Born in 2010, MusMA is a cooperation project that supports and promotes the artistic creativity of young and innovative composers in the field of classical music. Sustained by a network of European Festivals, the project enjoys the patronage of EFA. Not only do the artistic creations conceived within the framework of the project first come to life during the various festivals, but they also enjoy the promotion of the festival’s partners: the national radios and the European Broadcasting Union.

MUSMA, Music Masters on Air, brings together some important European festivals to commission and produce new music in a network of exchanges and promotion of original works, thus tracing the paths of European creativity and rewarding the artistic vision of young people in contemporary classical music. One of our main ambitions is to move people to more deeply discover the diverse sounds of new and innovative classical music. Young, creative artists and composers have new ideas, new visions and new means to invigorate the genre, and should hence be given the chance to bring their creations to the European citizens, a public outstretching the national boundaries.

To imagine an audience of over a million and a half can procure a certain blank page-anxiety for a rookie composer. With the complicity of many radio networks, Europe becomes the endless theater of MusMA, offering a great young talent the occasion of an extraordinary debut! Composers of the new generation, masters of the new era, take a flight to present their work abroad. European Festivals join forces to develop a platform to welcome this new, unknown contemporary music…

Major European festivals, with the support of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the European Festival Association (EFA) pitch these contemporary composers beyond the borders, straight into the air!

Each year, one of the participating festivals chooses a theme for the MusMA year.

Moreover each festival chooses a young (less than 35 years of age) composer to create a new work with the chosen theme in mind. Two are the requests:

• The piece should be of about 10 minutes
• The work should be written for a given ensemble (piano solo, wind quintet, chamber choir…) which is common to all festivals

Composers and musicians meet at a General Atelier, to rehearse and discuss the new works. This is an incredible opportunity for the composers: to make new and important contacts, to discuss thoroughly their ideas on music composition and to confront their work with whom is supposed to perform and to programme it.

After the Atelier, each festival takes it on him to organize a MusMA concert: a performance of the new music by the MusMA ensemble, who will travel all festivals.

In each country, the designated radio records and broadcasts the various MusMA concert. Each record is then forwarded to the EBU European Broadcasting Union who offers the records to its members for further broadcasting.

MusMA thus implemented a simple and cost-effective strategy that has allowed the music created in its frame to reach each step of the way (the creation, the practice, the concerts, the broadcasting, the diffusion on the EBU platform) an increasing amount of people and radio-listeners in Europe.

5 composers are reflecting on the theme Fairytales. Finding or Losing our identity

Their new compositions are written for singing quartet (SATB) and spoken voice, and will be performed, in all participating festivals, by the brilliant singers of the Swedish Radio Choir, Jessica Bäcklund (soprano), Elin Lannemyr (alto), Love Tronner (tenor), David Wijkman (bass) and famous actress Stina Ekblad.

The Atelier was held during the 2018 SAXÅ KAMMARMUSIK FESTIVAL in between lakes and forests in Filipstad, Sweden.

MusMA IX concerts will be in:

• March 27th Brussels, Belgium – KLARA FESTIVAL
• June 26 or 27th Filipstad, Sweden – SAXÅ KAMMARMUSIK FESTIVAL
• July 19th, Holland – WONDERFEEL
• September 9th Wroclaw, Poland –  NFM National Forum of Music
• October 9th (TBD), Mons, Belgium – FESTIVAL DE WALLONIE