The International Summer Course for New Music Darmstadt – or simply: the Darmstadt Summer Course – was established right one year after World War II in 1946 through the efforts of Wolfgang Steinecke (who at the time served as cultural attache and director of the municipal culture ministry of Darmstadt). Steinecke held the role of artistic director up to his death in 1961. Subsequent directors were Ernst Thomas (1962-1982) and Friedrich Hommel (1981-1994). From 1995-2008 the courses were organized by Solf Schaefer. As of the beginning of 2009, Thomas Schäfer has been appointed to be the new artistic director of the Summer Courses and head of the IMD. First of all the Darmstadt Summer Course is:
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Presenter and network, center for documentation and information, operational center and initiator for new music since 1946 – the International Music Institute Darmstadt (IMD) is all of these things. With its International Summer Courses for New Music, its Archive, and its Library the IMD continues to make and document cultural history as a constant interplay of invention, performance, listening, reflection, and retention.

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