Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival - News

hcmf//'s 2010 Bloggers

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 13:14:18 +0000

Edward Caine

I am a composer based in York, UK, doing a PhD in composition at the University of York. I am on the Sound and Music Shortlist.

I also work as organiser for contemporary music promoter Late Music (http://www.latemusic.org), assistant for publisher UYMP (http://www.uymp.co.uk), Music and Welfare tutor for Vanbrugh College University of York and jazz performer, teacher and graphic designer/programmer.

Connect with me at: http://www.edwardcaine.com; Facebook; Twitter; MySpace; YouTube; and via my RSS feed

Johnny Herbert

I am a graduate of the Royal College of Music in London and I spent a year studying privately with Rebecca Saunders and attending seminars led by Walter Zimmerman at the Berlin UdK.

I am currently studying for my MMus in composition at the University of Huddersfield under the guidance of Dr Aaron Cassidy.

My music has been performed in the UK and across Europe, by artists including Ian Pace, Richard Haynes, Kevin Bowyer and Neil Heyde.

Hugh Nankivell

I am a composer and performer now living in Torquay.

I'm currently writing a song-cycle with Ian McMillan for the 25th anniversary of the end of the miner strike for Opera North (performance on March 27th), have just been appointed as Featured Composer at Dartington Arts 2010/11, am working with poets Peter and Alice Oswald on a number of different projects, am performing with the band Natural Causes (www.naturalcauses.org.uk) and am developing the Keyboard Choreography Collection Project in both Japan and England.

Read more about me and my projects at http://www.whaletone.co.uk and http://www.playingthemap.co.uk.

Connect with me at MySpace.

hcmf// 2010 draws to a close - see the pictures on Facebook

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 14:00:21 +0000

The 33rd Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival has drawn to a close, but contemporary music lovers and critics alike agree that this has been another vintage year for the award winning Festival.

Our thoughts immediately turn to 2011, and the planning begins here. Follow us us Twitter to get the inside story and instant updates as next year's hcmf// comes together.

And fan us on Facebook to see the stunning event photography from hcmf// 2010 (all by Brian Slater) - feel free to add your own pictures, comments, questions or memories.

hcmf// successful in bid for Arts Council funding

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 09:21:05 +0000

Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival is delighted to announce news received this morning from Arts Council England that it will be part of the National Portfolio of organisations and will continue to be funded up to 2015.

The amount of funding represents a significant up-lift on the Festival’s current level of core funding and is welcomed by the hcmf// team as a huge vote of confidence in the local, national and international programme of work presented in Huddersfield each year.

hcmf// would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the team who have worked to put the bid together and Arts Council England for enabling us to continue to create and present the most exciting new music from Britain, Europe and beyond in Huddersfield – especially in the current climate of cuts and uncertainty.

It’s also fitting for us to thank our other funders and partners whose support is vital to making hcmf// a reality, including: Kirklees Council, the University of Huddersfield, West Yorkshire Grants, the British Council, the PRSF Foundation and Welcome to Yorkshire.

Artistic Director, Graham McKenzie says: “This is fantastic news for hcmf// this morning – and a great testament to the hard work and commitment of the hcmf// team, our Board and our partners. We now hope to hear that our many partner organisations in the UK will be similarly successful.”

Selected 2009 events on sale with online discounts

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:06:16 +0000

For the first time, tickets have been released for some of the highlight events at this year's HCMF, ahead of the full programme being announced.

Another exciting first for HCMF is the introduction of discounted prices for tickets purchased online, offering exceptional value for money. By purchasing your tickets online you can make savings of up to £6 on individual tickets, or £10 on a Weekend Saver and a huge £60 on a full Festival Saver.

There is a limited number of online tickets available for all events and they will be up until Friday 23 October 2009 latest (or earlier if limits are reached before that date). Tickets can also be purchased by calling the Box Office on 01484 430528 or by visiting the Box Office in person, at Lawrence Batley Theatre, Queen Street, Huddersfield, HD1 2SP.

Ticket prices - with online savings

Full Festival Saver
Online price: £230.00
Usual price (purchased by phone or in person from Box Office): £290.00
Save: £60
Covers admission to all ticketed events and a Festival Programme Book

Weekend Savers 1 & 2
Online price: £70.00
Usual price (purchased by phone or in person from Box Office): £80.00
Save: £10
Covers admission to all eight ticketed events on Saturday 21 & Sunday 22 November , excluding Studio 2 concerts, or on Saturday 28 & Sunday 29 November )

Individual Events
Online prices from £9 - £12
Usual prices (purchased by phone or in person from Box Office): £14 - £18
Save: up to £6

Festival Highlights

This year's HCMF, which takes place from 21 - 29 November, will feature in-depth explorations of the work of two leading voices in contemporary music - the British composer Jonathan Harvey and Portugal's most celebrated living composer, Emmanuel Nunes.

Born in Warwickshire in 1939, Jonathan Harvey is one of the most successful and enduring composers to come out of the United Kingdom and is HCMF's Composer in Residence. In constant demand throughout the world, his music is extensively performed by all of the major ensembles of our time. He has worked closely with Artistic Director Graham McKenzie to curate a comprehensive profile of his work, which will include large-scale ensemble, chamber, choral, electronic and multi-media - presented by some of the foremost British and European ensembles and artists. Highlights will include performances by the Arditti Quartet, New London Chamber Choir, London Sinfonietta, Re-Mix Ensemble and musikFabrik (New Work 2009 - European Premiere). Jonathan will be a significant presence at the Festival, through a series of talks, open workshops and film related events, including the World Premiere of a new film about him by Barrie Gavin.

Emmanuel Nunes, born in 1941 in Lisbon, is one of Portugal's greatest living composers and yet his work has rarely been performed in the UK. Portugal's foremost contemporary chamber music group, Re-Mix Ensemble, will present two concerts during the Festival, placing Nunes' work in the context of works by other leading European and Portugese composers. Other performances will include a solo piano concert by Noriko Kawai and the Diotima Quartet.

Events available now - with discounted online prices

Arditti Quartet & The Hilliard Ensemble
20 November 2009 St Paul's Hall 6pm
Online £12; Full price £18; Concessions £16
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Barrett / ELISION 1
20 November 2009 Bates Mill 8pm
Online £12; Full price £18; Concessions £16
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ralph van Raat: Jonathan Harvey Piano Solo
21 November 2009 Phipps Hall 6pm
Online £9; Full price £14; Concession £12
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Arditti Quartet: Jonathan Harvey 4th String Quartet
21 November 2009 St Paul's Hall 8pm
Online £12; Full price £18; Concessions £16
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ictus Ensemble
22 November 2009 Lawrence Batley Theatre 12 noon
Online £9; Full price £14; Concessions £12
----------------------------------------------------------------------
New London Chamber Choir: Jonathan Harvey
22 November 2009 St Paul's Hall 5pm
Online £9; Full price £14; Concessions £12
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Noriko Kawai: Nunes
26 November 2009 St Paul's Hall 6pm
Online £9; Full price £14; Concessions £12
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Quatuor Diotima
28 November 2009 St Paul's Hall 2pm
Online £9; Full price £14; Concessions £12
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Remix Ensemble 1
28 November 2009 Town Hall 4pm
Online £12; Full price £18; Concessions £16
----------------------------------------------------------------------
musikFabrik 1: Sringara Chaconne
28 November 2009 St Paul's Hall 7pm
Online £12; Full price £18; Concessions £16
----------------------------------------------------------------------
London Sinfonietta / fORCH
28 November 2009 Bates Mill 9.15pm
Online £12; Full price £18; Concessions £16
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Remix Ensemble 2
29 November 2009 St Paul's Hall 1pm
Online £12; Full price £18; Concessions £16
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival welcomes University of Huddersfield as headline sponsor

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:06:42 +0000

Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival is proud to announce a new 3-year sponsorship deal with the

Universtiy of Huddersfield

Although the Festival has its offices on the University campus and has enjoyed close association with the University over its 30 year history, this new sponsorship deal marks a new period of partnership and collaboration between the two organisations. As well as the financial element of the arrangement, the University will also provide a range of in-kind benefits including premises, equipment and IT support.

Graham McKenzie, HCMF's Artistic Director and Chief Executive is to be appointed as a visiting research fellow at the University. There will continue to be a wealth of opportunities for staff and students of the University to participate in the Festival, whether as performers, composers, stewards, volunteers or attenders, or through work experience placements. Workshops and events will be organised for staff and students, contributing to their studies and their professional development and the Festival will play an enhanced role in promoting and developing the University's international reputation for its music-based research and academic performance.

The University is acknowledged as headline sponsor in the Festival's 90-page brochure, which has just been published and on its newly launched website - both of which carry details of all the 40+ events that make up this year's Festival, taking place from 21 - 30 November.

Commenting on the sponsorship arrangements, Professor Bob Cryan, Vice-Chancellor of the University said:
"It is wonderful that the town of Huddersfield is able to welcome so many composers and performers of world-wide renown to the town each November, and we are delighted to be able to continue to support the Festival. The University, and the town, have well deserved international reputations in the music world, and I am sure that our continuing collaboration with the Festival will bring new benefits to us all."

Graham McKenzie added: "This is a really important development for HCMF, cementing our close working relationship with the University and contributing to our ambitious development plans for the future. For over 30 years, HCMF has provided Huddersfield and its University with a unique musical and cultural event; it remains the UK's foremost festival of new music and continues to build its international reputation for presenting UK and international work of the highest standard. We are looking forward to working ever more closely with the University to ensure that the Festival is a key focus of its work to attract top calibre students and staff, from both the UK and overseas."

The 2008 HCMF will host composers and performers from over 20 countries around the world, including Canada, America, Australia, Israel, Holland, Sweden, Germany and Japan, as well as festival directors from Europe's top music festivals and the British Council hosting 20 VIP guests from overseas to a showcase of British music. With an expected audience of over 8,000 people and visits by music journalists and critics from all the major newspapers and music magazines, HCMF is set for another successful year.

Janek Schaefer wins The British Composer of The Year Award

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 11:38:25 +0000

Janek Schaefer has won the British Composer of The Year Award for Sonic Art 2008 for his work Extended Play, which was commissioned for HCMF 2007.

The winners of the 2008 British Composer Awards were announced on Tuesday 2 December 2008 in a ceremony hosted by the British Academy of Composers & Songwriters at the Law Society, London.

Now in its sixth year, the Awards are sponsored annually by the Performing Right Society (PRS), and are run in association with BBC Radio 3.

As winner of the Award for Sonic Art, Schaefer will receive £5,000 from the PRS Foundation towards a new commission or towards a project which contributes to the furtherance of the artist's career.

Extended Play

Extended Play (Triptych for the children of war) is an uplifting and enveloping bittersweet tribute to the child survivors of conflict and war.

I started my own family recently, and have been very aware of how lucky we are in our own situation. I have been comparing this to the fact that my mum was born in Warsaw in 1942. How opposite can two beginnings be? It dazzles me and inspired me. Also, in our new garden is a derelict WWII bomb shelter. I used to think it was a nuisance, until I appreciated what it represented for the first residents to move in.

As I turn on the TV, what I see reported is the never ending cycle of war, terror and conflict of one type or another. I'm not convinced you could make a 24hr News Channel about only the 'very very best' things that are happening globally, right now. So, Extended Play contemplates and celebrates hope, survival, and new beginnings.

In the installation, a cello, a violin, and a piano are recorded individually playing their part of a 10-minute composition inspired by the WWII system of musical codes called 'Jodoform'. These were musical messages broadcast between London and Warsaw by the BBC World Service after the midday news. Extended Play lifts and propagates a three note phrase from a jolly Polish Tango that was broadcast on the day my mother was born. The score was developed in close collaboration with the talented young composer Michael Jennings.

The string parts are played by two brothers, Simon Hewitt Jones and Thomas Hewitt Jones with Michael Jennings on piano. Each instrument solo is then cut onto a 12' vinyl record and played back repeatedly on three retro record players at various different speeds. This mechanical technique alters both the pitch and the speed of the instrument parts. Each of the nine record players (three for each instrument) is sensitive to the presence of people - get too close and it stops playing until you stand still or move away. The result is a continuously shifting mass of evolving sound that is never the same twice.

'a piece to return to again and again... haunting and lulling' The Wire

British Composer Awards: http://www.britishacademy.com/awards/britishcomposerawards/

Janek Schaeffer, Extended Play:http://www.audioh.com/projects/extendedplay.html

HCMF Shorts duo perform in the Netherlands

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 17:10:03 +0000

Clarinet and piano duo Wake Up performed at a prestigious event in the Netherlands as a result of their HCMF Shorts performance during HCMF 2008.

Heather Roche (clarinet) & Kate Ledger (piano) were invited to perform at a concert celebrating the award of the Johan Wagenaar prize to Louis Andriessen at the Theater De Regentes, The Hague on 24 January. Heather and Kate performed Andriessen's Double for clarinet and piano.

Full programme for hcmf// 2010 on sale! Book now online

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 14:45:48 +0000

The full programme for Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival has been announced and tickets are now available to buy for all events. This year's hcmf// takes place from Friday 19 November to Sunday 29 November, in locations ranging from the University of Huddersfield's spectacular concert venue, St Paul's Hall, to the less conventional surrounds of a moving passenger train.

Click here to view the full 2010 programme, which can also be picked up from Lawrence Batley Theatre, the Tourist Information Centre within Huddersfield Library and Art Gallery and at a number of other venues around the area.

Highlights of the 33rd festival include the UK premiere of Enno Poppe's ambitious Interzone and a unique performance of hcmf// Composer in Residence Rebecca Saunders' site-specific work Chroma in Huddersfield Town Hall.

The career of the one of 20th-century music's most groundbreaking and controversial figures is approached from a new angle with events programmed in response to a major touring exhibition of artworks by John Cage. The happenings include a train journey to nowhere, a dawn chorus at Yorkshire Sculpture Park and performances of some of the composer's lesser heard works lasting from 20 minutes to a full 24 hours.

There's a strong Scandinavian flavour to many of this year's events, with music by Rolf Wallin, Hans Abrahamsen and Lotte Anker. hcmf// also pays tribute to the pioneering electronic sounds of Norwegian icon Arne Nordheim, who died in June. Many of Germany and the Netherlands' leading contemporary music performers are present, including the Nieuw Ensemble, pianist Ralf van Raat, Enno Poppe's Ensemble Resonanz and musikFabrik. The festival programme also spotlights the work of the Argentinean composer Mauricio Kagel, with a performance of his Kantrimusik.

As always, hcmf// is dedicated to the cutting edge of sonic exploration, with a concert celebrating the 20th birthday of influential electroacoustic label empreintes DIGITALes and another featuring new compositions by leading artists in the field.

Tickets for all the festival events can be booked through the hcmf// website or by ringing the box office on 01484 430528.

First HCMF + Nieuw Ensemble Workshops in Amsterdam

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:40:32 +0000

Four composers studying at Yorkshire Universities visited the Netherlands recently to take part in HCMF's new high-profile Composers' Professional Development Programme.

Jenny Jackson (University of Sheffield), Ben Isaacs (University of Huddersfield), Dimitris Maronidis (University of York) and Lauren Redhead (University of Leeds) flew to Amsterdam at the end of February for a series of workshops with the Nieuw Ensemble at their studio.

During the workshops they tried out new ideas and sketches with the ensemble and received advice and guidance from the tutors. Whilst in Amsterdam they also observed workshops with other composers from the Nieuw Ensemble's existing Netherlands programme and attended performances at the Bimhuis and Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ.

Ben Isaacs commented: ‘The players were really helpful and I was very encouraged by their response to what I'd written. The atmosphere during the workshops was friendly and supportive and every effort was made to realise my intentions. Having never written for such a large ensemble before, I learned a lot in a relatively short space of time. After the workshops, I now have the confidence to continue the work I have started, and have a clearer conception of my ultimate aims for my final piece.'

The aim is of the programme is to provide sustained and valuable professional development opportunities for emerging composers, learning from and working alongside a leading international contemporary music ensemble in one of Europe's most vibrant cultural centres.

You can read Ben Isaac's blog here: http://www.hcmf.co.uk/category/show/4

and you can read Jenny Jackson's blog here: http://www.hcmf.co.uk/category/show/3

Composer Information

Ben Isaacs has recently written music for Bridget Carey, Philip Thomas, Barrie Webb and Wake Up, who premiered Peel at the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music 2008. He is currently studying for a Masters degree in Composition at the University of Huddersfield with Aaron Cassidy, and enjoys playing in the university's edges ensemble and Split, his free-improvising, notation-reading, experimenting trumpet trio.

Jenny Jackson (b. 1971) is currently studying part-time for a PhD in composition with George Nicholson at the University of Sheffield. Her music reflects an enthusiasm for the visual and performing arts and literature which often serve as stimuli for new pieces. Recent work includes short pieces for chamber ensembles, including Fluxus Boxes (2007) for clarinet trio & flexible wind orchestra, and to break a young horse... (2007) for string quartet & string orchestra, and she has also written three pieces of music theatre including an adaptation of Alexander Pope's mock-heroic poem The Rape of the Lock (2006). She was selected to participate on the Jerwood Opera Writing Programme based in Aldeburgh in 2007, and received tuition from Harrison Birtwistle.

Dimitris Maronidis was born in Thessaloniki in 1980. He studied Counterpoint, Harmony, Orchestration and Composition at the State Conservatory of Thessaloniki with Prof. Kostas Siembis and Kostas Tsougras. From years 1998 to 2006 he had studied at the Music Department of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and he graduated after the successful completion of his thesis regarding the use of Markov Chains in interactive music environments composed/constructed with Max/msp.

He is currently studying for the Ph.D degree in music composition at the Music Department of York University under the supervision of Dr. Thoma Simaku with funds from the State Scholarships Foundation of Greece (IKY).

Lauren Redhead is originally from Manchester but now lives in West Yorkshire. She is the president of the Forum of Composers and Musicians (FOCAM); is undertaking postgraduate study at the University of Leeds with Mic Spencer; and is interested in non-linearity and the music of the 21st-century.

