The IMD was initiated in 1975 by Lord Yehudi Menuhin to encourage:
* the promotion of our musical art among all sections of society
* the application of the UNESCO ideals of peace and friendship between peoples, of the evolution of their cultures, of the exchange of experience and of the mutual appreciation of their aesthetic values
* the promotion of the activities of IMC, its international member organizations and national committees, as well as its programme policy in general.
Letter to all IMC members dated November 30, 1974
and signed by Yehudi Menuhin and Boris Yarustowski:
Dear Sir,
The first International Music Day, organised by the International Music Council, will be held on the 1st of October, 1975, in accordance with the resolution taken at the 15th General Assembly in Lausanne in 1973.
The intention of this day is to encourage:
* the promotion of our musical art among all sections of society;
* the application of the UNESCO ideals of peace and friendship between peoples, of the evolution of their cultures, of the exchange of experience and of the mutual appreciation of their aesthetic values;
* the promotion of the activities of the International Music Council, its international member organizations end national committees, as well as its programme policy in general.
In order to put these intentions into practice, our international organizations and national committees are invited to consider the following plan of action:
Music Events:
* invite leading composers, interpreters and musicologists to give lectures, and to speak of the importance of music, of its place in modern life, of the ideals of UNESCO and of the activities of the IMC
* organize meetings of artists, competitions and musical quizzes;
* organize exhibitions of musical instruments, records, posters, paintings, sculptures, caricatures, or photographs on musical themes;
* invite delegations of musicians of other national committees to participate in thiS International Music Day, as well as prize winners of the IMO Rostrums, arid composers arid interpreters from different continents;
* ask major interpreters in your country to give concerts on International Music Day for which they would agree to contribute either all, or part of the proceeds to the Musicians' International Mutual Aid Fund.
Radio and television programmes
* broadcast concerts, as well as talks and debates with the participation of major personalities who are also music lovers a painters, writers, and even politicians On this International Music Day, leading members of the IMC will broadcast special messages.
Press and Recordings
* publish articles in the press to draw the public's attention to International Music Day;
* organize the exchange of tapes arid records1 using them for demonstration purposes
The struggle against the pollution of the sound environment
* propose to local authorities that, on this Day, they should order a few minutes of silence in towns; this period of silence would be used for listening to music to be played in public places such as parks arid main squares.
In order to realize these activities, it is essential that we niobium all the means at our disposal: radio and television, concert societies, opera companies, amateur societies; a great many different types of localities should be used to their best advantage: concert halls theatres, cultural centres, universities, churches, schools, factories, as well as in the open air: in parks, gardens, and stadiums.
We hope that this first International Music Day will constitute a major achievement among our' activities, and that it will become an annual event for the propagation of greater knowledge of our art, arid for the strengthening of the bonds of peace and friendship between peoples through music.
Yours faithfully,
Yehudi Menuhin/President
Boris Yarustowski/Vice-President
