The Luxembourg Society for Contemporary Music (LGNM), the Luxembourg section of the International Society for Contemporary Music, was founded in 1983 by a handful of composers, performers, teachers and followers of contemporary music.

Under Article 2 of its statutes, the aims of the LGNM are:

• to promote contemporary music, particularly that of Luxembourg,
• to organise concerts, conferences, workshops and events of any other kind designed to promote contemporary music,
• to develop exchanges and cooperation with national and international groups or organisations which pursue similar aims,
• to set up a documentation centre for Luxembourg contemporary music,
• to extend its activities to all fields having a direct or indirect relationship with these aims.

Since its inception, the LGNM has tried to pursue these objectives by organising a large number of events of various kinds.

This is an annual festival devoted to composers who have left their mark on the 20th century. The LGNM strives to pay tribute to them and underscore the important part they have played in the development of the music of our age. Without these great “classical” composers, most of whom are far from being considered as such by the public at large, contemporary music would not exist with its richness of language, style and technique. The focal point of this festival is the symphony concert performed by the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, rendered possible by the generous support given by our partner IBM.

1985 Alban Berg 1986 Erik Satie 1987 Serge Prokofieff 1988 Arnold Schoenberg 1989 Charles Koechlin Ernest Chausson Francis Poulenc Albert Roussel 1990 Bohuslav Martinu 1991 Charles Ives Carl Ruggles 1992 Arthur Honnegger 1993 Béla Bartók

1994 Silvestre Revueltas Heitor Villa-Lobos Alberto Ginastera Carlos Chavez 1995 Igor Stravinsky 1996 Aaron Copland 1997 Karl Amadeus Hartmann 1998 Hans Werner Henze 1999 Maurice Ohana 2000 Allan Pettersson 2001 Karol Szymanowski 2002 Einojuhani Rautavaara

Since 1993, the 20th anniversary of the founding of the LGNM, special concerts have been given by the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, with Marcel Wengler conducting, sometimes as part of the Echternach International Music Festival. These have comprised works by György Ligeti, Hans Werner Henze, Boris Blacher, René Hemmer, Alfred Kowalsky, Leonard Bernstein, René Mertzig, Norbert Hoffmann, Krzysztof Penderecki, Henri Pensis, Camille Kerger, Alberto Ginastera, Anton Webern and Toru Takemitsu. A special concert was held in 1998 which was devoted to the works of the contemporary women composers Edith Canat de Chizy, Marta Ptaszynska, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and Galina Ustwolskaja.

Since 1995, the year in which Luxembourg first presented itself as the European Capital of Culture, the LGNM has been able to intensify its contacts with foreign partners and hold exchange concerts in Israel, Japan, Denmark and Romania, as well as in Lisbon and London. In addition, ensembles and soloists are regularly invited to concerts of contemporary music in Luxembourg.

The three festivals which the LGNM has organised were mainly intended to bring Luxembourgish composers more to the attention of the public. And how better to do this than give people the opportunity to listen to the music? It is obvious that the LGNM has always tried to encourage the creation of new pieces rather than repeat pieces already in the repertoire. The LGNM chose the concept of a festival since the publicity impact is far greater than that for an isolated event.

In this series, the concerts are centred around a celebrated composer who is invited for the occasion to Luxembourg. Several world premières have thus seen the light of day, by Ivo Malec, Iannis Xenakis, Silvano Bussotti, Michael Tippett, Olivier Messiaen, George Crumb, Maurice Ohana and Witold Lutoslawski. A large number of our composers have waited a very long time for their music to be performed and certain works are still waiting to be heard. Apart from the foreign personalities, the LGNM has also paid tribute to the pioneers of Luxembourgish music: René Mertzig, Jules Krüger, Edmond Cigrang, René Hemmer, Jeannot Heinen and Norbert Hoffmann.

Whereas most Luxembourg composers either publish on their own account or have their works published by international publishing houses to which they are affiliated, LGNM Editions basically promote Luxembourgish music via the compact disc. The CDs produced with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and the National Cultural Fund, in co-operation and with the invaluable assistance of the Orchestre philharmonique de Radio-Télé-Luxembourg, later to become the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, have long become part of Luxembourg’s cultural heritage. Amongst the 16 CDs published to date, the Anthology of Luxembourgish Music, comprising some 22 symphonic works by 16 Luxembourgish composers, makes up the most important part; in addition there are four CDs of chamber music and five entirely devoted to one single composer. The last in the series is a CD performed by the new ensemble called Luxembourg Sinfonietta, which had launched an appeal via the LGNM website to composers all over the world, asking them to write a work of clearly defined instrumentation. The new CD comprises eight selected compositions which were given world premières at a concert held on 13 February 2000.

This new ensemble, set up specially in 1999 with a view to the World Music Days in 2000, is an ensemble which varies as a function of the works programmed. It has a twofold aim: to make international contemporary music better known and to propagate the Luxembourgish music of our time. The Luxembourg Sinfonietta seeks to familiarise a greater section of the public with contemporary works and perform Luxembourgish music across the borders. In this context, the Luxembourg Sinfonietta has given a concert at the German Pavilion of the World Exhibition in Hanover on 25 September 2000.

In order to further establish Luxembourg as a European centre for musical innovation, the Luxembourg Society for New Music (LGNM) then launched a new project, its first International Composition Prize in 2002. For this event, composers from all over the world were invited to compose new works for the Luxembourg Sinfonietta. 137 applicants from 33 countries participated in the competition, the countries being Argentina, Armenia, Albania, Austria, Brazil, Great Britain, Bulgaria, Canada, Switzerland, China, the Czech Republic, Germany, France, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zeeland, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the United States and Venezuela.

In the year 2000, the LGNM became a partner of the “International Association of Music Information Centres” (IAMIC) – a worldwide network of organisations promoting new music. This association covers 36 contemporary music societies in the whole world. Its aim is to publish catalogues of works written by Luxembourgish composers, and participate in a world-wide joint data bank for new music on internet.