Funded by NFPK+ and Musicians Benevolent Fund

Sound Playground Music Leaders Needed

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 13:16:49 +0000

Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival is inviting applications from music leaders to deliver workshops for school and family groups in Dewsbury, Yorkshire for eleven days from 1–11 July 2010 using Sound Playground installations.

Successful candidates will collaborate with experienced Dutch music leaders who regularly work with the Sound Playground (Klankspeeltuin) sound installations at their base in the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ in Amsterdam.

There are two posts: Lead Artist - £1,600 fee (inclusive of travel); and Assistant Artist - £1,000 fee (inclusive of travel).

These posts are an excellent professional development opportunity for two music leaders at different stages in their careers to gain new delivery skills alongside international colleagues as part of hcmf’s Learning & Participation programme.

The ideal candidates will have experience of working with children and young people on participatory music activities, a high level of musicianship and excellent communication skills. Experience of working with music technology is desirable but not essential. Both posts are subject to obtaining a CRB Enhanced Disclosure certificate.

Sound Playground consists of three specially designed installations which enable children of all abilities to play with sound and create their own music. Using specially-designed music technology installations participants can touch, draw or move to create their own music. Each installation is designed to be durable, engaging and inspiring and aims to break down barriers to participating in music making. There are three sound installations coming to Dewsbury called OMNI, KosmiX, and SonOrb. Futher information about the installations is available from hcmf.

To apply please send your CV to Heidi Johnson, Learning and Participation Officer at h.johnson@hud.ac.uk with a covering letter outlining the reasons you believe you would be suitable for the project. Please indicate whether you are applying for the Lead Artist or Assistant Artist post. Images of the installations are available from hcmf.

Deadline for applications: 5pm, Thursday 15 April 2010.
Interviews will be held on Thursday 22 April.

hcmf// shortlisted for RPS Music Awards

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 08:53:02 +0000

Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival has been nominated in two categories for the 2010 Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards. The RPS Music Awards, which are presented in association with BBC Radio 3, recognise outstanding achievement in live classical music.

Last November’s hcmf// has been shortlisted in the Concert Series and Festivals category, whilst the spectacular performance of Kristoffer Zegers’ Piano Phasing by 50 local pianists has been chosen for the Education category.

In addition, the Canadian composer Pierre-Alexandre Tremblay, who is currently a lecturer at hcmf//’s headline sponsor, the University of Huddersfield, has been honoured in the Chamber Scale Composition category. His nominated work, un clou, son marteau, et le béton, was performed by pianist Sarah Nicolls at hcmf// 2009.

One of the world’s two oldest music societies, The Royal Philharmonic Society was founded in 1813 and was responsible for commissioning Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Today it is a members’ society and registered UK charity whose activities include supporting composers and young musicians, audience development work and hosting lectures.

The RPS Music Awards prize ceremony takes place on Tuesday 11 May at the Dorchester Hotel in London, hosted by BBC Radio 3’s Sean Rafferty and Sara Mohr-Pietsch. Awards will be presented by Sir John Tomlinson and the keynote speaker will be the artist Grayson Perry. The event will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on Wednesday 12 May at 7pm.

This year’s hcmf// takes place from Friday 19 November to Sunday 28 November 2010.

Royal Philharmonic Society website

Winner of CeReNeM / HCMF Scholarship announced

Fri, 01 May 2009 15:56:07 +0000

Lefteris Papadimitriou is the winner of the inaugural 2009 CeReNeM/HCMF Scholarship. The scholarship covers three years tuition fees for doctoral study at Huddersfield with stipend and enables him to work closely with HCMF's Artistic Director, Graham McKenzie.

Lefteris Papadimitriou was born in Greece and is a graduate at the music department of the University of Athens where he studied composition with Iannis Ioanidis. He was the winner of the 2006 Gaudeamus prize for his composition for piano and orchestra "Black and white". He was awarded a commission from the Asko/Schoenberg Ensemble, Amsterdam 2008 and participated in the 2007 "Acanthes" composition workshops under Michael Jarell, Marco Stroppa and Yan Maresz.

He has written many works for instruments and various electronic media, which have been performed in Greece and abroad. Together with Marios Tsagaris he performs live electronic works and improvisations with laptops. http://www.lefterispapadimitriou.com/

The Centre for Research in New Music (CeReNeM) at the University of Huddersfield aims to conduct and disseminate research of the highest international standing into composition, contemporary performance, and new technologies. CeReNeM promotes discourse between departmental staff and visiting artists by supporting the creation and presentation of work through residencies, publications, workshops, seminars and concerts.

CeReNem website: http://www.hud.ac.uk/mh/music/cerenem/

HCMF + Nieuw Ensemble Composers' Programme hits right notes

Tue, 19 May 2009 09:57:04 +0000

The four composers taking part in the first HCMF + Nieuw Ensemble Composers' Programme have returned from a second trip to the group's studio in Amsterdam. After an intensive weekend working through their ideas with Nieuw Ensemble, they each now face the task of completing a piece to be premiered by the musicians at HCMF 2009.

"When you hear your ideas played by an ensemble with so much experience and of such good quality, it makes them clear in a way that you're not able to imagine them previously," says Lauren Redhead, one of the four composers selected after a launch workshop at HCMF 2008. "Really experienced players can give you absolutely everything that you've written on the page, and a bit more."

Run in partnership with Nieuw Ensemble and Yorkshire Universities and supported by NFPK and the Musicians' Benevolent Fund, the three-year programme offers professional development opportunities for emerging composers at higher education institutions in the region. Alongside Redhead, who is pursuing a practice-led PhD at University of Leeds, the chosen composers are Jenny Jackson (University of Sheffield), Ben Isaacs (University of Huddersfield) and Dimitris Maronidis (University of York).

The first trip to Amsterdam in February saw the composers get to grips with Nieuw Ensemble's unusual instrumentation. With guitar, mandolin and harp alongside the more traditional strings, woodwind and percussion, the 12-piece ensemble has long been dedicated to building its own repertoire in partnership with composers.

"The whole ensemble sound was the challenge, and also a really exciting part of the project," recalls Redhead. "The first weekend, I spoke to the ensemble about how they musically interact with each other and the different ways that they would respond to notation. The music I then wrote for the second weekend tried to incorporate those ideas."

April's workshop offered the composers opportunities to gain feedback from the players, from artistic director Joël Bons and from Richard Ayres, who teaches at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague.

"It's really quite an informal environment where you feel able to express your ideas any way you like," Redhead says. "The focus isn't so much on one piece as your whole musical language." The four also observed their counterparts from Nieuw Ensemble's Netherlands programme and attended performances at the Bimhuis and Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ.

Redhead and her three fellow musical travellers will stay in contact with Nieuw Ensemble over the summer as they compose the pieces for November's premieres, helping to maintain the inspirational momentum of the workshops.

"Although I'm happy with some of the things I've written," she concludes, "I now have a lot of ideas for how I could take it further."

Reseau Varese receives five-year funding

Tue, 19 May 2009 10:19:40 +0000

The pan-European network Réseau Varèse has been selected as one of nine multi-annual cooperation projects to be subsidised between 2009 and 2014 as part of the European Commission's Culture Programme supporting musical creation and dissemination.

Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival has been a Réseau Varèse member since 2000. Bringing together 21 members from 16 European countries, the network encourages exchanges and the circulation of contemporary music projects between countries and venues. The other UK member is the Southbank Centre, London.

In 2008, HCMF joined other Réseau Varèse members in hosting a range of events celebrating and paying tribute to the late composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. In addition, an HCMF 2008 world premiere will this year travel to other Réseau Varèse locations. Members interested in presenting John Butcher's Composition for eight musicians, in which eight seasoned improvisers are encouraged to leave their collaborative comfort zones, include the Gaida Festival, Vilnius; the Arena Festival, Riga; Wien Modern in Vienna and Berlin's Maerzmusik.

Since 2000, Réseau Varèse has benefited from funding from three successive European Commission Culture Programmes. Forty-two projects have been supported between 2000 and 2009. Sixteen of these have been musical shows, including opera, musical theatre and choreographic works; the other 26 were concert programmes including recitals, chamber music, symphonic and choral productions. These 42 projects led to 169 events, with over 360 public showings in Europe. 53 composers of 20 different nationalities benefited from support from Réseau Varèse during this period, and 42 new works were premiered within this framework.

The budget for Réseau Varèse's actions from 2009-2014 has been set at €5,474,850, of which €2.5 million will be funded by the European Commission's Culture Programme.

Past Réseau Varèse projects at HCMF:

2008
Homage to Stockhausen:
Nicolas Hodges: 3. Stunde aus Klang: Naturliche Dauern
Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart: STIMMUNG
New London Chamber Choir: Chore fur Doris / Litanei 97

2006
Pan Sonic / Atli Ingolfsson / Yan Maresz / Giovanni Verrando / Riccardo Nova: Microwaves

2005
Helmut Lachenmann: Portrait
Olga Neuwirth / Roberto Paci Dalo: Italia Anno Zero

2004
Fausto Romitelli: An Index of Metals
Hanspeter Kyburz / Quatuor Diotima: Streichquartett
The Contemporary Hardanger Fiddle

2003
Sir Harrison Birtwistle / London Sinfonietta: Theseus Game
Georges Aperghis / Willy Dorner: Ob:scena
Mauricio Kagel / Christian Kesten: Mare Nostrum
Jonathan Harvey / Quatuor Arditti: String Quartet #4 with computer music

2002
Martin Matalon: Le Scorpion
Ensemble Recherche / Neue Berliner Kammerorchester: Unknown Feldman
Evan Parker: Memory-Vision / Staring onto the Time of the Future

2001
Salvatore Sciarrino / Ingrid von Wantoch Rekowski: Lohengrin
Heiner Goebbels: Hashirigaki
Kaija Saariaho: From The Grammar Of Dreams

2000
Ensemble Modern: Tribute to Wolfgang Rihm

HCMF Shorts 2009

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 10:33:45 +0000

Six artists have been selected for this year's HCMF Shorts, the festival's one-day showcase of emerging talent. The international line-up of composers and performers was chosen from a record number of applicants and includes instrumental soloists, electroacoustic musicians and two student ensembles. On 23 November each will perform either work of their own creation or a fresh interpretation of existing contemporary pieces. The concerts take place in Lawrence Batley Theatre and the atrium and Phipps Hall of the Creative Arts Building, University of Huddersfield, and admission is free.

Here are the six successful artists and their planned HCMF Shorts programmes:

Richard Uttley, piano

Joe Cutler, Clavinova Music
Thomas Adès, Traced Overhead, op.15
Chris Willis, Burning Up

Originally from Huddersfield, Richard Uttley graduated in music from Clare College, Cambridge in 2008 and now studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He won the 2006 British Contemporary Piano Competition and has released two CDs . His HCMF Shorts performance features three recent British pieces centering on various manifestations of ecstasy.

"Over the last few years I have dreamt of getting a chance to play at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. I grew up in Huddersfield, where I studied with Ian Buckle, and went to HCMF concerts during my time at Greenhead College."

G Douglas Barrett, A Few Silence

G Douglas Barrett is an American PhD candidate and teaching assistant at the University of New York, Buffalo. His music has been performed in settings ranging from festivals and concert halls to galleries and streets, by artists including The Barton Workshop , FLUX Quartet , Christine Tavolacci and Mark So .

"A Few Silence is a piece in which the very site of performance becomes the subject of documentation. In it performers create ‘live' written transcriptions of the sounds of their surroundings and then perform their respective scores using various instruments and objects."

Jonathan Sage, clarinet

Richard Glover, Bi-linear
Steve Reich, New York Counterpoint

With an MA in performance from the University of York, Jonathan Sage has toured Ireland with a solo programme of contemporary clarinet music and appeared at festivals throughout the UK and Europe, as well as acting as concert soloist for orchestras including the London Mozart Players .

"Minimal and minimalist are two similar words but with very different musical meanings. Steve Reich is a giant of 20th century minimalist composition, taking minimal musical ideas and manipulating them in a repetitive way. New York Counterpoint is written for 11 clarinet parts, with the performer pre-recording and multi-tracking 10 accompanying parts and then playing over the top. Richard Glover's Bi-linear, although not minimalist, is a piece with minimal pitch and rhythm content."

Ignacio Agrimbau, Anatomy of the Self II and III

Born in Buenos Aires in 1977, Ignacio Agrimbau studied composition with Manuel Juarez and Michael Finnissy . In 2005 he founded the experimental ensemble Hola, and is currently working on a commission for the choir EXAUDI.

"Anatomy of the Self is the name given to a performance/recording project based around the electronic elaboration and manipulation of originally acoustic material, which is usually half-improvised. The pieces presented here are based on Oud and Ma-Wu performances with added drums."

Workers Union Ensemble

David Ibbett, New Work

Contemporary music group The Workers Union Ensemble comprises current and ex-students of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. David Ibbett is currently completing his Masters in composition at Guildhall.

"Our collaboration focuses on the enlargement, refinement, reorganisation and intensification of the ensemble's sound via electronics. Through juxtapositions and dialogues between the instruments and their recorded selves, an extended timbral palette is created with increased scope and technique and texture, creating a world which is rich yet unified."

CR:ACC Ensemble

Christian Wolff, Burdocks

Formed by four music students at the University of Glasgow, the CR:ACC Ensemble perform contemporary compositions, free improvisations and works with indeterminate scores, often incorporating electroacoustic and multimedia elements.

"Christian Wolff 's seminal work Burdocks was first performed in August 1971, and consists of ten sections. Whilst it is the most performed of his indeterminate scores, Wolff's output is rarely heard today."

HCMF on Spotify

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 10:37:26 +0000

To celebrate the release of online tickets for HCMF 2009, we've compiled a selection of tracks from some of this year's guest composers and artists. Click here to open a Spotify playlist featuring recordings of work by Jonathan Harvey, Anthony Braxton, Emmanuel Nunes and more.

Spotify is a free, legal streaming service offering access to music by a range of past and present HCMF artists. If you haven't used it before, you will need to create a username to listen to the playlist.

As ever, this year's festival (20 to 29 November) has a programme packed with new commissions and UK or world premieres. So if the playlist whets your appetite, be sure to take advantage of the early booking discounts available through this site. And watch out for more HCMF playlists in coming weeks.

Jonathan Harvey R3 Composer of the Week

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:13:22 +0000

Radio 3 have just featured HCMF Composer in Residence Jonathan Harvey as their Composer of the Week.

Harvey joined presenter Donald Macleod to discuss some of his key works. Listen to the podcast here .

Sound advances

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:41:09 +0000

The shared commitment of HCMF and the University of Huddersfield to supporting cutting-edge music is about to make a real difference to one upcoming composer's work.

HCMF and the university's long-running association was strengthened last year by the signing of a three-year sponsorship deal. Now Greek composer Lefteris Papadimitriou is the first musician to benefit from a new joint PhD scholarship run by HCMF and the University of Huddersfield, starting this autumn. Papadimitriou will carry out studies within CeReNeM , the Centre for Research in New Music, and work closely with Graham McKenzie, Artistic Director of HCMF.

"I am very much looking forward to the opportunity to work with Lefteris on the development of his artistic practice, and in assisting him in finding the most appropriate context for his work," says McKenzie.

"I first became aware of his music in 2006 in Amsterdam when he won the Gaudeamus International Composers Award with his work for piano and orchestra, Black and White. It surprised a lot of people when it won, I think ... but in a good way. He is also an interesting performer - playing laptop - and I think we can help develop that side of his work while he is at Huddersfield."

Born in Volos, Greece, Lefteris Papadimitriou is a graduate of the music department at the University of Athens. Writing for both live instruments and electronics, his talent has previously been recognized by Amsterdam's Asko|Schönberg Ensemble, who awarded him a commission in 2008.

"I consider that my music can be perceived in the larger tradition of European art music, though it's not strongly tied to any particular movement," says Papadimitriou. "I think I have been influenced by American minimal music of the 70s, the European avant-garde like Stockhausen and Xenakis and also a lot of experimental electronic music of the 90s. Of course, like many composers of my generation, I have also been influenced by the computer as a new kind of instrument and as a music making tool."

He describes his work as "constructed by functional cycles of transformation of various musical parameters. These transformations are usually achieved by a predefined ‘engravement' of the musical space where the various parameters can move through a piece."

Papadimitriou will find himself among many like minds at CeReNeM. The centre's areas of specialist research span improvisation, composition, sound spatialisation, advances in sonic technology and the cultural position of new music. In addition, CeReNem's annual GEMdays festival showcases advances in electroacoustic music.

Professor Liza Lim, Director of CeReNem, explains what the PhD research will involve: "Lefteris' music works with the physical impact of sounds and the 'dramas': the sensory, emotional, historical, contextual elements that he perceives to be encoded by sounds. His doctoral research will examine the microstructure of sounds as a way of making a language of gesture explored through both instrumental and electronic means."

She adds, "The university has excellent studio facilities and a strong performance workshop programme to support this area of research which also connects with a number of CeReNeM staff projects. The scholarship also offers a fantastic opportunity for Lefteris' work to find a public platform through HCMF and for his development as an artist to be mentored by the festival director, Graham McKenzie."

Wanted: 50 Pianists!

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:37:02 +0000

HCMF is looking for 50 pianists to take part in a performance of Dutch composer Kristoffer Zegers’ Piano Phasing at this year’s festival. Any player over 12 years old and of ABRSM Grade 5 or equivalent standard can volunteer for the event, which takes place on Monday 23 November at 6.30pm in Huddersfield Town Hall.

With 50 pianists playing 25 instruments simultaneously, Piano Phasing creates a powerful and imposing sound. According to Zegers, the music was inspired by his childhood.

“When I was a little kid I would walk to the local church,” he explains. “I heard the bells ringing along with those from other churches and they were always out of phase. Even when I was young I was fascinated by this music.”

