Mivos Quartet: The Trees are Talking

Standard £22 // Solidarity £28.60 // Under 30 £7
Advance booking required

Our Solidarity ticket price is an opportunity for audiences to support our work by purchasing a ticket at a slightly higher price (the cost of a Standard ticket plus 30%). Read more about Solidarity prices here.

Pre-concert talk at 3pm:
Ahead of the premiere of The Trees are Talking, composer Ville Aslak Raasakka sits in conversation with BBC Radio 3 presenter and writer Kate Molleson.

Mivos Quartet:
Olivia De Prato violin
Rachel Koblyakov violin
Victor Lowrie Tafoya viola
Nathan Watts cello

Madli Marje Gildemann (Estonia, 1994)
Feathered Mirrors (2024) 7’ UK Premiere

Raven Chacon (Navajo Nation, 1977)
The Journey of the Horizontal People (2016) 9’

Raminta Šerkšnytė (Lithuania, 1975)
Oriental Elegy/Rytų elegija (2002; edited 2003) 12’ UK Premiere

Ville Aslak Raasakka (Finland, 1977)
The Trees are Talking (2025) 20’ World Premiere

Click here to view programme note

The Mivos Quartet, one of the world’s leading ensembles dedicated to contemporary music, bring their fearless virtuosity and adventurous spirit back to hcmf// 2025 with a programme that redefines what the string quartet can be. Known for championing boundary-pushing composers from across the globe, Mivos have built a reputation for performances that are as technically dazzling as they are emotionally charged — a perfect fit for a festival where innovation takes centre stage.

At the heart of their Huddersfield appearance is the World Premiere of The Trees Are Talking by Finnish composer Ville Raasakka. Written for quartet and electronics, the work explores hidden systems of resonance and communication within the natural world, transforming scientific curiosity into an immersive soundscape that feels at once fragile, mysterious and deeply human.

Surrounding this landmark premiere are three striking works that showcase the breadth of today’s string quartet writing. Estonian composer Madli Marje Gildemann’s Feathered Mirrors (2024) shimmers with lightness and reflection, its textures alive with flickering detail. Lithuanian composer Raminta Šerkšnytė’s Oriental Elegy offers meditative stillness, drawing listeners into a state of luminous contemplation. By contrast, Diné composer and esteemed winner of the Pulitzer Prize Raven Chacon’s The Journey of the Horizontal People is visceral and ritualistic – a raw, powerful exploration of endurance, migration and collective memory.

Together, these works create a programme that is both expansive and intimate, affirming the Mivos Quartet as one of the most vital ensembles of our time — and offering hcmf// audiences a rare chance to experience the string quartet as a site of bold experimentation and transformative listening.

Produced by hcmf// as part of The Current Climate; supported by Music Finland, Lithuanian Culture Institute, Music Information Centre Lithuania, Estonian Centre of Contemporary Music and the hcmf// Patrons

The Trees are Talking is commissioned by the Mivos Quartet and the Sibelius Foundation

Photo: Mivos Quartet © Titilayo Ayangade