Under the motto “Creating the Future in Contemporary Music”, ARTMUSFAIR in 2009 aims to bring together contemporary classical/art music composers from all over Europe to share their different and common experiences, to celebrate some of the best of contemporary composition, to look at the place of the composer in today’s society and generally to raise the profile of the contemporary composer.

ARTMUSFAIR.2009 in Glasgow is to coincide with an already planned major series of concerts by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in celebration of the 75th birthday of the internationally acclaimed Scottish composer, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, for which he will be in attendance.

Presented by the regional partners in the UK and Scotland, and naturally the European Composers Forum as initiator, ARTMUSFAIR will launch a wide range of opportunities for more than 500 composers, promoters, publishers, agents and others engaged in the creation and promotion of new music to present new projects with which they are engaged and to share their common experiences on themes largely related to the “Year of Creativity and Innovation” …

The Composers’ Factory

Developing Audiences for Contemporary Music in Europe

Without audiences music does not take place. Therefore we have to put strongest efforts into raising and developing open-minded, contemporary-thinking, and excited audiences who will be attending concerts, events, presentations, and workshops of contemporary music today and in 10, 20, or 30 years as well.

The idea of a “Composers’ Factory” in practice is a connecting to contemporary music programme for high school, music school and higher education (conservatory, university) students.

Much alike a “composer in school-residence” the Factory shall introduce students to concepts of musical composition, and those who are playing in school or university orchestras will receive the unique opportunity to study, rehearse and perform the music of the particular composer in school-residence. Doing so, the Composers’ Factory will offer this young and growing-up population a unique private access to the living composer in person and to experience contemporary music – live and alive – during rehearsal work and later in the performances.

The Composers Factory shall become a European-wide initiative, gathering expertise and experience already made locally here and there. In order to gather the exisiting experience, a Forum shall be installed in order to pool information, join initiatives and forward role-model of a Composers Factory widely feasable in practice in all regions in Europe.

This Forum shall be hosted first in 2010 in conjuction with the Nordic Music Days in Copenhagen.

The European Composer Award

Public Recognition for Contemporary Music in Europe

In connection with ARTMUSFAIR.2009 we plan to announce the first call addressing composer and music societies from all around Europe to nominate their national composer candidate to become the “European Composer of the Year”. This “European Composers Award” is to be awarded in 2010 for the first time and the overall aim is to raise the profile of contemporary music composition in Europe - in the society as a whole and in the field of culture in particular.

The Award will be for a body of composition/s which is at the cutting edge, groundbreaking, inspirational and innovative and in an area which the composer is still developing with at least one of the works having been premiered in the previous year.