Each player performs the same melody, but at a tempo of their choice, producing a canon effect

“If you have enough people, the differences will make the phasing appear without doing it on purpose.” The piece consists of a fast section, which Zegers describes as sounding “like fireworks”, and a slower one.

“The effect is like a cloud of sound. Sometimes music can be complex to make, but it sounds easy. It’s like looking at the sea’s surface, with all the little waves: they seem very beautiful, but in fact the theory of the wave motion is very difficult.”

It might be tempting to think that Piano Phasing is a response to Steve Reich’s 1967 work Piano Phase, but Zegers insists that the similar titles are a coincidence. “The funny thing, and people don’t believe it, is that I wrote Piano Phasing and then afterwards I heard Piano Phase. I wasn’t very happy that it existed, but then I heard it and I was a little less unhappy, because I think I made a completely different piece.” Whereas Reich’s composition relies upon two parts being played with absolute precision to move in and out of phase, Zegers’ piece uses the differences that arise naturally between a large group of non-professional musicians for its effect.

With the pianos all supplied by Leeds specialists Besbrode Pianos, taking part in Piano Phasing promises to be a unique and exciting experience for the collected pianists. “I think it’s an excellent way of making music, to experience the other players,” says Zegers. “When the piece has taken place in Holland, the people in the room all talk about what it was like.”

Participants will need to attend the following rehearsals and performance:

• Sunday 15 November, 1pm – 4pm, Besbrode Pianos Showroom, Unit A, Holbeck New Mills, Braithwaite Street, Leeds, LS11 9XE

• & Sunday 22 November, 1pm – 4pm at Besbrode Pianos Showroom

• Monday 23 November; 4.00pm – 6.00pm rehearsal at Huddersfield Town Hall; 6.30pm performance at Huddersfield Town Hall

Refreshments and a CD of the final performance will be provided.

To register your interest in performing at this event, please contact Heidi Johnson on 01484 471116; or email h.johnson@hud.ac.uk by Friday 6 November.

Produced by hcmf// supported by Besbrode Pianos

Besbrode Pianos

Kristoffer Zegers’ website (features sound clip of Piano Phasing)

Wired in to hcmf

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:35:03 +0000

For the 2nd year running The Wire is working with hcmf as a media partner, building on last year’s successful relationship and many previous years of close co-operation.

The partnership will see hcmf events presented as being supported by The Wire in the magazine and online, with reciprocal support and promotion in the lead up to and during this year’s Festival.

Welcoming the partnership, hcmf Artistic Director Graham McKenzie commented: “The Wire readership has long been a receptive audience for hcmf’s adventurous programming and we’re excited at the prospect of being able to develop an even stronger relationship with them through this partnership.”

Editor in Chief and Publisher of The Wire, Tony Herrington, adds: “ hcmf is the most radical music festival in the UK. The Wire is honoured to be associated with it.”

2009 Programme Brochure Out Now!

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:58:35 +0000

text here

Curriculum guidance document available

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:24:30 +0000

The hcmf 2009 curriculum guidance document is now available, containing information about relevant and accessible performances at the UK's largest international festival of new and experimental music.

Once again hcmf brings you some of the most exciting international performers and composers in contemporary music today. This year’s composer in residence is Jonathan Harvey - one of the most successful and enduring composers to come out of the UK.

Other highlights include performances in honour of Louis Andriessen’s 70th Birthday, a major new vocal work by Alvin Curran for young people and Huddersfield Choral Society and a re-working of the thrilling Brothers Grimm tale Rumpelstiltskin by Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.

Many of this year's performances feature music relevant to GCSE, AS / A2 Level and BTEC syllabi, and the curriculum guidance document highlights links to specific areas of study. School and college groups can benefit from our discounted ticket offers: Groups of 5 or more receive 10% discount and groups of 10 or more receive 20% discount.

This year we are also offering several free events, as well as a packed programme of talks and films with composers featured at this year’s festival. If you’d like a free copy of the hcmf curriculum guidance document or would like to discuss bringing a group to the Festival, please contact Heidi Johnson or call 01484 471116. Tickets can be ordered from the Box Office by calling 01484 430528.

Key funding for pianists old and new

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:45:25 +0000

Funding has been secured by hcmf to launch a new adult learning project based around playing piano. With money from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Transformation Fund, a multi-strand programme of workshops, music-making and online resources has been created to tie in with the hcmf 2009 performance of Kristoffer Zegers’ Piano Phasing. Partners for the project are Kirklees Council Adult Learning and Skills Team, Hoot and the University of Huddersfield.

The project is aimed at both adults who have learnt a musical instrument in the past but have stopped playing, and those who would like to learn but have not had the opportunity, particularly those in areas of social and economic deprivation. The first two strands launch this month and are weekly beginners’ piano workshops and monthly keyboard surgeries for lapsed players.

The beginners’ workshops will focus on both piano technique and the creation of original music, culminating in a public performance in March 2010. At the evening keyboard surgeries, University of Huddersfield staff will provide tailored teaching to each player. It is hoped that the sessions will be a starting point for participants to form their own informal groups of piano learners.

In addition, learners from both groups will be invited to become some of the 50 pianists who will perform Piano Phasing on 25 massed pianos at hcmf 2009.

The project’s online element will feature a series of learning resources that will not only support people taking part in the workshops and surgeries, but also remote learners wishing to play in the Piano Phasing performance. The web material will include multimedia demonstrations by both tutors and learners; podcast interviews with composers and pianists; exercises and games; downloadable parts for Piano Phasing and information and links about new music for piano. These resources will available online from the hcmf website at the start of November.

The final part of the project will be the Keyboard Choreography Collection, a week-long music and dance project for both adults and children, led by Hugh Nankivell and scheduled for February 2010.

For more information about the project or if you would like to take part in the performance of Piano Phasing, please contact Heidi Johnson on 01484 471116 or click here to email.

hcmf 2009 launches with sell-out weekend - tickets still available for selected events

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:01:15 +0000

Audiences enjoyed breathtaking performances from Arditti Quartet, ELISION, New London Chamber Choir and many other artists at sold-out concerts over the first weekend of hcmf 2009. The festival opened on Friday 20 November with the UK premiere of Wolfgang Rihm’s new piece –ET LUX– in St Paul’s Hall. Arditti Quartet and The Hilliard Ensemble joined forces to perform the requiem, a work of intimate beauty in which the soaring vocals of countertenor David James were a highlight.

Another hcmf first followed, with the debut British airing of Richard Barrett’s Opening of the Mouth. With the composer on hand as sound artist for the piece, ELISION ensemble presented the complex and emotionally intense song cycle, which included outstanding solos from woodwind player Richard Haynes and singers Deborah Kayser and Ute Wassermann.

Earlier in the day, Visual Kitchen’s audiovisual installation Mortuos Plango, based upon a tape piece by hcmf Composer in Residence Jonathan Harvey, was unveiled in St Thomas’s Church. The installation runs daily throughout the festival: click here for more details.

Saturday saw the first of many lunchtime concerts at hcmf. In another sold-out performance, pianist Sarah Nicolls showcased her innovative musicianship and use of technology with three pieces that expanded the instrument’s possibilities through film, electronics, motion sensors and dramatic synchronised lighting. Arditti Quartet returned in the evening with a programme including Jonathan Harvey’s String Quartet No. 4 and premieres of works by James Dillon and James Clarke.

Harvey’s work was celebrated again on Sunday 22 November, with a rare performance of The Summer Cloud’s Awakening, a piece written specially for New London Chamber Choir. Under the direction of James Weeks, the choir rose to the challenge of creating a multilayered soundscape, with voices chopped into fragments and flying dramatically between an array of speakers surrounding the audience.

Over in Bates Mill, David Sawer and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group’s Rumpelstiltskin reimagined the fairytale as a dark and grown-up music theatre piece, with haunting motifs and visuals reminiscent of expressionist silent film. And following on from Geneviève Foccroulle’s solo piano recitals of compositions by Anthony Braxton on 20 and 21 November, the weekend concluded with For Braxton, a large-scale homage to the pioneering and controversial giant of American music, featuring the combined powers of Apartment House, Frank Gratkowski, ELISION and John Butcher.

Tickets are still available for hcmf events over the coming week: click here to view the festival programme and buy tickets.

Catch hcmf on Radio 3

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:16:14 +0000

As the official Broadcast Partner to hcmf, BBC Radio 3 will be including extensive highlights of this year’s festival on its contemporary music programme, ‘Hear and Now’. A live broadcast on Saturday 28 November features London Sinfonietta’s world premiere performance of Richard Barrett’s new work, Mesopotamia, as well as Jonathan Harvey’s masterpiece Bhakti.

The programme will also be available for online listening via the BBC Radio 3 website for a week afterwards.

Other events from hcmf 2009 are being recorded for future editions of ‘Hear and Now’, which runs from 10.30pm to midnight every Saturday and is presented by Sara Mohr-Pietsch and Robert Worby.

These can be heard in January 2010:

Saturday 2 January
Quatuor Diotima:
Thomas Simaku, Radius - String Quartet No 2

Noriko Kawai:
James Dillon, Charm (world premiere)
James Dillon, Dragon-fly (world premiere)

Musica Elettronica Viva (excerpts)

Geneviève Foccroulle:
Anthony Braxton, Composition no 10

Arditti Quartet:
James Clarke, Quartet (world premiere)

Saturday 9 January
Ictus Ensemble:
Brice Pauset, Theorie der Tränen: Atem (UK premiere)
James Dillon, The Leuven Triptych (BBC co-commission; UK premiere)

Quatuor Diotima:
Matthew Shlomowitz, Theme Street Parade (BBC commission; world premiere)

Saturday 16 January
Remix Ensemble/Rolf Gupta:
Antonio Augusto Aguiar, Pandora (UK premiere)
Luis Tinoco, O curso da águas
Rebecca Saunders, fury
Emmanuel Nunes, Versus II (UK premiere)
Emmanuel Nunes, Rubato, registres et résonances (UK premiere)

Saturday 23 January
Geneviève Foccroulle:
Anthony Braxton, Composition No1 (UK premiere)

ELISION:
Richard Barrett, Opening of the Mouth (UK premiere)

Tickets are still available for hcmf events over the final weekend: click here to view the festival programme and buy tickets.

BBC Radio 3 website

Three decades of music innovation captured as hcmf archive launches

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:18:40 +0000

Records showing both the headline artistic triumphs and the day-to-day dedication that have made hcmf a success over the past 32 years have been saved for future study, thanks to a new archive at the University of Huddersfield.

An official hcmf collection is now housed in the newly refurbished University Archives, whose other collections include records of the Huddersfield Literary and Scientific Society and the Rugby Football League archive.

The archive was officially launched on Friday 20 November, the first day of hcmf 2009. As well as Professor Tim Thornton, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Teaching and Learning and Professor Andrew Ball, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and Enterprise, speakers at the opening included hcmf Artistic Director Graham McKenzie and Professor Richard Steinitz, founder of the first festival in 1978 and its director for more than two decades.

Professor Steinitz recalled arriving at the then Huddersfield Polytechnic in 1961 to discover that there was no music library. He took steps to establish one, and paid tribute to the present-day University collection as one of the finest in the UK. He also recalled the difficulties encountered by the organisers of the inaugural hcmf in 1978 when severe winter fog disrupted many musicians’ travel.

The links between hcmf and the University of Huddersfield were strengthened in 2008 with the announcement of the university as the festival’s headline sponsor. When the on-campus hcmf office moved locations, the resulting transfer of paperwork and other materials was the cue for establishing a formal archive.

Although the collection contains programmes, brochures and posters from every past festival, the main quantity is behind-the-scenes material. From commissioned scores to correspondence with artists and composers, these provide a revealing insight into the organisation of each hcmf event.

One highlight of the archive is a series of handwritten letters from Karlheinz Stockhausen, penned in the late composer’s idiosyncratic style: “I send you the Greeting. Cowbell: ok. Rooms at ‘George’ ok. I will bring ear plugs.” The collection also comprises recorded interviews with eight major composers, including Iannis Xenakis, George Benjamin and Pierre Boulez.

Under the care of the University Archivist Hilary Haigh, the hcmf archive is currently being catalogued by specialist staff, with some items, such as rapidly fading faxes, in need of conservation work. However, the collection is already available as a resource for academics and students, with a new home sufficiently spacious to house the records of many future festivals.

University of Huddersfield Archives page

hcmf commission Extended Play features in new retrospective

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:27:00 +0000

Sound artist and musician Janek Schaefer, whose hcmf commission Extended Play won him the 2008 British Composer of the Year Award for Sonic Art and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for composition, is the subject of a major new exhibition at Liverpool’s Bluecoat gallery.

Janek Schaefer : Sound Art is the first retrospective of Schaefer’s career, ranging from work he produced as a student to a new installation completed just days before the show opened.

National Portrait [the last transmission] is an audio snapshot of British television on 2 December 2009, the last 24 hours of analogue broadcasts in the Liverpool region. Five flickering old television sets play an ever-changing collage from the terrestrial channels’ programmes, the randomly chosen sound clips overlapping before each fades poignantly to silence.

Other highlights of the exhibition include a new installation in memory of the author JG Ballard; the innovative three-armed turntable Schaefer built for live performances; his early Dictaphone piece Recorded Delivery and Vacant Space, an audiovisual collaboration with Chris Watson and David Tinapple.

A whole room is dedicated to hosting Extended Play, which was commissioned for hcmf 2007 and originally exhibited in Huddersfield Art Gallery. The work features nine identical record players set to different speeds, weaving together the parts of a piece for violin, cello and piano that was adapted from a Polish tune used to transmit secret resistance codes during World War II. You can read more about the work in hcmf’s interview with Janek Schaefer here.

Janek Schaefer : Sound Art runs until Sunday 17 January 2010 at the Bluecoat, School Lane, Liverpool.

Janek Schaefer’s website

[60] Project up for Qwartz award

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:37:04 +0000

Matthew Adkins’ [60]Project, which was commissioned by hcmf in 2008, has been nominated for a Qwartz Electronic Music Award. Held annually in Paris, the Qwartz awards recognise the achievements of digital musicians from across the globe, in categories such as best album, best label and best artwork. The CD release of the [60]Project has been shortlisted in the experimentation/research category, competing against work by artists such as Per Samuelsson and José Miguel Candela.

Adkins has also been nominated in the album category for his record Five Panels. The shortlists were chosen by a jury headed by Alejandro Jodorowsky, and the final results are decided by public vote through the awards’ website. The prizes will be announced during a ceremony on Friday 2 April 2010 at the Palais Brongniart in Paris.

The [60]Project was devised to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the transmission of Pierre Schaeffer’s groundbreaking musique concrete work Etudes de Bruits on French national radio. More than 60 leading sound artists contributed clips based around a single sound of up to a minute’s length, which Adkins then compiled and arranged into a 60-minute piece.

Since its premiere at hcmf 2008, the [60]Project has been performed internationally at locations including the Espaço Cultural Sérgio Porto in Rio, the Institute of Sonology at the Hague Conservatoire and the Danish Institute of Electroacoustic Music. Adkins has also lectured on the background to the project and co-authored a paper, [60]Project: Conception, Composing and Archiving. Click below to read the document.

Free concerts at GEMdays

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:03:24 +0000

The University of Huddersfield’s Centre for Research in New Music (CeReNeM) is once again hosting GEMdays, its annual festival of sonic exploration. Running from Wednesday 27 January until Sunday 31 January, the five-day programme of concerts, talks and workshops brings together some of the leading strands of research in acousmatic and improvised music, software interfaces and video music.

Concerts take place daily at 8pm in Phipps Hall in the university’s Creative Arts Building, and admission is free. The performances include violinist and live electronics specialist Bennett Hogg (28 January) and the premiere of Jamie Fawcus’s Resonances for theremin and four-channel sound (31 Jan).

The daytime events include pre-concert talks from several of the artists, a circuit-bending workshop with Phil Archer and a PowerUsers’ Symposium dedicated to the advanced possibilities of the Max/MSP software package.

One of the partners of hcmf, CeReNeM’s areas of research include acoustics, sound spatialisation, digital interfaces, musical perception and cross cultural aesthetics. Work by its staff members, which include composers Liza Lim, Matthew Adkins and Pierre Alexandre Tremblay, forms an important part of the hcmf programme.

The full programme can be viewed here on the GEMdays website.

Composers team up with Nieuw Ensemble

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 08:17:38 +0000

Four Yorkshire-based composers are to collaborate with a leading contemporary music group to create work which will premiere at hcmf 2010. Now in its second year, the hcmf & Nieuw Ensemble Composers' Professional Development Programme offers rising talents from the region’s universities the chance to compose music for Amsterdam’s Nieuw Ensemble.

The selected composers are Patrick Allison and Johnny Herbert from the University of Huddersfield and Edward Caine and Stephanie Conner from the University of York. They will travel to Amsterdam in February to meet the 12-piece ensemble. Under the artistic direction of Joël Bons, who co-founded the group in 1980, Nieuw Ensemble features the combination of string, wind and percussion with plucked instruments such as mandolin and harp, presenting both a challenge and a distinctive opportunity for composers.

Having tested out and refined their ideas at a second weekend workshop in May, the composers will prepare their pieces over the coming months before seeing them performed by Nieuw Ensemble at hcmf 2010, which runs from 19 to 28 November.

Run as a partnership between hcmf, Nieuw Ensemble and Yorkshire Universities and supported by NFPK and the Musicians’ Benevolent Fund, last year’s programme featured composers Ben Isaacs, Lauren Redhead, Dimitris Maronidis and Jenny Jackson.

“The tuition and guidance has been invaluable and The Nieuw Ensemble provided an environment where I felt encouraged and enabled to try new things”, Jackson recalls. “It was amazing to have a piece performed to a packed hall and at the festival at an evening concert – very rewarding and a high-point of my composing career so far!"

