Since its premier in 1952, the School of Music at Illinois Wesleyan University has annually brought prominent guest composers and performers to campus for a two-to-three-day residency. The Symposium of Contemporary Music is one of the oldest, continuing collegiate symposia of its type in the United States. University faculty and students participate in the performance of works by guest composers, who in addition offer public lectures or panel discussions on aesthetic, analytical, or technical aspects of their work. Symposium guests also provide master classes for Illinois Wesleyan students in music composition and performance.