It is our great pleasure to announce Lina Lapelytė as Composer in Residence at hcmf// 2024. The 47th edition of the UK’s leading festival of new and experimental music will take place between Friday 15 – Sunday 24 November, comprising a 10-day programme packed with dozens of concerts, installations and exhibitions including World and UK Premieres from internationally renowned luminaries of the field.
Born in Kaunas, Lithuania, Lapelytė is known for a performance-based practice rooted in music, flirting with pop culture, gender stereotypes and nostalgia. Her works engage trained and untrained performers, often in an act of singing through a wide range of genres such as mainstream music and opera. Singing takes the form of a collective and affective event, questioning vulnerability and acts of silencing.
Her collaborative opera with Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė and Vaiva Grainytė, Have a Good Day! holds several awards and has toured extensively, its libretto translated to nine languages. Their collaborative work Sun and Sea (Marina) represented Lithuania at the Venice Biennale of Art in 2019 and received the Golden Lion award for the best national participation.
Lapelytė’s residency at hcmf// 2024 is part of the festival’s partnership with Lithuanian Culture Institute and Music Information Centre Lithuania, now in its third year.
“It is exciting to announce Lithuanian artist Lina Lapelytė as this year’s Composer in Residence! A mixed media artist, Lapelytė challenges notions of what is understood by the term composer in today’s world. Her work in music and sound often begins in the mainstream – whether referencing pop culture, folk idioms, or opera – before subtly moving to the margins and beyond! Curated in partnership with Lapelytė, the selection of her works presented at hcmf// guide us through her artistic practice to date, and most importantly shine a light on her ability to connect to people across all backgrounds and cultures.”
– Graham McKenzie, Chief Executive and Artistic Director, hcmf//
“In 2006 when I moved to London, hcmf// was the name I kept hearing, my musician friends would all travel there to play or to listen. In 2024, to be the Composer in Residence in this extraordinary gathering of sounds and people feels somewhat bizarre yet extremely exciting – as I am still unlearning how to be a musician and I do not feel very comfortable with the term composer. The notion of contemporary music has been changing so much and I am glad to join the journey of hcmf// for the search of what it can become again.”
– Lina Lapelytė, Composer in Residence, hcmf// 2024
Works by Lina Lapelytė at hcmf// 2024
Lina Lapelytė will perform in concert with the Rhodri Davies-formed ensemble Common Objects, also featuring Angharad Davies, John Butcher, Lee Patterson and Pat Thomas.
Additionally, the UK Premiere of Study of Slope will see members of Common Objects perform with a choir of local singers who consider themselves to be non-musical. In this performance, voices once silenced by Western musical traditions that exclude those who are considered to sing ‘off-key’ will be brought to the fore, overturning conventional categorisations.
Ladies sees four horizontal harp players present notions of dance and of labour-intensive factory work through their visual presence and stage mannerisms, as well as their playing. Pirouette, meanwhile, is an intimate and experiential meditation on physical endurance, aging, movement, displacement and fragility – intended for retired ballerina and saxophonist.
Named for the single by rapper 50 Cent, Candy Shop – the Circus is an ongoing and evolving performance, serving as a song, conversation, intervention, provocation, audition and dance class all at once. It reworks the games of power embedded in hip-hop songs into lullabies, instead narrating a story of beauty, gender and the mundane.
The 47th edition of Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, hcmf// 2024, takes place Friday 15 – Sunday 24 November 2024.
Stay tuned via social media or our newsletter for more information on this year’s festival.