Isaacs adds: “I have gained a tremendous amount from the programme. This was the largest ensemble I have written for and the longest-term project I have been involved with, and simply working in this context has really helped my development. I think that I would have learnt far less and developed much more slowly as a composer in 2009 if I hadn’t been involved in this scheme. Having the opportunity to present my work on such a prominent public platform was really valuable and has given me a basis to build on professionally.”

More about the hcmf & Nieuw Ensemble Composers' Professional Development Programme participants:

Edward Caine was brought up in the north of Scotland and is currently pursuing a PhD in composition at the University of York. He also works freelance as an organiser for contemporary music promoter Late Music and music publishers UYMP, and is resident music tutor for Vanbrugh College, where he runs three ensembles.

Stephanie Conner specializes in contemporary vocal music and jazz composition. Her work has been performed in York Minster, at York Spring Festival and on BBC Radio 2. She has written works for the Chimera Ensemble, Juice, Trydydd, Bright Cecilia, John Potter and the 24. She is working towards a PhD in composition at the University of York. She also played for two years in the folk band Rachel Unthank and the Winterset, touring Europe, the USA and Australia and appearing widely on television and radio.

Johnny Herbert graudated with a first class degree from the Royal College of Music in London, also receiving the highest award for composition. He spent a year studying privately with Rebecca Saunders and attending seminars led by Walter Zimmerman at the Berlin UdK. He is currently studying for his MMus in composition at the University of Huddersfield under the guidance of Dr Aaron Cassidy. His music has been performed in the UK and across Europe, by artists including Ian Pace, Richard Haynes, Kevin Bowyer and Neil Heyde.

Patrick Allison was born in Sheffield in 1985. His works have been performed by Christopher Redgate, Matthew Haynes, Philip Thomas and EXAUDI, as well as numerous non-professional performers. He studies with Bryn Harrison and is currently finishing a two-year Masters course in composition at the University of Huddersfield. He is also active as a performer of experimental, rock and community based music.

hcmf// is recruiting

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:01:28 +0000

Learning & Participation Officer

Salary up to £21,850 per annum
Full-time (35 hours per week), based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire
2 year post until March 2014

Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (hcmf//) requires a full-time Learning & Participation Officer with a minimum of 3 years experience of working in arts education to produce our varied programme of creative learning projects.

You will develop links between the Festival, participant groups and partner organisations, build upon existing and create new projects with participants, and maximise opportunities for wider engagement with the local community. You will also liaise with a wide range of music leaders and participants, deliver workshop activity and outcome events, as well as carry out monitoring and evaluation.

You will be educated to degree level and have fantastic communication and organisational skills, experience of fundraising and working strategically, an interest in new and experimental music, and tons of creative energy. You will have a proven track record of identifying, applying for and securing funding for Learning & Participation projects. The position is a minimum 2 year post until March 2014, supported by the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation.

For further information about the Festival and our Learning & Participation programme please visit http://www.hcmf.co.uk/participation

hcmf// is an equal opportunities employer. Criminal Records Bureau clearance will be required, application on appointment.

An application pack can be requested by emailing r.hughes@hud.ac.uk
Please note we will only accept applications by email. To apply please email your CV and a letter of application to r.hughes@hud.ac.uk

For further information please contact Nikki Cassidy on 01484 472103 or e-mail n.cassidy@hud.ac.uk

Closing date for completed applications: 5pm Monday 27th February 2012
Interviews will take place on Thursday 8 & Friday 9 March 2012

Sage celebrates Varese

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:40:49 +0000

The Sage Gateshead is paying tribute to the work of Edgard Varèse, the French-born composer who played a key role in the development of electronic music. Running from 5–16 April, Brave New Worlds: the music of Debussy and Varèse features Varèse performances by the National Youth Orchestra alongside music by the composer’s contemporary Debussy, and by more recent artists who were influenced by his radical concept of ‘organised sound’.

On 16 April, visitors to the Sage can hear an installation of Varèse’s tape piece Poème électronique, which was originally presented using 400 speakers in the Le Corbusier-designed Philips pavilion at the 1958 Brussels World Fair. That same evening, the NYO, conducted by Paul Daniel, will perform Tuning Up, Arcana and the epic Amériques, as well as Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, Nuages and Fêtes. With 175 musicians aged between 13 and 19 performing, the ensemble will be the largest to have ever appeared at the Sage.

Other events include a study day introducing Varèse’s work on 10 April and a concert uniting NYO, Northern Sinfonia and the Young Sinfonia on 5 April.

Grand ambitions for Sebastian Berweck

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:54:45 +0000

Experimental pianist Sebastian Berweck is the star of the first CD release from Huddersfield Contemporary Records, a new label with links to hcmf//.

Extended Piano sees Berweck tackle compositions by James Saunders, Benjamin Lang, Michael Maierhof, Thomas Wenk and Johannes Kriedler. As the album title suggests, the instrument is augmented by preparations and analogue electronics to reveal ‘shadow aspects’ of the sound.

Sebastian Berweck has appeared as a soloist at numerous festivals and events, including ISCM World Music days, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and the Damstadt Summer Courses. He is co-founder of the composing/performing collective stock11.de and has commissioned and premiered more than 100 works.

Berweck is currently researching questions of performance in piano and electronics at CeReNeM, the University of Huddersfield’s Centre for Research in New Music. CeReNeM has teamed up with Huddersfield University Press to form Huddersfield Contemporary Records, which will release CDs and DVDs by the staff and postgraduates of the department and by visiting artists.

New CeReNeM Journal spotlights hcmf//

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 14:10:04 +0000

Last November’s hcmf// provides food for thought for a number of researchers in the first issue of a new journal from CeReNeM, the University of Huddersfield’s Centre for Research in New Music.

Edited by CeReNeM PhD students Robert Dahm and Ray Evanoff, CeReNeM Journal can be downloaded for free here. The articles by Evanoff, Chikako Morishita, Timothy McCormack and Richard Glover include in-depth interviews with the composers Richard Barrett and Ben Isaacs. Also included are full downloadable scores from McCormack, Glover, Isaacs and Einar Torfi Einarsson, all postgraduate composers at Huddersfield.

“The festival is always such a fantastic forum for dialogue in the world of new music – what better theme with which to initiate a journal?” says CeReNeM’s Liza Lim, whose music featured at hcmf// 2009. “We will have an hcmf//-related issue every year in order to make use of this opportunity to develop the scope and range of scholarship our students and staff are engaging with in areas of practice-based research.”

Issue two of the CeReNem Journal will be published in July 2010 and edited by Monty Adkins and Scott McLaughlin. CeReNeM are currently looking for papers on the subject of 'Physicality and Tactility in Contemporary Electronic Music'; anyone interested in submitting an article can read the submission guidelines.

Learn new skills as an hcmf// intern

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 11:18:38 +0000

hcmf// is inviting applications from for the role of Events Intern.

This posts is an excellent opportunity to gain invaluable experience working within the field of arts management at the UK’s premier festival of new music.

The ideal candidate will have an enthusiasm for new music and will be committed to bringing the best of their skills and abilities to the organisation. Excellent communication and organisational skills, good IT skills and the ability to prioritise and work to meet deadlines are essential for these roles.

The Events Intern will be responsible for providing administrative support to the Festival Manger in organising the 2010 Festival, including assisting with artist contracts, organising travel and accommodation, coordinating steward volunteers, providing marketing support as well as gaining an unique insight into all aspects of International Festival and Events Management.

Both positions are part-time and flexible (1 day a week for 8 months from May 2010), with increased hours in the run up to and during the festival in November. The internships is unpaid.

To apply please send your CV to Rosie Hughes at r.hughes@hud.ac.uk with a covering letter outlining the reasons you believe you would be suitable for the position.

Deadline for applications: 5pm, Monday 3 May 2010.

Interviews will be held on Monday 17 May

Perform at hcmf// 2010

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 11:42:53 +0000

hcmf// shorts is a series of short informal performances which this year will take place all day on Monday 22 November 2010 in various venues in Huddersfield. They provide up-and-coming musicians with a valuable platform to perform for members of the public, media and key music industry representatives at the UK’s leading new music Festival.

Proposals are welcomed from all types of performers, and works can be especially composed or existing pieces. There are no age limits. Proposed programmes should be no longer than 20 minutes in duration.

hcmf// will provide:

•   Music stands, chairs and microphones (on request)
•   Piano (cannot be prepared)
•   PA: 16 channel desk, 4 speakers, CD play back

How to apply:

To apply for hcmf// shorts please download the application form below. Post your completed application form along with a separate proposal (which should be no longer than one side of A4) and supporting audio material to: Heidi Johnson, hcmf// shorts, Room TC/09, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, HD1 3DH, UK.

Please only submit one proposal per ensemble/performer and ensure that any audio material is directly relevant to your proposal.

Please note: New deadline for proposals 10am, Monday 10 May 2010

After you’ve submitted your proposal, hcmf//’s Artistic Director, Graham McKenzie, will select a number of performers/ensembles to take part in hcmf// shorts 2010. You will be notified by Friday 28 May if your proposal has been chosen to feature in hcmf// shorts.

hcmf// wins prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Award

Wed, 12 May 2010 19:09:47 +0000

hcmf// has won a coveted Royal Philharmonic Society Award for its 2009 festival.

Winners of the UK’s most prestigious accolade for live classical music were announced on Tuesday, May 11 at a dinner at London’s Dorchester Hotel.

hcmf// (www.hcmf.co.uk), which had topped the awards shortlist with no less than three nominations for its work, won in the Concert Series and Festivals category beating off strong competition from CBSO’s Stravinsky Festival and from two top London concert halls - the Southbank Centre and the Wigmore Hall.

The 2009 hcmf//, programmed by Graham McKenzie - the Festival’s Artistic Director for the last four years - was widely recognised as a vintage year.

The Award citation read:

"hcmf// 2009 featured a wide range of major international composers not often heard in the UK, and reasserted itself as an important international and national event in the world of contemporary music - one all aspiring composers should experience.

"The programme, which did not shy away from the difficult, drew on major international links and attracted large, young, enthusiastic audiences. It puts Huddersfield firmly on the cultural map and is a shining example of global ambition that justifies the support the festival receives locally and nationally."

Founded in 1978, hcmf// is one of Europe’s leading contemporary music festivals. For ten days in November audiences, both local and international, flock to Huddersfield to hear the very latest developments in contemporary music and sound art.

The Festival was also shortlisted for two other awards: the RPS Music Award for Education, for its performance of Kristoffer Zeggars’ Piano Phasing featuring 50 local pianists, and, by association, in the Chamber Scale Composition category, for Pierre-Alexandre Tremblay’s piano work un clou, son marteau, et le béton for piano and electronics which Sarah Nicolls performed at her hcmf// recital.

Winners of the 21st RPS Music Awards, which celebrated outstanding achievement in live classical music in 2009, were announced at an awards ceremony at London’s Dorchester Hotel, hosted by Sean Rafferty, presenter of BBC Radio 3’s In Tune and Sara Mohr-Pietsch, presenter of BBC Radio 3’s Breakfast. Award-winners were presented with the traditional silver RPS lyre trophies by Sir John Tomlinson. A special programme devoted to the Awards is broadcast on Wednesday 12 May at 7pm on Performance on 3, BBC Radio 3.

The annual RPS Music Awards, presented in association with BBC Radio 3, are the UK’s most prestigious recognition of achievement in the field of live classical music. Awards, in thirteen categories, are decided by independent panels consisting of some of the music industry’s most distinguished practitioners. The awards honour musicians, composers, writers, broadcasters and inspirational arts organisations. The list of previous winners reads like a Who’s Who of classical music.

For a full list of RPS Awards winners, go to: http://www.rpsmusicawards.com

PRSF

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:31:44 +0000

New release captures hcmf// Feldman concert

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 16:38:04 +0000

Two Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival performances by The Smith Quartet and John Tilbury have recently been released by Matchless Recordings. Music For Piano and Strings by Morton Feldman captures the string ensemble and the pianist at hcmf// 2006, interpreting Feldman’s 1985 Piano and String Quartet, whilst Tilbury and the quartet’s violinist Darragh Morgan team up for the 1982 violin and piano piece, For John Cage.

Formed in 1990, The Smith Quartet have an extensive repertoire of new music and have previously released recordings of works by Steve Reich and a specially written version of Gavin Bryars’ Sinking of the Titanic. For the hcmf// performance, they used looser, Baroque-style bows to achieve the light touch required by Feldman’s music. John Tilbury, meanwhile, is a former associate of Cornelius Cardew’s Scratch Orchestra, a longstanding member of AMM, and in 2000 released the CD box set Morton Feldman: All Piano.

In order to present each of the 90-minute works uninterrupted, the Matchless release comes as an audio DVD, playable on DVD players, computer DVD drives and other compatible equipment. To visit Matchless Recordings’ site and order Music For Piano and Strings by Morton Feldman directly, click here: http://www.matchlessrecordings.com/node/327

The release was praised by critic David Kettle in the current issue of specialist string magazine The Strad:

The Strad Magazine June 2010

Apart from a couple of menus and a few images, this is an audio-only DVD, the format chosen only in order to accommodate the two 90-minute works featured here without breaks. Both pieces occupy the same rarefied, subdued sound world of gentle dissonances and hypnotic repetitions that characterises Feldman's later pieces, and it's difficult to imagine more committed and engaging performances of them than these.

For John Cage (1982), for violin and piano, is the more ascetic of the two, its exposed lines and held tones often seeming perilously close to giving way to silence. Darragh Morgan, second violinist of the Smith Quartet, is hugely impressive, delivering a delicate performance alive to the subtleties and nuances of the music. He plays with seemingly effortless control yet brings an impressive spontaneity to his reading, and it's astonishing how he maintains such a refined sound and crisp articulation over 90 minutes of highly exposed material.

Piano and String Quartet (1985) is more substantial, providing a richer canvas and a wider range of sonorities. The Smith Quartet plays mostly as a unit, and the players match their tones and timbres so effectively that they often sound like a single instrument. Pianist John Tilbury is an eloquent presence throughout the disc, delivering the fractured arpeggios of Piano and String Quartet eloquently.

There are a few extraneous audience noises on the recording, made live at the 2006 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, but with performances as involving as these, that hardly matters. DAVID KETTLE

Selected tickets now on sale for hcmf// 2010! Book now and save

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:16:25 +0000

Tickets for selected events at the 2010 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival are now on sale, with online discounts of up to £5 on individual concerts and up to £50 on festival passes.

Take advantage of hcmf//’s early booking offer to guarantee your place at some of the festival’s key events, including concerts featuring the work of hcmf// 2010’s composer in residence, Rebecca Saunders and premieres of work by Stockhausen and rising UK composer Naomi Pinnock.

Four concerts from the 33rd annual festival, which takes place from Friday 19 November to Sunday 28 November 2010, have been announced. The full programme will be released and go on sale in September. Online discounted prices are only available until 1 October (subject to availability).

Click the links on the individual events to buy tickets online.

Ticket prices with online savings

Oscillare

BUY TICKETS

Saturday 20 November 2010, Lawrence Batley Theatre, 5pm

Rolf Wallin piece tbc

Rebecca Saunders Soliloquy

Naomi Pinnock Oscillare (hcmf// commission) (World Premiere)

Frode Halti Accordion

Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart

Full Price £15; Concession £13; Online £10

----------------------------------------------------------------------

ensemble recherche

BUY TICKETS

Saturday 20 November 2010, St Paul’s Hall, 7.30pm

Rebecca Saunders Murmurs (UK Premiere)

Hans Abrahamsen Schnee (UK Premiere)

Full Price £19; Concession £17; Online £15

----------------------------------------------------------------------

musikFabrik 1: Chroma

BUY TICKETS

Saturday 27 November 2010, Town Hall, 5pm

Rebecca Saunders Chroma

Full Price £19; Concession £17; Online £15

----------------------------------------------------------------------

musikFabrik 2

BUY TICKETS

Sunday 28 November 2010, Bates Mill, 1pm

Karlheinz Stockhausen KLANG 21st Hour: Paradies (UK Premiere)

Rebecca Saunders cinnabar (UK Premiere)

Karlheinz Stockhausen KLANG 17th Hour: Nebadon (UK Premiere)

Rebecca Saunders a visible trace (UK Premiere)

Full Price £19; Concession £17; Online £15

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Full price and concession prices apply to tickets purchased by phone or in person from the Box Office. Online prices apply to tickets purchased through the hcmf// website from 10 July–1 October (subject to availability).

Saver tickets – online discounts

Full Festival Saver

Covers admission to all ticketed events and a free Festival Programme Book

Price if purchased by phone or in person from Box Office: £325

Online price: £275

Weekend Saver 1 (20 & 21 Nov) full price: £125

Online price: £85

Weekend Saver 2 (27 & 28 Nov) full price: £105

Online price: £75

BUY FULL SAVER

BUY WEEKEND SAVER 1

BUY WEEKEND SAVER 2

Composer in residence: Rebecca Saunders

British composer Rebecca Saunders has been announced as the composer in residence for hcmf// 2010. Saunders, who currently lives in Berlin, will attend the festival in November, where works showcasing the full range of her music will be performed by musikFabrik, ensemble recherche, and Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart and Frode Haltli.

“It’s a great honour indeed and I am very much looking forward to being in England for a longer period of time,” Saunders said. “It will be a wonderful opportunity for me to hear so many of my works in this very special environment.” To find out more about Saunders’ career and music, visit the composer in residence section on http://www.hcmf.co.uk.

The Box Office can be contacted on 01484 430528, or the Festival Office can be contacted on 01484 472900

hcmf// welcomes Arts Award

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 17:43:20 +0000

hcmf// has joined Arts Award Welcome, a badge scheme offered by Arts Award, the national qualification for young people in the arts. The Arts Award Welcome badge announces that hcmf// supports the Arts Award and can help young people aged 11-25 to achieve aspects of their award programme – such as taking part in the arts, meeting arts professionals, leadership and arts apprenticeships.

