The New Music Miami ISCM Festival originally began in 1993 as the May in Miami Music Festival, an annual, week-long festival occurring every May. The festival featured nightly concerts with performances by performers from the New World Symphony and FIU faculty of renowned, emerging, and student composers. In 1997, the festival expanded its scope by scheduling concerts throughout the year and became the New Music Miami Festival. By 2002, FIU became an associated chapter of the the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM), a network that now includes over 60 organizations in over 50 countries, on every continent, dedicated to promoting contemporary music in all is varied forms.
NMMF has developed numerous partnerships with presenting institutions throughout the world. The festival has enabled composers and performers to participate and present their work and has included music from countries such as Argentina, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, El Salvador, Mexico, Spain, Denmark, England, Estonia, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Poland, Canada, and throughout the US.
The founder of the festival, Dr. Orlando Jacinto Garcia, runs the Composition Program at FIU, and oversee the artistic direction of FIU’s contemporary ensemble, NODUS Ensemble. The distinctive character of his music has been described as “time suspended-haunting sonic explorations” that he developed from his studies with Morton Feldman among others.
