It was in early 2020 that we initially announced Chaya Czernowin as our Composer in Residence. At the time, we wrote that we were thrilled to welcome her ‘speculative’ music to the festival, to ‘delve into the otherness’ that persists in her music. We made reference to her own, fascinating way of describing sound: as a portrayal of ‘a possible, but unfamiliar existence’. We then found ourselves living through one.
Czernowin’s work is often compared to archeology; rather than write linear pieces, her music digs downwards, into the earth. It seems strangely fitting that as soon as we announced her feature role at the 2020 festival we all had to burrow away for a year, to cancel and re-make plans, to exchange Huddersfield for the internet and come up with something entirely different for hcmf// 2020. To go somewhere possible, but unfamiliar.
For hcmf// 2021, we’re feeling immensely grateful that we can switch back to the real world. With the return of in-person events, we can finally realise the immense settings that Czernowin’s large-scale work demands, with spaces that can attend to the resonances of her music, as well as the minute details found within her writing. We’re delighted, once again, to be able to say it: Chaya Czernowin is the hcmf// Composer in Residence for 2021.
Czernowin’s work will be premiered by some of the world’s most renowned performers. Ensemble Musikfabrik have been working closely with her on The Fabrication of Light, a piece that typifies Czernowin’s ambiguous, illusory approach. She compares its structure to optical illusions – ‘colours that seem striking and deep, but that aren’t really there’. Coupled with clarinet soloist Gareth Davis, the Riot Ensemble return to hcmf// with co-commission Fast Darkness, while the Arditti Quartet and IRCAM will also present HIDDEN, one of the Israeli-American composer’s most impactful compositions, combining string quartet, electronics and multi-speakers.
We’re excited to have lots more to share in the coming weeks about Czernowin, and the 2021 festival programme at large. Read more about Chaya Czernowin’s music in our full-length feature on her work here.
Q&A with Chaya Czernowin
Ahead of hcmf// 2021, we have an online Q&A session taking place with Chaya Czernowin. Hosted by BBC Radio 3’s Robert Worby, this event will provide an in-depth look at Czernowin’s storied music career. Initially for hcmf// members, the full interview will be made available to all as a stream from Tuesday 14 September through to 22 November. We’d love to hear from you – if you have a question for Chaya Czernowin, please e-mail it to Marketing & Development Officer Robin Smith (r.smith2@hud.ac.uk) by Thursday 9 September.