The Arts Award is a great way for young people to develop creative skills across any art form and is offered at three levels: Bronze, Silver and Gold. The Arts Award is run by Arts Council England and Trinity Guildhall and is a nationally accredited qualification.

Details of hcmf//’s Arts Award offer can be found here and includes ticket offers, hands-on music workshops and volunteering opportunities. If you are involved in the Arts Award either as a school, individual or arts organisation please get in touch with Heidi Johnson, Learning and Participation Officer to talk through your interests and see what opportunities are available by calling 01484 471116 or email h.johnson@hud.ac.uk.

More information about the Arts Award can be found at: http://www.artsaward.org.uk

fORCH on ‘Hear and Now’

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:13:29 +0000

Listeners to BBC Radio 3 have another chance to hear a highlight of last year’s Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival on 31 July, when the station’s new music show ‘Hear and Now’ will broadcast an excerpt of a concert by fORCH that was recorded on 28 November 2009.

An expansion of Richard Barrett and Paul Obermayer’s electroacoustic duo FURT, fORCH play a combination of improvised music and pieces created from frameworks composed by Barrett. The line-up of Barrett, Obermayer, two vocalists and four instrumentalists includes saxophonist John Butcher, who will also be interviewed on the programme.

The episode of ‘Hear and Now’ will be broadcast at 10.30pm on Saturday 31 July, presented by Ed McKeon. BBC Radio 3 are the official broadcast partner of hcmf// and several recordings of works from the 2009 festival – including the world premiere of London Sinfonietta performing Barrett’s Mesopotamia at the same event – aired on ‘Hear and Now’ last November and January.

Hear and Now on Radio 3

fORCH on MySpace

Fred Frith honoured

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:30:08 +0000

The long and innovative career of guitarist, improviser and composer Fred Frith has been recognised by the University of Huddersfield. As part of the university’s 2010 degree ceremonies, Frith was awarded an honorary doctorate (HonDUniv) for his contribution to music, receiving the accolade at an event on 13 July.

Although he was playing violin when an improvising session with fellow Cambridge student Tim Hodgkinson in May 1968 led to the formation of progressive rock group Henry Cow, Frith is best known for his work on electric guitar. His acclaimed 1974 album Guitar Solos featured unaccompanied improvisations on prepared instruments and in the mid-1970s he also lent his distinctive sound to the Robert Wyatt album Ruth is Stranger than Richard and Brian Eno’s Before and After Science.

In recent years Frith has worked as a composer, collaborating with the Arditti Quartet; he has scored film soundtracks and continues to improvise, both solo and with artists including John Zorn and Evelyn Glennie. He currently lives in the USA, where he teaches music at Mills College, Oakland, California and plays in the group Cosa Brava. He appeared at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in 2007 with edges ensemble.

Fred Frith’s website http://www.fredfrith.com

Playlist on Spotify: Dr Fred Frith

hcmf// shorts announced

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 11:06:16 +0000

Audiences at the 2010 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival will once again have the chance to catch performances by up-and-coming artists and performers during hcmf// shorts, the free, bite-sized concerts taking place throughout the afternoon of Monday 22 November.

Seven fresh and innovative performances have been selected from an open application process; the events include soloists performing their own and others’ work, an experimental meeting of music and theatre and a non-professional string ensemble premiering a competition-winning commission.

In addition, leading contemporary ensemble Apartment House will present an informal, unseated performance of a John Cage work in the atrium of the University of Huddersfield’s Creative Arts Building. The piece, titled But what about the noise of crumpling paper which he used to do in order to paint the series of “Papiers froisses” or tearing up paper to make “Papiers dechires?” Arp was stimulated by water (sea, lake, and flowing waters like rivers), forests, was written by Cage to celebrate the centenary of the birth of the sculptor, abstract artist and poet Jean Arp.

The seven successful artists and their planned hcmf// shorts programmes are as follows:

Kate Ledger, piano

Ray Evanoff: Diagrams of Drawings Not Meant to Correspond

Timothy McCormack: ]regate[ s.p. ]Aggre[

Ben Isaacs: new work

Based in West Yorkshire, Kate Ledger is currently researching the technical and interpretative role of physicality in performance. These three pieces explore this in a variety of ways and form part of a larger repertoire which Ledger is building. She also plays in the clarinet and piano duo Wake Up with Heather Roche.

Lefteris Papadimitriou, laptop

Panorama

Greek composer and performer Lefteris Papadimitriou is studying for a PhD at CeReNeM, the University of Huddersfield’s Centre For Research in New Music, with the aid of a special joint scholarship funded by the university and hcmf//. Panorama is a series of electronic pieces, composed using sounds ranging from those of outer space to old analogue synths. An ‘orchestration’ of the different sound layers creates a new compound layer which continually oscillates between the familiar and the alien.

Yorkshire Late Starter Strings

Laurence Rose: a theory of nothing

Yorkshire Late Starters Strings (YLSS) is a group for adult string instrument learners, with levels of experience ranging from Grade 1 to Grade 8+. Laurence Rose is a Regional Director of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and an amateur composer who has written for both professional and amateur ensembles. a theory of nothing is the second work commissioned by YLSS as a result of a bi-annual competition to find new music that will challenge and stimulate all its musicians. The piece is built around relatively simple, repeated figures and the transitions between them, with players freely choosing parameters such as tempo or pitch from a menu.

Radio Kootwijk Resonating

Six artists in search of an audience

Radio Kootwijk Live is a Dutch group of artists with an interest in challenging established performance rituals. Those attending their performance can expect everything but a regular concert. Find yourself becoming a substantial part of the show while enjoying a fresh journey through the galaxy of musical creation; music, light, theatre and no corner of Bates Mill left unused.

Charlotte Pugh, recorder

Christopher Fox: Winds of Heaven (second part)

Nicholas Peters: Going Missing

An accomplished recorder player who is also a member of the Southbank Gamelan Players, Charlotte Pugh recently completed her MMus in Performance at SOAS, with distinction, and is about to start an AHRC-supported PhD in Performance at the University of York. Winds of Heaven makes use of amplified vocalising and alternative fingerings, whilst Going Missing explores a block structure using a range of durations.

Peyee Chen, voice

Erin Gee: mouthpiece I

Johnny Herbert: new work

Michael Finnissy: Song 1

Michael Finnissy: Song 16

Erin Gee: mouthpiece II

Peyee Chen completed an MA at the University of York earlier this year, having received her BMus from Northwestern University in 2008. As well as an interest in florid ornamentation in early music, her performances explore unaccompanied contemporary vocal repertoire: from the 1960s and ‘70s pieces by Michael Finnissy to Herbert’s new composition, these works question and untangle the intricate relationship between text and music.

Manasamitra

Supriya Nagarajan & Vijay Venkat

Artistic director of the Yorkshire-based South Asian arts-promoting organisation Manasamitra, Supriya Nagarajan has been a performer in Carnatic classical music in both Europe and beyond, whilst Vijay Venkat is a Masters graduate of the University of London; the pair are working together on a CD entitled Music in Shades. Their performance combines South Indian classical Carnatic notes with western violin styles, and contemporary violin and voice with soulful melody.

hcmf// partner with Cedar Court Hotels

Tue, 12 Oct 2010 15:23:00 +0000

hcmf// is delighted to announce that Yorkshire’s largest independent hotel collection are the Festival’s accommodation partner for the second year running.

The popular four star Cedar Court Huddersfield/Halifax will be hosting hcmf//’s VIP guests, composers, and artists for the duration of the Festival. This includes Composer in Residence Rebecca Saunders, international guests from countries such as Norway, Holland and Germany and representatives from the British Council.

Cedar Court Huddersfield/Halifax’s General Manager, Maria Florou, said:

“We’re proud to be supporting this important international event for a second year running. Like the Festival, Cedar Court Hotels work hard to promote the county to the UK and beyond, and we know what a significant contribution the Festival makes to the regional economy. We are looking forward to welcoming both the participants and audience members to the hotel this year.”

Cedar Court Hotels have five properties in the county. Wakefield, Leeds/Bradford, Harrogate and Huddersfield/Halifax are amongst the highest rated four star hotels in Yorkshire, and the newly opened Cedar Court Grand Hotel & Spa in York is hoping to become the city’s first five star property.

Find out more at http://www.cedarcourthotels.co.uk/

Welcome to Yorkshire is new supporter of hcmf// 2010

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 09:36:17 +0000

Welcome to Yorkshire, the county’s official tourism agency, is to support hcmf//, enabling the Festival to present new works by contemporary composers such as Naomi Pinnock, who was raised in Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire. Her piece Oscillare, featuring Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart and accordionist Frode Haltli, was commissioned by hcmf// and receives its world premiere on Saturday 20 November.

Gary Verity, Chief Executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, says: “hcmf// is a highly respected international event in the music calendar and we are proud that Yorkshire is at the heart of it. We are delighted to be involved with the Festival, are actively promoting it on our website and through our new iphone application and we look forward to welcoming visitors from across the world to our wonderful county for this wonderful Festival.”

As part of a partnership between hcmf// and the British Council, the festival will also play host to 25 overseas delegates during its opening weekend, with representatives from European cultural events, the media and musical ensembles arriving in the town to experience both the artistic talent at hcmf// and the Yorkshire surroundings.

Festival attendees will be able to make the most of their stay by visiting Welcome to Yorkshire’s award winning website, http://www.yorkshire.com. It provides inspirational ideas to make the most of any spare time they have, from countywide event listings, days out ideas, online bookable accommodation and hundreds of reasons to return to the UK’s most exciting county.

hcmf// draws audiences from far and wide, with two thirds coming from beyond the local area and 21 per cent travelling more than 50 miles. A fifth of concert-goers have journeyed more than 200 miles to attend the Festival, many making the most of their time at hcmf// with Festival saver passes and weekend tickets.

99 Minutes

Wed, 03 Nov 2010 15:21:52 +0000

One way to discover more about the Norwegian artists featured at this year’s hcmf// is to visit Music Information Centre Norway’s website, http://www.listento.no, for news, biographies and catalogue information.

The website includes all seven episodes of ‘99 Minutes’, a webcast series curated by DJ 99, aka DJ and music journalist Guttorm Andreasen and featuring interviews and music across all facets of the country’s musical culture.

Guttorn recorded a special programme dedicated to Norwegian artists associated with hcmf// 2010. It's fantastic - listen to it here: http://soundcloud.com/mic-norway/99-minutes-program-7-101101-Huddersfield

Ale Imitation

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 14:55:04 +0000

And now a piece of non-music news that is making the hcmf// team very excited: for the first time in its history Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival has its own ale!

Created by Mallinsons of Lindley, and named hcmf//ale, the brew will be served at the on-board bar during the 'Take the Cage Train' event on Wednesday 24th November and will also be available from many of Mallinsons' regular outlets during hcmf//.

We think it’s fitting that hcmf// - a Festival that is famous for pushing the boundaries of music – should now be talking its experimentation into the field of alcoholic beverages. Expect an hcmf// cake in 2011.

hcmf// does Twitter Tidbits

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 15:52:08 +0000

This year’s Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival is nearly here and now you can find out even more about the artists and events featured in the hcmf// programme by following us on Twitter. Visit http://twitter.com/hcmfuk to hear the latest 140-character news and share our excitement as the festival draws closer.

We’ll be tweeting regularly during the festival, from Friday 19–Sunday 28 November: become a follower of hcmf// and receive daily Twitter tidbits of behind-the-scenes info, illuminating links and clips from artists appearing at the festival.

Don’t forget, you can also become a fan of hcmf// on Facebook and listen to what the festival has in store on our Spotify page.

Huddersfield Autumn Composers’ Symposium

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 12:33:05 +0000

Postgraduate composers studying at institutions across the country will soon receive expert feedback on their music from a trio of celebrated composers featured at this year’s Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. On Thursday 18 and Friday 19 November, the Centre for Research in New Music (CeReNeM) at the University of Huddersfield is hosting three composition masterclasses, in association with the Institute of Musical Research at the University of London, with guests Jennifer Walshe, Howard Skempton and hcmf// Composer in Residence Rebecca Saunders.

At each masterclass three selected PhD and MPhil students will present recordings and scores of their work before discussing it with the visiting composer. The events are open to the public and free to attend, providing a valuable opportunity to see today’s leading contemporary composers offer insights into the creative process and to hear music by a range of new talents.

The first masterclass, on Thursday 18 November, features composer, improviser and vocalist Jennifer Walshe, whose pieces blurt: and Marlowe S. will be performed by Quatuor Bozzini on Friday 19 November. Walshe will be discussing work by Colin Tucker of the University of Huddersfield’s CeReNeM, Jose Puelloe from the University of Manchester and Luke Styles from Trinity College.

The following day, Howard Skempton casts his eye over music by Pedro Alvarez from the University of London, Jac McKeigue of the University of Sheffield and Emma-Ruth Richards from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. Skempton will be appearing at hcmf// in collaboration with the ensemble Noszferatu XL on Sunday 21 November.

Also on Friday 19 November, Rebecca Saunders is the guest composer, with Matthew Sergeant from the University of Huddersfield, Ross Whyte from the University of Aberdeen and Carolina Noguera-Palau of Birmingham Conservatoire presenting their work. As Composer in Residence at hcmf//, Saunders’ music features throughout the festival: visit this site’s Composer in Residence section to find out more.

http://www.cerenem.org

Huddersfield Autumn Composers’ Symposium masterclasses
Thursday 18 November, 1pm–3.30pm: Jennifer Walshe CAM G/03, Creative Arts Building, University of Huddersfield
Friday 19 November, 9am–11.30am: Howard Skempton Castle Hill Suite, University of Huddersfield
Friday 19 November, 1pm–3.30pm: Rebecca Saunders Castle Hill Suite, University of Huddersfield

New albums by ELISION to launch at hcmf//

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 14:18:34 +0000

Two new recordings by the international ensemble ELISION are being launched on Tuesday 23 November as part of Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. The CDs, titled transference and strange forces, are releases on Huddersfield Contemporary Records, the label run jointly by hcmf// and the University of Huddersfield’s Centre for Research in New Music (CeReNeM), and will be available to buy during the festival.

ELISION was Ensemble-in-Residence in the university’s Music department during 2009–10, as part of a project funded by a University Research Grant. Made in partnership with German radio station Radio Bremen, the recordings feature works by University of Huddersfield staff members and by composers associated with hcmf//. Music by Mary Bellamy, Bryn Harrison, Aaron Cassidy and Liza Lim features on transference (HCR02), whilst strange forces (HCR01) contains the work of Cassidy, Lim, Richard Barrett, Evan Johnson, Klaus K. Hübler and Timothy McCormack. Some of the pieces were premiered by ELISION at last year’s festival, with others first performed during the ensemble’s concert series at King’s Place in London. The CDs’ liner notes are by musicologist Tim Rutherford-Johnson.

The CD launch takes place as part of the ELISION concert at hcmf//, where the programme includes the world premieres of Richard Barrett’s wound parts I and II and Timothy McCormack’s One flat thing reproduced, alongside work by Dmitri Kourliandski, Klaus K Hübler, Enno Poppe and Evan Johnson.

Huddersfield Contemporary Records was set up last year to release work by artists working within and associated with CeReNeM; its debut release was Extended Piano by Sebastian Berweck. The next planned releases are Nothing but the hours (HCRDVD01) – a DVD profiling the work of composer and film-maker Geoffrey Cox, featuring piano performances by Philip Thomas and documentary films made in collaboration with Keith Marley – followed by a CD of electroacoustic music by Huddersfield staff and postgraduates.

Click here for more details of the ELISION CDs.

ELISION appear on Tuesday 23 November at 1pm in St Paul’s Hall. Click here for more information and to buy tickets.

Watch 12-hour Cage performance live online

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 16:31:00 +0000

We will be streaming Philip Thomas’s 12-hour performance of John Cage’s Electronic Music for Piano live on Saturday 20 November (link to follow). Thomas will present his marathon solo interpretation of Cage’s indeterminate piece from Huddersfield Art Gallery, where he will be surrounded by the composer’s equally distinctive visual artworks, on display there from Friday 19 November as the touring exhibition Every Day is a Good Day.

Starting at midday on 20 November and running until midnight, the stream has been made possible by new facilities provided by Kirklees Council. Thomas’s performance is based upon his own interpretations of the score of Cage’s Music for Piano 4–84 and combines solo piano with pre-recorded music. Click here to read an interview in which he explains more about the piece and Cage’s creative innovations.

Every Day is a Good Day is the first major UK retrospective of John Cage’s visual art, which includes prints, drawing and painting. Conceived by artist Jeremy Millar and produced by Hayward touring, the exhibition pays tribute to Cage’s radical use of chance operations to shape both his pictures and his music by using the same elements to decide what goes on the walls. Each of the artworks and their potential positions in the gallery have been assigned numbers, which are then chosen randomly to create the exhibition. The exhibition will then change at various points – on Wednesday 24 November and Friday 26 November during hcmf// 2010 and every Wednesday after until 5 January 2011 – with between 10 and 15 pieces being either removed or added each time.

View the hcmf// 2010 brochure

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 09:49:52 +0000

Click here to view an e-book of the hcmf// 2010 brochure

PRS for Music Foundation supports hcmf// 2010

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 12:33:35 +0000

Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival is proud to once again be the recipient of funding from the PRS for Music Foundation (PRSF). Marking both the 10th anniversary of PRSF and its 10th year of supporting hcmf//, this year’s festival sees the arrival of a three-year commitment which will ensure that hcmf// continues to be UK’s leading celebration of new and experimental music.

The PRSF is an independent charitable foundation which grew out of the rights management and collecting society PRS for Music. Its initiatives include the annual New Music Award, which this year awarded £50,000 to the composer/architect duo liminal to assist with the realisation of their work The Organ of Corti. Other schemes include British Music Abroad, for artists hoping to increase their profiles overseas, and Take Five, which offers professional development for jazz musicians. Recently, proposals were invited for New Music 20x12, where 20 pieces each of 12 minutes’ length will be created as part of the Cultural Olympiad in 2012.

