hcmf// and moers festival are excited to offer 4 UK-based musicians the opportunity to take part in a three-day workshop residency and performance as part of XN (X perimental N counters), a three-year collaboration between two of Europe’s leading experimental music festivals which aims to champion new and underrepresented voices in experimental sound and create new international platforms for innovation.
Led by musician and visual artist Simon Rummel, the goal of the workshop is to gather a group of adventurous players with different musical backgrounds and styles, who can benefit from each other’s practical and philosophical approach to playing and creating music together. Over the course of three days, this newly created ensemble will focus on sharing each other’s experiences as improvisers, composers and beyond, co-creating a new suite or series of pieces which highlight everyone’s personality and strengths, while melding them into a unique and collective group sound.
The culmination of this collaborative process will be a quintet performance on Saturday 21 November, as part of hcmf// 2026.
Key information
Workshop dates: Thursday 19 – Saturday 21 November (applicants must be able to be present in Huddersfield on all three dates)
Performance date: Saturday 21 November
Fee: £1,400 (travel & accommodation costs will be covered)
Applicants must be UK-based. Applications from artists based outside of the UK will be considered ineligible.
How to apply
To apply, please email the following material to Nathan Bragg-Beck at info@hcmf.co.uk with the subject line ‘XN open call application 2026’:
– A short biography (up to 300 words)
– A statement describing why you would like to take part in the residency (up to 300 words)
– A maximum of 3 relevant examples of your work, including audio examples if these exist
– A completed monitoring form (click here to download)
Applications may be written or they can take the form of a short video (2 minutes max). Written applications must be in either Word or PDF format. Video applications must not be in the style of a trailer/promo video and must provide the information outlined above. Audio/AV material must be in the form of web links – MP3/4 attachments will not be accepted.
If your application to take part in our 2025 XN residency was successful, we ask you not to apply this time as we are keen to support as wide a range of music creators as possible.
Application deadline: 5pm on 1 October 2026
If you have any questions or would like to discuss the callout, please contact Nathan Bragg-Beck at info@hcmf.co.uk
About Simon Rummel
Simon Rummel was a choirboy before studying music and sculpture in Cologne and Düsseldorf. A central focus of his music is on microtonality and using slow tempos that allow the ear to follow corresponding changes and modulations. He has built various devices out of wood to explore unknown combinations of sound and, similar to musical kaleidoscopes, continuously generate microtonal harmonies or sequences of notes sometimes in collaboration with other artists. In 2023, a comprehensive exhibition of these constructions, entitled In den Klang hineingehen (Stepping into the Sound), was presented by Walkmühle Artists’ Association in Wiesbaden. As a film composer, Simon has collaborated with director M.X. Oberg on the film Zazy (2016) which won the German Film Music Award in 2017, and with Alisa Berger for her film Invisible People (2024). He has led the Simon Rummel Ensemble for over 10 years, and currently works as a church musician at the Tersteegenkirche in Cologne-Dünnwald and as a choir director.
About hcmf//
hcmf// is the UK’s largest international festival of new and experimental music, taking place over 10 days each November and featuring 50+ events – including performances, installations, exhibitions, talks and workshops – as well as a year-round Learning & Participation programme. hcmf// aims to provide life-changing and unique artistic experiences to as wide an audience as possible; to be an international platform for new music and related contemporary art forms in the UK; to enthuse existing audiences and draw in new ones through adventurous programming and diverse, informed presentation; to provide innovative creative opportunities for all; to reduce our environmental impact and make progress towards sustainability; and to be an ambitious, dynamic participant within our cultural community.
About moers festival
The internationally renowned moers festival has been held annually at Whitsun since 1972 and has been organized by Moers Kultur GmbH since 2005. Over the course of five decades, the festival has continued to open up and expand from its origins as a pure new jazz festival; in 2026, it bears the subtitle “…like a fairytale”. Other formats, institutions and series such as the moers sessions (morning sessions or projects) by the city’s improviser in residence (since 2008), discussions (since 2017), changing youth projects (since 2018) or hybrid formats (@the same time and VR moersland, since 2021) expand the festival cosmos.
About XN
Running from 2025 to 2027, XN (X perimental N counters) brings together two of Europe’s leading experimental music festivals in a six-part international exchange. Across three years, every edition of each festival will feature curated performances, creative workshops, and open calls, creating space for artists from the UK and Germany to connect, collaborate, and challenge the boundaries of contemporary sound.
XN is funded by the Gesellschaft zur Verwertung von Leistungsschutzrechten mbH (GVL) and Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) with the support of Goethe-Institut London