Performers included Ulrich Suesse and the Stockholm Saxophone Quartet (Sweden), Trio Rothko (Ireland), Ensemble Acrobat (Austria), Steamboat Switzerland, pianist Daan Vandewalle (Belgium), violinist Yasutaka Hemmi (Japan), and from South Africa The Kerimov Trio, Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra (JPO) Wind Ensemble with Jill Richards, Benjamin Fourie (playing the complete Vingt Regards by Messiaen), Aryan Kaganof, piano duet ensemble Amadou (featuring Nishlyn Ramanna and Michael Blake), and the Gauteng Choristers, playing works from Clare Loveday, Jürgen Bräuninger, Carlo Mombelli, Paul Hanmer, Kevin Volans, Luciano Berio, Toshio Hosokawa, Helmut Lachenmann, David Young, Brian Ferneyhough, Cornelius Cardew and Dimitri Shostakovich.
The 2008 edition (Tshwane, Gauteng) was hosted by the University of South Africa (UNISA) and included the performance of Fiona Tozer´s Multiple Exposure for marimba quartet (with Magda de Vries, Ilse Minnie, Cobie van Wyk and Bryan Clarke).
Themed ‘The Riot of Spring’, performances and workshops were presented by the South African New Music Ensemble with Géza Kayser (violin), Marguerite Spies (cello), Brydon Bolton (double bass), Bonle Lecoge-Zulu (flute), Morné van Heerden (clarinet), Jill Richards (piano) and Frank Mallows (percussion) conducted by Gerben Grooten.
It featured works by resident composer Clare Loveday (including "Hoar Frost for Marimba and Vibraphone" and "Fever Tree" for the whole ensemble), Peter Klatzow, Hendrik Hofmeyr, Yogin Sullaphen, Kevin Volans, David Kosviner, Robert Fokkens and Martin Watt.
It included commissions of new works to Dimitri Voudouris, Hannes Taljaard and Neo Muyanga, premiered in concerts in Johannesburg featuring Yonela Mnana (piano), Waldo Alexander (violin), Tiisetso Mashishi (viola), Magda de Vries (percussion) and Morné van Heerden (clarinet), and in Cape Town featuring Lungiswa Plaatjies (voice), Matthijs van Dijk (violin), Graham du Plessis (cello) and David Lubbe (piano).
It also included the online audiovisual series "Stories We Told Ourselves", curated by Daniel Hutchinson, and a jam concert in Mamelodi hosted by the Philip Tabane Foundation featuring Naftali (vocals and harmonica), Dennis Magagula (djembe drums), Cara Stacey (mbira), Keenan Ahrends (guitar), Camron Andrews (saxophone), Aubrey Seapose (guitar), Dennis Magagula (percussion), Paul Ndlovu (saxophone and flute), Elway Masango (bass), Mpho Tshwale (keyboard) and Liza Miro (vocalist).
The programme included works and performances by Pauline Oliveros, Halim El-Dabh, Louis Moholo Moholo improvising with George Lewis, Francisco López, Luc Houtkamp POW ensemble, Lukas Ligeti, and many South African musicians and electronic music composers including Bräuninger, Voudouris, Pops Mohamed, Warrick Sony (Kalahari Surfers), James Webb, Zim Ngqawana, Joao Orecchia, Brendon Bussy and Theo Herbst.
International artists included the Luc Houtkamp POW Ensemble (Netherlands), Eric LaCasa and Jako Maron with Automat (France), Lawrence English and Philip Samartzis (Australia), Jason Kahn and Sudden Infant (China), Patrick Bebelaar, Marc Behrens, Mark Schreiber, Ulrich Süße and Asmus Tietchens (Germany), Brandon LaBelle (USA).
Curated by Jürgen Bräuninger and Fiona Tozer with assistance from Mandy Wilken, it included two evenings of electro-acoustic music and three days of workshops for young South African composers and performers.
The programme included two new commissions to Angie Mullins and Daniel Hutchinson, and works by Nicolas Collins performed by Petra Ronner, Max E. Keller, Jürgen Bräuninger, Rüdiger Meyer, Ulrich Süße, Dimitri Voudouris, Pierre-Henri Wicomb, Luc Houtkamp POW ensemble and Sazi Dlamini.
It included performances by American composer Carl Stone, Nina Mkhize, Bhekizenzo Cele, Thulasizwe Shozi, Brush ‘Emmanuel’ Dlamini violinist Darragh Morgan, multinational improvisation group Die Schrauber (Mario de Vega, Joker Nies and Hans Tammen), Lukas Ligeti, João Orecchia, Warrick Sony (Kalahari Surfers) and Daniel Hutchinson.
Co-curated by Cameron Harris and Carl Stone, a special focus on interaction between South Africa and Japan/the Pacific Rim through a collaboration with another ISCM section (the Japan Society for Contemporary Music).
The programme included performances by the South African New Music Ensemble (premiering the electronic piece Stroompie by Maxim Starcke, commissioned by NMSA), Kazuhisa Uchihashi, Alfred 23 Harth, Jonathan Crosley and Jonno Sweetman.
Jill Richards and João Orecchia collaborated with video artist Jurgen Meekel and Japanese composer Tomoko Momiyama to create a new multi‐media work for the festival entitled "When Humans Go Extinct".
Performers included Marguerite Spies, Frank Mallows, Philisa Sibeko, Cindy Manciya, Phandulwazi Maseti, Phumzile Theo Magongoma, Anna James, Sarah Evans, Visser Liebenberg, Ncebakazi Mnukwana, Cara Stacey, Petrus de Beer, Waldo Alexander, Lieva Starker, Petrus de Beer, Marguerite Spies, Jill Richards, Brydon Bolton, Coila Enderstein and Reza Khota.
An important aspect of the organisation's role is to convene an annual jury to select South African works that will be considered for performance at the ISCM World Music Days festival.
Past Chairs were: Cameron Harris, Angie Mullins, William Fourie, Chris Jeffery, Douglas Scott, Sifisokuhle Jiba Zulu, Malcolm Dedman and Robert Fokkens.