The PRSF support for hcmf// contributes towards both the day-to-day operations of the festival and specific new commissions. In 2009 sound artist Bill Thompson’s Shifting Currents was supported; this year the foundation has made possible a new collaboration between Oceans of Silver and Blood, The New String Theory and composer Claudia Molitor. Co-commissioned by hcmf//, Le Weekend festival in Stirling and Bangor New Music Festival, the free performance takes place on Monday 22 November. Click here for more details of the concert.

PRS for Music Foundation’s website

Fun with Radio Kootwijk

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 16:28:31 +0000

Shane from Radio Kootwijk sent us a terrifically fun teaser ahead of their performance at Bates Mill on Monday 22nd at 2.40pm.

Click this link, click the images and make sure your sound is switched on.

Thanks Shane!

More John Cage events in Huddersfield

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 12:00:32 +0000

This year’s Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival may be over, but the events connecting hcmf// with the John Cage art exhibition Every Day is a Good Day continue. On Friday 10 December, the exhibition venue, Huddersfield Art Gallery, is hosting performances of Cage’s music by students from the University of Huddersfield’s departments of Music and Drama and Art and Design. Taking place from 11.15am to 1.45pm and 2.15pm to 4pm, the free event will be framed by Cage’s 1970 collection of works Song Books and features other pieces including Variations II, Living Room Music, Speech and Suite for Toy Piano. Chance processes will decide the exact times and combinations of these pieces.

Every Day is a Good Day, which opened at the same time as hcmf// 2010 in November, contains prints, drawings and paintings created by Cage between the late 1960s and his death in 1992. In tribute to the his pioneering and controversial use of chance operations in both his composition and visual art, the exhibition has been changing over the weeks, with between 10 and 15 pictures being added and removed each time according to a random number system. The changes will happen every Wednesday until 5 January 2011.

On Saturday 8 January 2011, the end of the exhibition will be marked with two events. At 12 noon, Alvin Curran and Edges Ensemble will descend upon Huddersfield Rail Station for a repeat performance of Ear Training, which opened hcmf// 2010. Then from 1pm to 3pm, the art gallery provides the backdrop for Every Day is a Good Dance, an improvising dance workshop led by Gerry Turvey, a Leeds-based choreographer and educator whose previous dance pieces include Fallen Angels in Leeds’ Holy Trinity Church. She has also performed in an allotment polytunnel, outside a shopping centre and by the side of the Leeds-Liverpool canal.

Aimed at adults and open to anyone regardless of experience, Every Day is a Good Dance takes Cage’s ideas as inspiration for creative play and spontaneous images, with reference to his visual scores and unique notation for music and visual work. The workshop costs £7 per person (£5 concessions) and advance booking before 5pm on Wednesday 5 January is essential. Participants should wear loose, warm, comfortable clothing and be prepared to go barefoot. To book, contact Gerry Turvey by emailing turveyworld2@yahoo.com.

Composer’s Kitchen 2012 – selected composers announced

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 10:25:35 +0000

Composer's Kitchen

22 - 28 April 2012 and 20 - 23 November 2012

This unique event revolving around the string quartet is a combination workshop, laboratory, playground, and master class. Over the course of a week, the Bozzini Quartet and two experienced composers will observe the work of six up-and-coming composers. Their compositions will be read, played, assessed, analyzed, worked on, played again, and performed in the closing concert.

Invited Composers
• Malcolm Goldstein, Montréal
• Christopher Fox, London

Composer's Kitchen participants
• Isaiah Ceccarelli, Montréal
• Bevan Flanagan, Montréal
• John Lely, London
• Scott McLaughlin, Hudderfield
• Pierre Michaud, Montréal
• Thierry Tidrow, Ottawa / Freiburg / Amsterdam

First Annual Special Edition
• Montreal, Canada: Sunday 22 April to Saturday 28 April 2012
• Huddersfield, UK: Tuesday 20 November to Friday 23 November 2012

The Bozzini Quartet (Montreal) announces the eighth edition of the Composer's Kitchen in a new expanded format: the first annual Special Edition Composer's Kitchen in collaboration with hcmf//, the UK's largest international festival of new and experimental music.

The Exchange
For the first time, the Composer's Kitchen will host an exchange with hcmf//, providing the opportunity for two UK composers to attend the Canadian edition, and four Canadian composers to attend the UK edition of the Composer's Kitchen. All six participants attend both phases:

1. the seven-day workshop in April 2012 in Montreal, ending with a public laboratory-concert, and
2. a three-day follow-up masterclass in Huddersfield, UK in November 2012, to refresh and bring to maturity the work which was developed in the springtime. This phase will close with a feature concert at hcmf//.

In collaboration with British Council, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Ministère de la Culture, des Communications et de la Condition féminine du Québec, Concordia University Faculty of Fine Arts Music Department, Socan Foundation and the University of Huddersfield

Lotte Anker nominated for Nordic Council Music Prize

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 15:22:33 +0000

Composer and saxophonist Lotte Anker has followed up her appearance at 2010’s Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival by being shortlisted for this year’s Nordisk Musikpris or Nordic Council Music Prize. The leading music prize in Nordic countries, the award carries prize money of 350,000 Danish krone (€47,000).

Established in 1965, the annual Nordic Council Music Prize is given in alternate years to a composer or an artist working in any of the Nordic countries or autonomous territories. Nominees must have produced significant work over the last 12 months, making Anker’s appearance at hcmf// 2010 a factor in her success. Her piece What river is this, a co-commission between hcmf// and Copenhagen’s Wundergrund festival, received its UK premiere at November’s festival. Mixing composed music and structured improvisation, it was performed by an ensemble featuring Anker, Phil Minton, Anna Klett, Garth Knox, Jesper Egelund, Fred Frith, Chris Cutler and Ikue Mori.

The winner of last year’s Nordic Council Music Prize was Norwegian composer Lasse Thoresen and previous victors include Natasha Barrett (2006), Rolf Wallin (1998) and Björk (1997). The 2011 prize focuses on music with improvised elements: the 11 other nominees include recorder player Bolette Roed, also from Denmark, Sweden’s Mats Gustafsson, Norwegian singer Sidsel Endresen and musicians from Finland, Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

The overall winner is chosen by a panel of music experts with representatives from each of the Nordic countries and will be announced on 1 June.

Nordisk Musikpris website

Monica Germino’s DEVIATION returns

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 15:33:28 +0000

Monica Germino will be performing pieces from DEVIATION, which received its UK premiere at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival last November, at the Rumor festival in Utrecht, the Netherlands on 24 March.

Now in its 64th edition, Rumor takes the format of a ‘festival night’, with three venues each hosting music in one evening. Germino is appearing at EKKO, where her programme will include works by Julia Wolfe, David Dramm, Donnacha Dennehy and others. DEVIATION involves the interplay of violin, electric violin, voice and sound manipulation and Germino will be joined for the performance by sound engineer Frank van der Weij.

Watch Monica Germino perform David Dramm’s Fuzzbox Logic from DEVIATION at Gaudeamus Music Week in September 2010 here:

Hear Oscillare by Naomi Pinnock again

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 15:37:39 +0000

German radio station SWR 2 is broadcasting a performance of Naomi Pinnock’s Oscillare on 16 March which will also be available for online listening for another week. Oscillare, for six voices and accordion, was commissioned by Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and premiered at hcmf// 2010 by Frode Haltli and Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart. They also performed the piece in Stuttgart in February, where it was recorded for SWR 2’s Jetzt Musik programme. Jetzt Musik is broadcast at 10.03pm (GMT) and can be heard online here.

Naomi Pinnock was born in West Yorkshire and currently lives in Germany. Her new work Words, produced as part of the London Sinfonietta’s Blue Touch Paper scheme for talented young composers was also featured on BBC Radio 3’s Hear and Now on 12 March and can be listened to for a limited time here.

Click here to read an interview with Naomi Pinnock

Call for proposals: hcmf// shorts

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 15:53:53 +0000

Call for hcmf// shorts proposals

Please note that the call for hcmf// shorts proposals has now closed.

hcmf// shorts is a series of short informal performances which this year will take place all day on Monday 21 November 2011 in various venues in Huddersfield. They provide up-and-coming musicians with a valuable platform to perform for members of the public, media and key music industry representatives at the UK's leading new music Festival.

hcmf// will provide:
• Music stands, chairs and microphones (on request)
• Piano (cannot be prepared)
• PA: 16 channel desk, 4 speakers, CD play back

How to apply:
To apply for hcmf// shorts please download the application form below (under 'Related Attachments') or request one from the hcmf// office by calling +44 (0) 1484 471116 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +44 (0) 1484 471116 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or e-mailing h.johnson@hud.ac.uk

Post your completed application form along with a separate proposal (which should be no longer than one side of A4) and supporting audio material to: Heidi Johnson, hcmf// shorts, Room TC/09, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, HD1 3DH, UK.

Please only submit one proposal per ensemble / performer and ensure that any audio material is directly relevant to your proposal.

Deadline for proposals: 10.00am, Monday 16 May 2011

After you've submitted your proposal, hcmf//'s Artistic Director, Graham McKenzie, will select a number of performers/ensembles to take part in hcmf// shorts 2011. You will be notified by Friday 27 May if your proposal has been chosen to feature in hcmf// shorts.

‘Thanks for this great opportunity, and for giving our careers a giant push forward!'

‘A very, very useful experience for any young performer. I would highly recommend applying for it'

Past hcmf// shorts performers

Learn new skills as a hcmf// intern

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 11:12:08 +0000

hcmf// Internships

Please note that applications for these roles are now closed.

Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival is inviting applications from outstanding individuals for the voluntary worker roles of Events Intern and Learning & Participation Intern. These posts are an excellent opportunity for two people to gain invaluable experience working within the field of arts management at the UK's premier festival of new music.

The ideal candidates will have an enthusiasm for new music and will be committed to bringing the best of their skills and abilities to the organisation. Excellent communication and organisational skills, good IT skills and the ability to prioritise and work to meet deadlines are essential for these roles.

The Events Intern will be responsible for providing administrative support to the Festival Manger in organising the 2011 Festival, including assisting with artist contracts, organising travel and accommodation, coordinating steward volunteers, providing marketing support as well as gaining an unique insight into all aspects of International Festival and Events Management.

The Learning & Participation Intern will be responsible for assisting with planning projects as part of the hcmf// Learning & Participation programme, liaising with a wide range of music leaders and participants, assisting with workshop activity and outcome events as well as monitoring and evaluation. This post is subject to obtaining a CRB Enhanced Disclosure certificate.

Both positions are part-time and flexible (Events Intern 3 days a week; Learning & Participation Intern 2 days a week for 6 months from June - November 2011), with increased hours in the run up to and during the festival in November. Both internships are unpaid.

To apply please send your CV to Heidi Johnson at h.johnson@hud.ac.uk with a covering letter outlining the reasons you believe you would be suitable for the position. Please indicate clearly whether you are applying for either the Events Internship or Learning & Participation Internship.

Deadline for applications: 5.00pm, Thursday 19 May 2011

Interviews will be held on Friday 27 May, with posts starting w/c 6 June.

hcmf// 2011: Friday 18 - Sunday 27 November

Composers take off with European ensembles

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 10:46:31 +0000

Twelve talented young composers are set to launch their international careers by collaborating with Europe's most prestigious new music ensembles thanks to hcmf//'s new European Composers' Professional Development Programme.

The composers, who have been selected from universities and conservatoires in the U.K, Italy and The Netherlands, will be spending two intensive weekends visiting and working with either the Nieuw Ensemble (NL), Ensemble 10/10 (UK) or Icarus Ensemble, before having their works premiered at hcmf// 2011.

Developed as a result of the pioneering hcmf// and Nieuw Ensemble Composers' Professional Development Programme, the European Composers' Professional Development Programme is funded by European Commission Culture Programme and the Musicians Benevolent Fund and will benefit twenty-four composers from the three partner countries during 2011 and 2012.

The initiative aims to offer rising talents the chance to collaborate with a leading ensemble in a country other than their own, and to offer composers the space to experiment and try out new ideas which are not normally possible in time-pressured or public workshop contexts.

Central to the programme's ethos is a commitment to helping composers work alongside world-class musicians, ensuring that their work receives high quality, professional performances, as well as a guaranteed second performance and CD recording. It also provides participants with opportunities to develop particular skills in scoring for larger ensembles and more unusual combinations of instruments through the different ensembles' line-ups.

The selected composers for 2011 are:

Composers selected to work with Icarus Ensemble:

• Finola Merivale (UK, University of Leeds)
• Marcello Messina (UK, University of Leeds)
• Emre Kaleli (NL, Conservatorium van Amsterdam)
• Trevor Grahl (NL, Conservatorium van Amsterdam)

Composers selected to work with Nieuw Ensemble:

• Emily Wright (UK, Royal Northern College of Music)
• Matthew Sergeant (UK, University of Huddersfield)
• Giuseppe Califano (IT, Accademia di Imola)
• Bernardo Sannino (IT, Conservatorio di Napoli)

Composers selected to work with Ensemble 10/10:

• Yu Oda (NL, Conservatorium van Amsterdam)
• Hui-Tak Cheung (NL, Conservatorium van Amsterdam)
• Gaetano Nenna (IT, Reggio Emilia Conservatory)
• Alessio Ferrante (IT, Conservatorio ‘C. Monteverdi' di Bolzano)

Some of the composers on this year's programme will be blogging about their experiences during the year, so please check the blogs section over the coming weeks to read about their progress.

hcmf// is recruiting

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 13:43:18 +0000

Learning & Participation Officer

Salary up to £21,850 pro rata

Part-time - Job Share, 3 days per week
Fixed term contract until 29 February 2012

Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (hcmf//) requires a part-time Learning & Participation Officer with a minimum of 3 years experience of working in music outreach settings to jointly run our varied programme of creative learning projects.

You will need good communication and organisational skills, experience in fundraising, an interest in new and experimental music and tons of creative energy. The post is a 3 days a week (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) job share post from August 2011 - February 2012, with increased hours during the festival period in November (18 - 27 November 2011).

For further information about the Festival and our Learning & Participation programme please visit http://www.hcmf.co.uk
hcmf// is an equal opportunities employer. Criminal Records Bureau clearance will be required, application on appointment.

An application pack can requested by emailing r.hughes@hud.ac.uk
To apply please send a CV and a letter of application by post to:
Nikki Cassidy, hcmf//, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, HD1 3DH

For more information please contact Nikki Cassidy on 01484 472103 or e-mail n.cassidy@hud.ac.uk
Closing date for completed applications: 5pm Thursday 28 July 2011
Interviews: w/c Monday 1 August 2011

Experimental Music Roundtable at The Rambler

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:04:31 +0000

Leading new music blog, The Rambler (http://johnsonsrambler.wordpress.com) is to host an online discussion between four generations of experimental composers. The composers – Christian Wolff, Michael Parsons, Jürg Frey, James Saunders and Tim Parkinson – have all written new works for the Basel Sinfonietta. The programme of five works, under the collective title ‘From Scratch’, explores the legacy of the great British experimental composer Cornelius Cardew, and will be performed by the Sinfonietta as part of hcmf// 2011 on 20 November.

Between them, the five composers cover many of the main landmarks in the history of experimental music, from the ‘New York School’ of Cage and his contemporaries, to Cardew’s Scratch Orchestra, to Germany’s Wandelweiser group, to the new wave of British experimentalism. They will be joined in the conversations by Stefan Thut of the Basel Sinfonietta, and organiser of programme, and the conductor, Manuel Nawri.

The discussions will be held on a private messageboard during late October, then edited and published as a series of blog posts in advance of the Huddersfield concert. Previous roundtable events have been held with performers and composers associated with the ELISION ensemble, and with participants in London’s Music We’d Like to Hear concert series.

The Rambler’s author, the new music writer Tim Rutherford-Johnson, says:

“These roundtable discussions have proved a really great way of getting an insight into how what contemporary musicians think about. The messageboard format is more unpredictable than a conventional interview, and it often leads to composers and performers opening up a little more than they would usually.”

Don't miss these posts for a unique, behind-the-scenes insight into the thoughts and ideas behind this concert.

Larry Goves announced as PHF award recipient

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 15:46:24 +0000

The recipients of the 2011 Paul Hamlyn Foundation Awards for Artists were announced on 3rd November at a reception at the Royal Institute of British Architects, and included Larry Goves, who features at this year’s hcmf//.

He will receive £45,000 over the next three years in support of his practice. His piece Things that are blue, things that are white and things that are black, will be performed by London Sinfonietta on 19th November.

Another hcmf// alumni, John Butcher, also received an Award - his major full length composition Somethingtobesaid was commissioned by hcmf// in 2008.

The awards were announced by guest speaker Tom Service, the broadcaster and journalist, who made a speech in which he discussed creativity and arts funding:

To listen to excerpts from some pieces by Larry Goves, click here.

Richard Steinitz Book Launch

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 11:14:17 +0000

hcmf//’s founding Director Professor Richard Steinitz in conversation with BBC Radio 3 presenter Robert Worby to mark the launch of Explosions in November, a new book about the history of the Festival, published by the University of Huddersfield Press.

The launch takes place on Thursday 24th November 2011, at 2pm, in the Creative Arts Building, CAM G/01, University of Huddersfield. Everyone is welcome and the event is not ticketed.

All hcmf// online discounts now sold out

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 19:13:38 +0000

All online discounts for hcmf// are now sold out and no longer available, but you can still receive great discounts on tickets through our Festival Saver Tickets or by booking on the 17-25 Year Old Scheme, sponsored by the Royal Philharmonic Society.

