ISCM 2026 - composer shortlist

ISCM World New Music Days 2026

Welsh Section shortlisted composers

luminous by Richard Barrett has been selected by the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) to represent Wales at this year's World New Music Days.

luminous will be performed in the Opera Hall of the National University of Music, Bucharest at 11am on Sunday 31 May.

Richard Barrett - luminous (2019)

luminous, composed in 2019, is an eight-channel fixed media composition structured around vocal material performed by Siân Wassermann, based on Georg Trakl’s 1912 poem 'De Profundis', although in this piece the text is fragmented beyond comprehensibility except for occasional short words.

It is dedicated to the memory of the Croatian-French composer Ivo Malec, and was first performed on 18 October 2019 in Paris on the GRM Acousmonium, with sound projection by Gabriel Paiuk. Luminous forms part of PSYCHE, an extended electronic/instrumental work.

One of its recurrent themes is an exploration of extremes of static and dynamic musical behaviours, and thus of the experience of musical time, and these extremes are both present in luminous, though in a way that entwines them in a complex spiral of self-similarity.

Angharad Davies - Circular Bowing Study (2020)

Circular Bowing Study is the first of six improvisations exploring extended
techniques, recorded and mastered by Sebastian Lexer on 25th March 2012, and subsequently released as Six Studies on confront records in 2014.

They were recorded primarily as a document of the techniques and preparations that I was exploring at the end of March 2012, and as a reference point for myself at a time when I had actively stopped teaching for three months to clear space for my own projects. I think of them as a set of sketches and not necessarily as finished pieces. Each extended technique informs the subsequent study.

In March 2020 the violinist Aisha Orazbayeva invited me to write a score for Circular Bowing Study to add to her repertoire which she then recorded for her album Music for Violin Alone, released on 1 May 2020 on SN variations and performed in Belgium during 2023/2024.

Gareth Glyn - Cymun Bangor (2022)

Cymun Bangor (‘Bangor Communion’) is an unaccompanied setting for mixed choir of the Holy Communion (Eucharist) service in Welsh, as used by the choir of Bangor Cathedral. It sets the texts of the Ordinary of the Mass, namely the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei (the Credo is not used by Bangor Cathedral in its liturgy). In Gareth Glyn’s setting, there is a passage for solo soprano in the Benedictus, and for a tenor in the Agnus Dei.

The work was commissioned by the Dean and Chapter of Bangor Cathedral, and first sung in a service in June 2022, thenceforth becoming part of the choir’s liturgical repertoire.

Andrew Lewis (c) Bea Borgers LANDSCAPE_edited_edited.jpg

Andrew Lewis - Canzon in Double Echo (2020)

Canzon in Double Echo is inspired by the Venetian ‘cori spezzati’ technique of composers such as Giovanni Gabrieli. As in Gabrieli’s work, the echoes in Canzon are not mere repetitions, but transformations – we hear each musical object from different multiple vantage points in time and space.

The musical echoes in Canzon take many forms: answering or echoing phrases, sonic echoes in the imaginary space created by loudspeakers, the echoes of fragments of Gabrieli’s original, of musical memories from elsewhere, echoes of echoes, double echoes…

In the final section of the piece, all the music that has gone before is echoed again, but in a changed state. It is as if the sound of praise that echoed through St Mark’s Basilica now echoes beyond its walls, down through the centuries, and then beyond even the confines of space and time, into eternity.

Kiko Litang Shao - Dim Sum Fantasia (2025)

The inspiration for this piece comes from the composer’s favourite Yum Cha culture. Yum Cha, meaning 'drink tea' in Cantonese, is a traditional Chinese dining experience that originated in Cantonese-speaking regions of China, particularly Guangzhou and Hong Kong. Yum Cha is not just about tea; it is also about enjoying a wide variety of small, bite-sized dishes served in bamboo steamers, known as dim sum.

This piece of music primarily depicts the energetic scene and vibrant atmosphere of traditional Yum Cha culture. As you step into a Cantonese tea house, the sound of clinking chopsticks as people pick up dim sum and the gentle tapping of tea cups against tables fill the air. Servers push dim sum carts stacked high with bamboo steamers, showcasing a variety of freshly prepared dim sum.

Yum Cha is deeply rooted in Cantonese culture and represents more than just a meal. It is a social gathering, a time for family, and friends, to connect and gather over the delicious food and tea.

Bethan Morgan Williams - ILDIO (2025)

Ildio – meaning surrender – explores musical emergence as a compositional strategy while offering a window into the composer’s inner soundworld. The piece foregrounds a process of filtration: beginning with twelve superimposed layers, it gradually pares back the texture until a single, coherent thread remains.

The listener is invited into this unfolding – not to be handed an answer, but to witness the challenge of finding one. It is a journey through chaos, uncertainty, and fleeting beauty, towards something that finally feels worth holding onto. It won’t be comfortable, so strap in!

ISCM Welsh Section
ISCM Welsh exists to promote the aims of the ISCM, both within Wales, and in co-operation with the British, Irish, Scottish and other, international Sections. The Society aims to promote contemporary music and raise its public profile, through effective global networking, communication and facilitation of multilateral activities between the members.

Its mission is to:

Raise the profile of contemporary music through the collective strength of the Society’s global network and membership makeup.
Pursue exposure, research and performance of contemporary music through initiatives by its membership, as well as collaboration with affiliated bodies.
Showcase the diversity of contemporary music worldwide through the World New Music Days Festival.

World New Music Days
The World Music Days Festival is an annual meeting of the ISCM, organised and solely funded by different sections each year, as a platform for musical exchange and a showcase of world contemporary music, without prejudice or bias on differences in musical expressions, styles, genres or media. It aims to be a meeting place for organisations, performers and composers around the world. World Music Days takes place in consecutive days in the host country and can be organised in any format which suits the artistic and practical preferences of the organiser in accordance with ISCM Statutes, reflecting the diversity of contemporary music. The festival strives to represent all legitimate members of the ISCM in one way or another through the activities of its programmes, including performances, seminars, exhibitions, and networking.