We are delighted to share the full programme for hcmf// 2024 with all ticketed events now on sale.
The UK’s leading festival of contemporary and experimental music returns for its 47th edition this autumn, running from Friday 15 – Sunday 24 November. Featuring over 20 World Premieres and dozens of UK Premieres across its 10-day duration, the programme showcases globally renowned luminaries and rising stars across the concerts, installations, talks and workshops that make hcmf// the primary destination for new music.
From the opening performance by the Arditti Quartet, who celebrate their 50th anniversary this year, to the concerts of Composer in Residence Lina Lapelytė (playing alongside Rhodri Davies-formed ensemble Common Objects as well as a choir of untrained voices from Huddersfield), there is no shortage of highlights across this year’s festival. Eminent American trumpeter and composer Wadada Leo Smith exhibits the full breadth of his artistry, English-German composer, artist and performer Claudia Molitor presents multiple World Premieres in her 50th year and rising Icelandic bassist/composer Bára Gísladóttir returns with an extended solo concert.
The festival continues to celebrate ground-breaking music from Ireland and Lithuania through partnerships with Culture Ireland, the Lithuanian Culture Institute and Music Information Centre Lithuania. Additionally, a new partnership with Music Finland paves the way for Finnish artists to share their culture and compositions with UK audiences. hcmf// is proud to present six new commissions at the festival with the support of partners, funders and collaborators. The festival’s focus on climate change and sustainability resumes with the Current Climate programme on Thursday 21 November, while the hcmf// shorts programme of world-class, bite-sized concerts takes place on Monday 18 November. Both days are free for audiences to attend.
“I am pleased to now announce the full programme for hcmf// 2024! Composer in Residence, Lithuanian artist Lina Lapelytė heads up a programme which embraces ‘eclecticism’ throughout its core. From Lapelytė’s references to pop culture, folk idioms and opera, before subtly moving to the margins; the impossible-to-categorise sound world of Claudia Molitor, and the iconic American trumpeter and composer Wadada Leo Smith, inventor of the musical language Ankhrasmation.
We launch a new programme strand Music Traditions in a Contemporary Context with a festival debut for the Shovel Dance Collective, an experimental nine-piece ensemble who see traditional music not as an archaeological artefact but as a living communal activity, and we continue to platform cultural responses to the climate crisis with performances by Helen Anahita Wilson and Finnish composer and activist Matilda Seppälä.”
– Graham McKenzie, Chief Executive and Artistic Director, hcmf//
Tickets for individual concerts are on sale now, available in Standard or Under 30s tier; Under 30s tickets are available to attendees aged under 30 as well as full-time mature student attendees of any age. Full Festival Saver tickets offer one of the best ways for dedicated attendees to experience the full festival in depth.
The 47th edition of Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, hcmf// 2024, takes place Friday 15 – Sunday 24 November 2024. Book your place at the forefront of sound.