Click here for more information

hcmf// 2011 biographies

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:41:00 +0000

1. Trondheim Soloists + Frode Haltli
http://www.trondheimsolistene.no
http://www.haltli.com
http://www.arnenordheim.com
http://www.schirmer.com/composers/kernis/bio.html
http://www.bentsorensen.net
http://nilshenrikasheim.no

2. Evan Parker's Electroacoustic Ensemble
http://evanparker.com/electroacoustic.php

3. Dokumentary Koncert #1: Bent Sorensen
http://www.bentsorensen.net

4. Oslo / Triptych
http://www.cikada.no
http://www.grenager.no
http://www.robinderaaff.com
http://www.jamesdillonmusic.com

5. Trance Map
http://evanparker.com
http://www.matt-wright.co.uk

6. London Sinfonietta
http://www.londonsinfonietta.org.uk
http://www.myspace.com/jexperholmen
http://www.lefterispapadimitriou.com
http://www.zubel.pl
http://www.duchnowski.pl
http://www.thehouseofbedlam.com/larry_goves/home.html

7. CONSTRUCTION
http://www.ump.co.uk/barrett.htm
http://www.elision.org.au

8. Cikada Ensemble: Laurence Crane @ 50
http://www.cikada.no
http://www.buene.com
http://www.myspace.com/laurencecrane

9. Quatuor Bozzini
http://www.quatuorbozzini.ca
http://www.jamesweeks.org
http://richardglover.wordpress.com
http://www.rozalie.com

10. ensemble recherche
http://www.ensemble-recherche.de
http://web.mac.com/stevendaverson/stevendaverson/Home.html
http://www.ffn.ub.es/jmparra/hector/Biography.html
http://www.boosey.com/composer/Harrison
http://www.ricordi.it/composers/r/fausto-romitelli/fausto-romitelli-1/view?set_language=en

11. from Scratch
http://sonicsfromscratch.co.nz
http://www.untitledwebsite.com
http://www.james-saunders.com

12. TablesAre Turned
http://members.chello.at/bernhard.lang
http://www.ongaku.de
http://www.philipjeck.com

13. ELISION
http://elision.org.au
http://www.elision.org.au/ELISION_Ensemble/Einar_Torfi_Einarsson_composer.html
http://users.telenet.be/paulcraenen
http://www.timothy-mccormack.com
http://franzson.com

14. Shadowplay
http://www.bentsorensen.net
http://www.cikada.no
http://www.scenatet.dk
http://www.trioaristos.com

15. Nieuw Ensemble
http://www.nieuw-ensemble.nl
http://www.shlom.com
http://members.chello.at/~bernhard.lang
http://www.maykenas.nl

16. Anton Lukoszevieze
http://kalvos.org/lukosze.html
http://www.myspace.com/zbigniewkarkowski

17. Nieuw Ensemble
http://www.hcmf.co.uk/ECPDP
http://www.nieuw-ensemble.nl
http://www.giuseppecalifano.net
http://www.myspace.com/matthewsergeant

18. Ensemble 10/10
http://www.hcmf.co.uk/ECPDP
http://www.odayu21.com

19. Icarus Ensemble
http://www.icarusensemble.com
http://flavors.me/marcellomessina
http://finolamerivale.com/Finola_Merivale/Home.html

20. NoTAM
http://www.notam02.no/web/?lang=en
http://mhm.hud.ac.uk/cerenem
http://www.cecilieore.no
http://sounz.org.nz/contributor/composer/1090
http://mhm.hud.ac.uk/cerenem/staff/rose-dodd
http://www.froholm.com

21. Arne Deforce
http://www.arnedeforce.be
http://www.iannis-xenakis.org/xen/index.html
http://www.bek.no/~ruben
http://www.jamesdillonmusic.com

22. Opera for Solo Piano
http://www.thenorwegianopra.no/trondreinholdtsen
http://www.markknoop.com

23. musikFabrik
http://www.musikfabrik.eu
http://www.vivosvoco.com
http://www.hcmf.co.uk/About-Rebecca-Saunders
http://www.boosey.com/pages/cr/composer/composer_main.asp?composerid=2729&langid=1&ttype=BIOGRAPHY&ttitle=Biography

24. Icarus Ensemble: Romitelli
http://www.icarusensemble.com
http://www.ricordi.it/composers/r/fausto-romitelli

25. ensemble h]i[atus + Jennifer Walshe
http://ryoanji.free.fr/?v=hiatus
http://cmc.ie/composers/composer.cfm?composerID=114
http://www.milker.org

26. Mark Knoop
http://www.markknoop.com
http://www.iannis-xenakis.org/xen/index.html
http://www.kreidler-net.de
http://www.stefanprins.be/eng/index.html
http://ablinger.mur.at

27. Anders Forisdal: Klaus Lang
http://klang.mur.at

28. Arditti Quartet + Ian Pace
http://www.ardittiquartet.co.uk
http://www.ianpace.com
http://www.iannis-xenakis.org/xen/index.html

29. Annie Gosfield: Floating Messages and Fading Frequencies
http://www.anniegosfield.com
http://www.athelas.dk

30. Quatuor Diotima
http://www.quatuordiotima.fr
http://www.oscarbianchi.com
http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~ts8
http://www.jamesdillonmusic.com

31. FIGURA Ensemble + Signe Asmussen
http://www.figura.dk/hovedmenu.6
http://www.signeasmussen.dk
http://en.ewh.dk/default.aspx?TabId=2449&State_2955=2&composerId_2955=191
http://www.steingrimur-rohloff.de
http://www.nicolaiworsaae.dk/nicolaiworsaae.dk/Home.html
http://en.ewh.dk/default.aspx?TabId=2449&State_2955=2&composerId_2955=177

32. Ensemble Linea: Ferneyhough
http://www.ensemble-linea.com
http://www.fabienlevy.net
http://brahms.ircam.fr/francesco-filidei
http://www.elision.org.au/ELISION_Ensemble/Brian_Ferneyhough_composer.html

33. On&Off
http://www.simonsteenandersen.dk
http://asamisimasa.com/-/sandbox/show?ref=mst

34. Gotterfunken
http://www.rosaensemble.nl
http://www.myspace.com/wilbertbulsink

35. Xenakis Choral Masterpieces: Classical / Radical
http://www.iannis-xenakis.org/xen/index.html
http://www.nlcc.org.uk
http://www.philharmonia.co.uk/orchestra/conductors/clementpowell
http://www.newmusicplayers.org.uk

36. Sorensen / Nono / Haas
http://www.bentsorensen.net
http://www.luiginono.it/en
http://kglteater.dk/en/OmKunstarterne/Opera/Kunstnere/Solistensemble/Gert%20Henning_Jensen.aspx
http://frederikmunklarsen.dk
http://www.andreasborregaard.com

New Karkowski workshop announced

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 10:44:18 +0000

Tuesday 22 November

10.00am - 12.00noon

Phipps Hall, Creative Arts Building, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, HD1 3DH

Cellist Anton Lukoszevieze will discuss and demonstrate the new work Nerve Cell-0 by Zbigniew Karkowski with regards to extended cello techniques, improvisatory schemata in correlation with live electronics, the unpredictability of live-performance situations and the aesthetics of noise.

Open to all, but particularly of interest to composers / improvisers / string players. Free to attend, but please book your place in advance by emailing Heidi Johnson at h.johnson@hud.ac.uk

Nerve Cell-0 will receive its world premiere at hcmf// on Tuesday 22 November at 10.00pm in Phipps Hall in the Creative Arts Building at the University of Huddersfield (Tickets can be booked here). Developed during a residency at EMS Stockholm, Nerve Cell_o is a monumental duo for cello and a complex central ‘nervous system' (FitzHughNagumo) of interactive live electronics. The cello part is a sonic 'landscape' of possible improvisatory strategies in response to and against the realtime electronic soundings.

Nerve Cell_o is commissioned by Sound and Music and EMS, Stockholm. Workshop supported by the Polish Cultural Institute

Welcome to Yorkshire announce continued support of hcmf//

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 13:52:32 +0000

hcmf// is preparing to welcome guests, composers, artists and audience members from around the world to Yorkshire over the coming weeks – and for the second year running the Festival is being supported by Welcome to Yorkshire, the county’s destination management organisation – confirming hcmf//’s place as a key event in the county’s cultural calendar.

This year, hcmf// will play host to around 25 music and cultural programmers, plus Festival directors from around the world, as part of the long-term partnership with British Council. Delegates will be attending the first weekend of the Festival, which forms a showcase for new British music and over the past few years has become established as an important annual meeting place for potential partners to discuss and develop multi-national projects, commissions and performances.

The Festival will also see performances from a multitude of leading international ensembles, alongside a focus on the music of Denmark and Norway.

Commenting on Welcome to Yorkshire’s partnership with hcmf//, Chief Executive Gary Verity said: “Now in it’s 34th year, hcmf// is clearly one of the county’s unique events and has strong international links, which have gone from strength to strength in recent years. Welcome to Yorkshire is delighted to support the Festival in presenting the very best new music to its audience and guests from across the country and around the world. Our partnership gives us the opportunity to ensure that they all receive a warm Yorkshire welcome along with lots of information about why the county is one of Europe’s leading cultural destinations.”

Welcome to Yorkshire’s support for the Festival has also contributed to the Oslo/Triptych concert Saturday 19 November, the programme for which includes the UK premiere of the piece Oslo/Triptych by Scottish composer James Dillon – whose career began in Yorkshire with the first ever public performance of his work – a piano piece performed at hcmf// in 1978.

Last tickets remaining for hcmf// 2011!

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 17:46:28 +0000

Last tickets remaining for hcmf// 2011!

All tickets for Trance Map have now sold out, and there are very few tickets remaining for Dokumentary Koncert #1: Bent Sørensen and Arditti Quartet + Ian Pace

Also selling fast are London Sinfonietta, ensemble recherche, Quatuor Diotima, Xenakis Choral Masterpieces: Classical / Radical, Sørensen / Nono / Haas and Oslo/Triptych.

Book online now to avoid missing out

Join the conversation: @HCMFUK and #hcmf

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 09:10:01 +0000

hcmf// 2011 is underway and there's plenty of discussion and debate year's Festival online. You'll also find instant content such as photos, interviews and reviews.

To hear what everyone's saying go to Twitter and search hashtag #hcmf or #hcmf2011. And don't forget to follow us at http://twitter.com/#!/HCMFUK.

We'll also be loading pictures from the Festival to our Facebook fan page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/HCMF/13748249668.

Record breaking crowds at hcmf// Free Monday!

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 20:51:15 +0000

Free Monday proved more popular than ever this year, with such huge audiences that at some performances the concert hall couldn't accommodate everyone - we're already looking at bigger venues for next year's Free Monday events in order to keep up with demand!

hcmf// receives Catalyst funding to develop fundraising capacity

Thu, 09 May 2013 16:51:54 +0000

hcmf// is part of a unique consortium of music organisations which has been awarded funding through Arts Council England's Catalyst Fund to transform philanthropic support for commissioning new work. The other consortium members are Sound and Music, the national organisation for new music, London Sinfonietta and Cafe Oto.

Announced on 8 May, the award of £129,500 will enable each organisation to launch innovative fundraising campaigns supporting new work by British composers.

From piloting new approaches to crowdfunding, to online and mobile giving campaigns and enabling mid-level donors to get involved in commissioning major new works, the consortium will be aiming to identify what works in practice for organisations of all sizes.

All findings from the project, and all the evidence gathered, will be shared with the wider sector.

As part of the consortium, hcmf// hopes to develop new insights into what motivates people to donate, and how best to use that knowledge to support the work of composers.

Over the next two years the consortium members will both directly fundraise for new commissions, whilst also leaving a lasting legacy of evidence and case studies for the sector.

Graham McKenzie, hcmf// Artistic Director commented:

'This award will enable hcmf// and the consortium partners to explore in depth the potential for philanthropic support for new music. hcmf// contributes over £1.2 million per year to the local economy, we have a strong record of supporting new and emerging composers and providing gateways to new international markets for composers through our networks. By generating increased support through individual giving we can, in turn, give more back - to the local area, to composers and artists.'

Susanna Eastburn, Chief Executive of Sound and Music, adds:

‘Commissioning new work is an essential part of the continuing health and vitality of music in Britain. It is also a great opportunity for people to be directly involved in bringing new work to life. We think there is the potential to unlock more individual philanthropic support for commissioning, and now, with the support of the Catalyst grant, the consortium partners can work together to make this a reality for themselves and, ultimately, for others in the sector.'

Sample hcmf// 2012 with Spotify

Wed, 23 May 2012 12:05:27 +0000

Check out our first Spotify playlist for hcmf// 2012. It's a chance to sample some of the composers and performers at this year's hcmf//, including composer-in-residence Maja Ratkje, Crash Ensemble and The Arditti Quartet.

If you have Spotify, click here to load playlist.

Rhodri Davies receives FCA Grant to Artists

Fri, 25 May 2012 14:04:10 +0000

hcmf// is delighted that Rhodri Davies has received one of this year's FCA (Foundation for Contemporary Arts) Grants to Artists.

Rhodri - who is one of only two UK recipients of this year's awards - was nominated confidentially by prominent artists and arts professionals and selected by the Directors of the Foundation and noted members of the arts community.

Grants to Artists was established in 1993 as a programme to provide significant, unrestricted assistance to individual artists. The unrestricted cash awards are intended to provide recipients with the financial means to engage in whatever artistic endeavours they wish to pursue, to research and develop ideas, embark on projects and complete projects already underway. Grants to Artists often serve as a catalyst that propels an artist into a new phase in their career. Because the awards are nominated and selected by respected members of the arts community, artists are also given a valuable boost of confidence.

‘Foundation for Contemporary Arts is pleased to be able to continue its commitment to individual artists in 2012,' said Stacy Stark, Executive Director. ‘This kind of acknowledgement and support gives artists unfettered time to experiment with new ideas and continue their work.'

Apartment House wins RPS Music Award

Fri, 25 May 2012 16:21:49 +0000

hcmf// alumni Apartment House recently became the first contemporary ensemble to win the RPS Music Award for Chamber Music and Song for their revelatory performances of John Cage's music at the Queen Elizabeth Hall London.

Anton Lukoszevieze, the group's Artistic Director, was presented with the prestigious award at the ceremony held at the Dorchester Hotel on Tuesday 8 May, presented in association with BBC Radio 3.

‘Their performances are always revelatory, and the concert of John Cage's music at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in September 2011 was an epiphany, confirming the status of Apartment House as one of the most innovative and exciting chamber ensembles in Europe.'
Winner's citation

See Janek Schaefer's Extended Play again

Fri, 25 May 2012 17:18:03 +0000

Janek Schaefer's award winning installation Extended Play will make its debut at festivals in Scotland and Copenhagen this year.

The installation - commissioned by hcmf// in 2007 - is a poignant, but ultimately uplifting tribute to child survivors of conflict. It was inspired by Schaefer's reflections upon the contrast between the circumstances surrounding the birth of his daughter in Surrey in 2005, and that of his mother, born in war-torn Warsaw in 1942.

Schaefer took a phrase from a Polish tango song that formed part of Jodoform, a system of coded messages transmitted to underground resistance fighters by the BBC World Service. This particular song was broadcast on the day his mother was born. Working with arranger Michael Jennings, he adapted it into a piece for violin, cello and piano. Each part was recorded separately and pressed onto a onto a 12" vinyl EP.

For the original installation, nine identical record players in Huddersfield Art Gallery simultaneously played copies of the three recordings at 33, 45 and 78 rpm, creating a bittersweet blend of harmony and dissonance that echoed the uncertainties faced by children born into conflict. Additionally, motion sensors attached to each turntable caused the music to halt briefly when visitors passed, underlining the impact of each individual upon the lives of others.

Learn new skills as an hcmf// intern

Thu, 31 May 2012 19:34:33 +0000

hcmf// is looking for two outstanding individuals for the voluntary worker roles of Events Intern and Learning & Participation Intern. These posts are an excellent opportunity for two people to gain invaluable experience working within the field of arts management at the UK's premier festival of new music.

For more information about the posts and how to apply, please follow the link below:

http://hcmf.co.uk/Learn-new-skills-as-an-hcmf-intern-1

Claudia Molitor's trip to Hamburg

Tue, 10 Jul 2012 10:18:25 +0000

Two years ago I heard the Hamburg based ensemble Resonanz playing at hcmf// and instantly fell in love with their playing. So when Graham McKenzie asked me to write for the ensemble I was excited by the prospect and started writing down ideas immediately... but then I was invited to spend some time with Resonanz in Hamburg!

I heard many fantastic sounds, both inside the rehearsal space and outside in the city and met many lovely people, such as conductor Peter Rundel, whose sensitivity to the music during rehearsals was incredible, Helmut Lachenmann, who was full of wonderful stories, Tobias Rempe whose vision for Resonanz is inspiring, and of course all the wonderful musicians!

Oh yes, and completely coincidentally on the plane on the way back Mira Calix, who happened to be performing in Hamburg, which made a wonderful end to a wonderful trip.

Before I left for Hamburg I had a pretty good idea of the piece I was going to write. Now though, and I hope Tobias and Graham don't find this too unsettling, after spending some time amidst the sounds of Resonanz everything is open again - so many possibilities! Maybe another coffee at the Cafe Unter den Linden in Hamburg might clarify things! But whatever materializes I am very much looking forward to Resonanz making it come alive in November.

Claudia Molitor

hcmf// shorts announced

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 12:05:08 +0000

Five artists have been selected for this year's hcmf// shorts. These short performances provide a platform for emerging artists to perform at the UK's leading new music festival. The artists have been chosen from a record number of submissions this year, via an open application process. Each short will present either new works or an innovative interpretation of existing contemporary pieces. The programme includes an eclectic mix of instrumental and vocal performers, electroacoustic musicians, contemporary interpretation of folk and traditional music, and experimental music performed alongside performance art. The concerts will take place in venues across Huddersfield on Monday 19 November, and admission is free.

The five successful applicants are as follows:

Fabian Coomans and Elisa Medinilla

Enno Poppe Rad

Fabian Coomans keyboard
Elisa Medinilla keyboard

Fabian Coomans and Elisa Medinilla are performers of contemporary music who met in Belgium during a fellowship with Ictus Ensemble and Spectra Ensemble. The fellowship programme provided the perfect environment for the duo to explore new horizons in European contemporary music. The duo will perform Rad, described by Poppe as ‘a systematic summary of many years of work on microintervals'.

