ISCM World New Music Days 2025 in Portugal will have an environmental dimension emphasized through the theme “Thirst for Change.” This theme will join ecological policy with artistic expression and evoke the significant dilemma our “blue planet” faces – growth or life? Water is a crucial element in this equation, especially in Portugal, where its lack and evaporation increasingly threaten the population. How can humanity tackle this pressing issue?
The ISCM World New Music Days festival, with its rich history and global reach, can encourage this reflection, and the WNMD 2025 in Portugal is the perfect opportunity to dedicate space and time to the water issue and agenda. Music is not just sound and silence. It reflects the pulse of the societies, carrying our deepest concerns, fears, and aspirations. The climate crisis needs more than mere political changes or technological solutions. It requires a universal emotional understanding – a call to collective consciousness. Here, artistic and music creation can make a difference.