Alongside the announcement of Lisa Streich as hcmf// 2022 Composer in Residence, there’s a wide sweep of new music from Sweden across the festival programme as our partnership with the country’s leading cultural institutions bounces back from a Covid-enforced break.
Lisa Streich’s music has been described as ‘of an enveloping beauty…physical, cruel and tender’ and in perhaps the most comprehensive survey of her work to date, the hcmf// programme features a host of premieres given by Ensemble intercontemporain, Riot Ensemble, London Sinfonietta and Quatuor Diotima.
Streich’s work is defined at once by its deep silences, and also by the ways she breaks them, bringing sound out of the shadows. Streich’s fragile settings are shattered with brash, mechanical orchestration and discordant stray notes, exploding the unease we’re feeling. Her recent pieces have drawn on classical idioms while contradicting them. The states of her music come together and apart: there’s noise in silence, reality in the unseen.
Streich’s output encompasses vocal, choral, solo, chamber, ensemble and orchestral works, a pocket opera, electronic compositions and pieces for electronically or mechanically expanded instruments – and examples of most will be explored during hcmf//.
Other original voices in Swedish new music to discover at hcmf// include musician and artist Ann Rosén, composers Johan Svensson and Lisa Järnegard, and composer/sound artist David Granström, performing a solo set as part of a day dedicated to electronic music in partnership with the ORAM Awards on Thursday 24 November.
Ethiopian-born Swedish experimental singer, composer and improviser Sofia Jernberg takes the artistic lead in Freedom to Move, a three-day creative intensive workshop with five UK-based singers across genres, to be selected through an open call. The workshop will culminate in a public performance as part of the hcmf// shorts programme, and the concept (which is part of Sounds Now) will be repeated at Ultima festival (Norway), November Music festival (Netherlands) and the Onassis Cultural Centre (Greece), with Sofia working with five different singers in each country.
In presenting the Swedish programme at hcmf// 2022, we are hugely grateful for the supported of STIM in collaboration with Stim Forward Fund, Export Music Sweden, Västra Götalandsregionen, the Embassy of Sweden and The Swedish Composers Society (FST).
Commenting on hcmf//’s Swedish focus, Sofie Marin, Director Cultural Affairs at STIM said:
‘We are delighted once again to present a Swedish focus in close partnership with hcmf//. It will be a breathtaking continuation of the relationship, with absolutely stunning music and performances. I’m really looking forward to experiencing the comprehensive focus on Lisa Streich – the second Swedish Composer in Residence at hcmf//’
Welcoming the renewal of the Swedish partnership, Graham McKenzie, Artistic Director of hcmf//, said:
“hcmf// is delighted to continue its relationship with our Swedish partners. The focus has brought so much great Swedish music to Huddersfield, from the virtuosity of Karin Hellqvist, the acute inventiveness of composer Malin Bang, and the sound world of Hanna Hartman – hcmf// Composer in Residence in 2019.
“We have wanted to work is Lisa Streich for some years now – and hcmf// is pleased that she will be the composer Composer in Residence for the 2022 festival with a programme that offers a wide-ranging study of her work.”
Lisa Streich’s work is included in the following hcmf// concerts:
Saturday 19 November, 8pm
Ensemble intercontemporain, including the UK Premiere of OFELIA
Sunday 20 November, 4pm
The Riot Ensemble including the UK Premiere of FRANCESCA
Sunday 20 November, 8pm
London Sinfonietta, including the UK Premiere of ÄLV, ALV, ALVA for large ensemble
Tuesday 22 November, 8pm
The Riot Ensemble: Lisa Streich portrait concert
Wednesday 23 November, 5pm
Quatuor Diotima, including the UK Premiere of STERNENSTILL
Other Swedish composers and artists are featured in these hcmf// events:
Monday 21 November: hcmf// shorts
Ann Rosén solo performance
Johan Svensson & Lisa Järnegard composers
Sofia Jernberg vocalist/artistic coach (Freedom to Move)
Thursday 24 November: The ORAM Awards
David Granström solo set
Read more about Lisa Streich, hcmf// 2022 Composer in Residence