Allison/Herbert/Isaacs

John Lely Distance Learning
G Douglas Barrett A Few Marlenes (Where Have All the Flowers Gone?)
Alison Knowles Nivea Cream Piece

Pat Allison/Johnny Herbert/ Ben Isaacs performers

Allison/Herbert/Issacs is a performance trio, based in Huddersfield, with an interest in experimental music and performance art. As both composers and performers of the edges ensemble, they have made numerous appearances at hcmf// in recent years.

Horses Brawl

Improvisation

Laura Cannell fiddles and recorders
Andre Bosman Indian harmonium and acoustic bass guitar

Horses Brawl is an experimental duo based in Norfolk. Their contemporary approach to folk hints at minimalism, free-improvisation and tradition. They unearth fragments of lost or forgotten tunes from folk and early music sources and create instant new pieces through improvisation. The duo has released four albums and has performed widely throughout the UK.

Tamara Friebel with Gobi Drab

Tamara Friebel A defragmented hyacinth stain: Sappho's Fragment

Tamara Friebel live electronics
Gobi Drab recorder

Tamara Friebel is a composer, performer and media artist, who met recorder player, Gobi Drab, whilst both studying in Vienna. Tamara will recreate the smearing of colour and the destruction of a bunch of hyacinth during this performance.

‘The energy lines [of this piece] are littered with debris, unfocalised yet bound by a certain, unknown constraint. The piece gradually uncovers its own unknown script, its graphic dimension which is to be solved uniquely by the performer. The performer draws from the knowledge of the compositional world it encounters at first, and then approaches the dissolution of this knowledge, as the conventional notation disappears.' Tamara Friebel

Michelle O'Rourke

Garrett Sholdice Recueillement
Judith Ring To pull an eerie twist
John Cage Experiences No. 2

Michelle O'Rourke voice
Kate Ellis cello

Based in Berlin and Dublin, Michelle O'Rourke is an Irish vocalist with an interest in exploring both the extremes of capability of the human voice, and the construction and contextualisation of melody within contemporary vocal music. Recent performances include appearances with Ergodos Musicians in New York, Crash Ensemble in Dublin and Tryst in Berlin.

Claudia Molitor's Remember Me

Tue, 21 Aug 2012 14:41:54 +0000

Claudia Molitor's Remember Me is an intimate, miniature, multi-media opera...in a desk!

Inspired by an antique which the composer inherited from her grandmother, Remember Me tells the story of an imagined friendship between ill fated opera heroines, Dido and Eurydice, on a tiny stage, with no singers.

Complete with film, orchestral pit visit, live composition, interval refreshments and a "Cinderella" ending, this playful and imaginative opera questions whether big really is better.

Project Credits: A Cryptic production by Claudia Molitor for Sonica, co-commissioned by hcmf//, supported by the PRS for Music Foundation and RVW Trust.

Remember Me will be performed as part of the hcmf// Shorts strand on Mon 19 Nov in Bates Mill.

Buy tickets

Watch the delightful trailer:

Take a journey of discovery with The Music Map

Mon, 03 Sep 2012 10:13:47 +0000

The Music Map is an interactive tool created by NMC Recordings which allows you to explore the relationships between composers, their influences and their work.

It's enormous fun and a little bit addictive, particularly for us because so many artists with links to hcmf// feature on the map.

Make yourself a cuppa and click here to start your own journey.

Online discount tickets selling fast!

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 12:03:08 +0000

Online discount tickets for hcmf// 2012 are selling fast (discounted tickets for performances by the Arditti Quartet and ensemble recherche have sold out already!) - so if you'd like to buy tickets at our brilliant online rates, please book as soon as possible. Discounts are available online until 7 October 2012 - or earlier if limits are reached before that date.

Join the Glenn Branca Fund-it campaign

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 15:10:06 +0000

Help Ireland's foremost new music group Crash Ensemble commission a new work by the legendary Glenn Branca!

The creative partnership between Crash Ensemble and Glenn Branca will allow for an important and ground-breaking new work to be created by an internationally renowned composer for an Irish ensemble - and you can help.

To raise support for the new work, Crash Ensemble have launched a Fund-it campaign - donations start from just 5 Euros, and funders will receive a whole host of rewards, from tickets to the world and UK premieres, to champagne with Glenn Branca and Crash Ensemble following the UK premiere performance at hcmf// 2012 on Sunday 18 November.

For more information (and to join the campaign) please visit:
http://www.fundit.ie/project/glenn-branca-writes-for-crash-ensemble

RIP John Tchicai

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 12:19:28 +0000

hcmf// is saddened to hear of the death of the wonderful Danish saxophonist / composer John Tchicai. With our partners Wundergrund festival in Copenhagen hcmf// had commissioned a new work from John to be performed at hcmf// 2012. This was postponed to 2013 following his stroke earlier this year. Our sympathies and thoughts are with John's family at this time.

Arne Nordheim Centre Opens

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 09:04:17 +0000

A new centre devoted to the musical legacy and pioneering spirit of Arne Nordheim has opened at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. Nordheim, who died in 2010 at the age of 78, was Norway’s leading composer through the latter part of the 20th century and is featured at this year’s Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. His works range from early and controversial experiments in electronic music, to the orchestral piece Epitaffio and a score for The Tempest, which was the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet’s greatest success to date.

“For most Norwegians Arne Nordheim's name is equivalent with contemporary music, says Hilde Holbæk-Hanssen, Senior Adviser at Music Information Centre Norway. “But he was also a national character who was the Head of the Norwegian Performing Rights Society. He was first and foremost a talisman for Norwegian culture and arts, with a high degree of credibility. For the last 25 years of his life he lived in the Norwegian State Honourable Residence, ‘Grotten’, which is the highest achievement a Norwegian artist can achieve.”

The Arne Nordheim centre for artistic research was established in the autumn of 2011 and officially opened on 10 September this year, with the event celebrated by an evening devoted to Nordheim and other Norwegian contemporary music at the Ultima festival in Oslo. Headed by Professor Harald Herresthal, the centre has three parts: one for experimental music, to promote interdisciplinary artistic expression; one for improvised music, which will work with musicians to develop different projects, and one devoted to collecting, digitising and making available performances and interpretations of Nordheim’s work, starting with a project to preserve Nordheim’s electroacoustic music.

The centre will also oversee artistic research on contemporary music at the Academy as a whole, hosting concerts and lectures and providing resources to inspire staff and students to discover more about contemporary composition. It will collaborate with Ultima again next September in hosting a conference on electroacoustic music, with one on modern improvisation also planned for springtime 2013.

Nordheim’s influence can be heard in a number of composers featured at this year’s hcmf//, including Composer in Residence Maja SK Ratkje and Rolf Wallin. On Saturday 24 November, Nordheim’s 1975 concerto Spur will be performed by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, with soloist Frode Haltli, who will also be launching his new album of Nordheim’s accordion music.

“The music of Nordheim has followed me since I was a teenager,” Haltli says. “Arne Nordheim's works for accordion have helped revolutionise our perception of what the accordion can be. In his world, the instrument is clearly stereophonic, with its two, equivalent manuals. It rumbles in the depths, and sounds almost like a sinus tone in its high register. It can be organic, puffing and panting, yet it can emit an almost clinical, electronic sound, too.”

You can read more about Nordheim and his influence here on the hcmf// website and also on Music Information Centre Norway’s website. His album Electric, which collects his late-1960s tape music experiments, is available to listen to on Spotify here.

Click here to buy tickets for the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra concert featuring Arne Nordheim’s Spur on Saturday 24 November.

hcmf// UK Composer Opportunity: Composer's Kitchen

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 18:29:33 +0000

Bozzini Quartet & hcmf//
Composer's Kitchen 2013 - 9th edition
Invitation to composers

The Workshops
Montreal, Canada: Sunday 21 April to Saturday 27 April 2013
Huddersfield, UK: 15 - 24 November 2013 (exact dates to be confirmed)

The Bozzini Quartet (Montreal) announces the ninth edition of the Composer's Kitchen in its expanded format in collaboration with the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (hcmf//), the UK's largest international festival of new and experimental music.

The Kitchen
This unique event revolving around the string quartet is a combination workshop, laboratory, playground, and master class. Over the course of a week, the Bozzini Quartet and two experienced composers will observe the work of four up-and-coming composers. Their compositions will be read, played, assessed, analyzed, worked on, played again, and performed in the closing concert.

The Bozzini Quartet and two mentor-composers (Michael Oesterle, Montreal/Canada, and Laurence Crane, London/UK) will work with the participants in an informal yet intensive atmosphere.

The Exchange
The Composer's Kitchen hosts an exchange with the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, providing the opportunity for two UK composers to attend the Canadian edition, and two Canadian composers to attend the UK edition of the Composer's Kitchen. All four participants attend both phases:

1. the seven-day workshop in April 2013 in Montreal, ending with a public laboratory-concert, and

2. a three-day follow-up masterclass in Huddersfield, UK in November 2013, to refresh and bring to maturity the work which was developed in the springtime. This phase closes with a feature concert at hcmf//

Eligibility and Selection
The Composer's Kitchen 2013 is open to the up-and-coming generation of

- Canadian composers (Canadian citizen or permanent resident), and
- United Kingdom composers (born in the UK or foreign nationals who are permanently resident in the UK)

From all eligible applicants a total of four participants (two from Canada, two from the UK) will be chosen. The applications will be judged for the originality, creativity, artistic vision, and craft represented by the compositions submitted. The Bozzini Quartet reserves the right to select participants. Incomplete applications, or those which do not fulfill the eligibility criteria will not be submitted to the jury.

Financial information
Each successful applicant is awarded a full tuition scholarship. In addition, the participants' travel is supported according to the following chart:

	Travel to Montreal	Travel to Huddersfield
UK participants	Travel and accommodation are paid through financial support	Travel and accommodation are paid by hcmf//
Quebec participants	At the participant’s expense	Travel and accommodation are paid through financial support
Non-Quebec Canadian participants	The Bozzini Quartet will support the participant’s applications to travel grants through the Canada Council for the Arts, the participant’s home provincial arts council, universities and other sources

Application procedure

Submit your application no later than 10 November 2013

We are accepting electronic applications only.

1. Complete the application form at the link below electronically (in Word or OpenOffice)

2. Save your completed version of this form with a new name as follows: yourlastname_CK2013form

3. Prepare a folder, named yourlastname_CK2013app and include the following files:
- The excel form, completed and renamed
- Two sound examples, .mp3 or .m4a (no .aiff accepted) files clearly labeled
- Two scores in .pdf format, files clearly labeled
- Your CV in .pdf format

4. Send this folder to office@quatuorbozzini.ca via YouSendIt, or other online file transfer service.

5. As a confirmation, send a separate email to office@quatuorbozzini.ca to let us know that you have sent your application.

For more information, contact office@quatuorbozzini.ca

To read about Scott McLaughlin's experience as a participant at the 2012 Composer's Kitchen, click here

Tickets selling fast - book now to avoid disappointment

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 10:03:45 +0000

With just two weeks to go till hcmf// 2012, tickets are selling fast and we’re starting to run low on availability for certain events.

If any of the concerts below are on your wish list, we recommend that you book soon!

Arditti Quartet
Nicolas Hodges
Heather Roche: Clarinet +
Lifelines
Ensemble Resonanz
Vigilia
the SONG-CAGE
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra: Rihm
ensemble recherche
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra: Pintscher

Click here to view the programme and to make your booking

Check out the hcmf// sampler

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 06:24:09 +0000

Here's something that we're really excited to be able to share with you. We teamed up with record label NMC to curate a special hcmf// sampler which you can buy from iTunes for the very reasonable sum of £2.49.

Not only that, hcmf// Artistic Director, Graham McKenzie, has written extensive liner notes to explain his selection. The full track list is:

1. Chris Newman - Grooving through old tombs

2. David Bedford - Even Now

3. Donnacha Dennehy - Streetwalker

4. Laurence Crane - Sparling

5. Claudia Molitor - my favourite sound

6. Sam Hayden - schismatics

7. Dai Fujikura - Sakana (from Okeanos)

8. Jonathan Harvey - Timepieces (I)

9. Howard Skempton - Kettle's Yard Canon

10. James Dillon - birl

Click here link to find out more.

hcmf// 2013 fully programmed

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 12:41:11 +0000

We are very excited to announce that hcmf// 2013 is now fully programmed!

To find out more about how to submit proposals for hcmf// 2014 and 2015, please click here.

Two UK-based composers invited to Composer’s Kitchen in Montreal

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 14:21:30 +0000

High-octane Montreal-based Bozzini Quartet has invited two young UK-based composers – Seán Clancy and Amber Priestley - to take part in the ninth edition of its annual Composer’s Kitchen workshop from April 21 – 27, 2013 in Montréal.

Their composers were chosen for the originality, creativity, artistic vision, and craft shown in the compositions they submitted.

The format of Composer’s Kitchen has been expanded this year – thanks to an ongoing collaboration with hcmf//.

Described as a combination of workshop, laboratory, playground and masterclass, Composer’s Kitchen offers four up-and-coming composers – two from Canada and two from the UK – the opportunity to have their compositions read, played, assessed, analysed, worked on, played again and performed in the week’s closing concert.

The Bozzini Quartet and two mentor-composers (Michael Oesterle, Montréal/Canada, and Laurence Crane, London/UK) will work with the participants in an informal yet intensive atmosphere.

Later in the year the four composers will reconvene in Huddersfield during the 2013 hcmf// (November 15 – 24) for a three-day follow-up masterclass culminating in a public concert of works by each of the composers, performed by the Bozzini Quartet.

The Canadian composers selected for the 2013 Composer’s Kitchen are Simon Martin (QC) and Marielle Groven (CAN).

Seán Clancy

Birmingham-based, Dublin born composer Seán Clancy’s (b. 1984) music has been described as ‘exploring the tensions between found and original material, narrative and rupture, elite and vernacular values, and between innovation and intervention’ (Journal of Music).

His music has been commissioned and performed internationally by world renowned artists including; The RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Susan Narucki, Garth Knox, Orkest de ereprijs, Crash Ensemble, Fidelio Trio, Schubert Ensemble, Darragh Morgan & Mary Dullea, Lontano, Decibel, Dublin Guitar Quartet, Duo Vita, Ensemble ICC, Ergodos Voices, The Curious Chamber Players, Thumb, Steve Potter and the Composers Ensemble and has been broadcast on amongst others; RTÉ lyric fm (Ireland), BBC Radio 3 (UK), and Klassika Raadio (Estonia).

Website: http://www.seanlclancy.wordpress.com

Amber Priestley

Born in the shadow of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Amber Priestley has lived in the U.K. since 1991. She obtained her BA at the University of Sussex and her doctorate in composition at the University of York. Some recent performances include: Then You Are In Clover (Queens' College, Cambridge commission); Such Nights I Get All The Free Margins (Damien Harron/spnm commission); and If you really loved me, you'd stop playing that piano and listen to me (Claudia Molitor commission).

The majority of her work deals directly with musicians performing both music and theatre. Another of her major preoccupations lies in open-form scores: Amber is interested in trying to allow again for a possibility where time is not fixed, and each time a piece is experienced the music has the chance to be different. She is also interested in allowing the performers’ individuality to emerge through her scores.

Website: http://www.amberpriestley.com

PRS for Music supports hcmf// 2013

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 10:08:57 +0000

Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival is proud to once again be the recipient of funding from the PRS for Music Foundation. hcmf// is delighted to have been granted a three-year funding commitment which will ensure that the Festival continues to be UK’s leading celebration of new and experimental music.

The PRS for Music Foundation is an independent charitable foundation which grew out of the rights management and collecting society PRS for Music. PRS for Music Foundation is the UK's leading funder of new music across all genres. Since 2000 PRS for Music Foundation has given more than £14 million to over 4,000 new music initiatives by awarding grants and leading partnership programmes that support music sector development. Widely respected as an adventurous and proactive funding body, PRS for Music Foundation supports an exceptional range of new music activity– from composer residencies and commissions to festivals and showcases in the UK and overseas.

The PRS for Music Foundation support for hcmf// contributes towards both the day-to-day operations of the festival and specific new commissions and projects – supporting British composers and artists at key moments in their careers.

For more information about PRS for Music Foundation please visit the PRS for Music Foundation’s website.

hcmf// shorts 2013: call for proposals

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 10:39:58 +0000

Perform at the UK's leading festival of new music

hcmf// shorts is a series of short informal performances which this year will take place all day on Monday 18 November 2013 in various venues in Huddersfield. They provide up-and-coming musicians with a valuable platform to perform for members of the public, media and key music industry representatives at the UK's leading new music Festival.

hcmf// will provide:

Music stands, chairs and microphones (on request)
Piano (cannot be prepared)
PA: 16 channel desk, 4 speakers, CD play back

How to apply:

To apply for hcmf// shorts please download the application form from below or request one from the hcmf// office by calling +44 (0) 1484 471116 or e-mailing s.mcwatt@hud.ac.uk

Post your completed application form along with a separate proposal (which should be no longer than one side of A4) and supporting audio material to: Sarah McWatt, hcmf// shorts, Room TC/09, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, HD1 3DH, UK.

Please only submit one proposal per ensemble / performer and ensure that any audio material is directly relevant to your proposal.

Deadline for proposals: 10am, Monday 20 May 2013

After you've submitted your proposal, hcmf//'s Artistic Director, Graham McKenzie, will select a number of performers/ensembles to take part in hcmf// shorts 2013. You will be notified by Monday 3 June if your proposal has been chosen to feature in hcmf// shorts.

‘Thanks for this great opportunity, and for giving our careers a giant push forward!'

‘A very, very useful experience for any young performer. I would highly recommend applying for it.'

Past hcmf// shorts performers