Huddersfield Hits 30
50 concerts, 30 world premieres, 50 UK premieres
- Special Dutch focus to the Festival
- Opening event brings NIGHT OF THE UNEXPECTED to Bates Mill
- Yannis Kyriakides is Festival composer-in-residence
- Collaborations with Cut & Splice and Ultrasound Festivals
- Arditti Quartet teams up with Fred Frith
- World premieres by Tomoko Mukaiyama, Evan Parker, Sam Hayden
and more….
HUDDERSFIELD CONTEMPORARY MUSIC FESTIVAL, the UK’s most innovative festival of contemporary music, hits 30 this year with a ten day festival including a host of the leading names in contemporary music, vegetal violins, musical code-cracking and singing cash machines.
Familiar faces will work in new and different contexts, such as German supergroup musikFabrik who perform within the sensory structures created by HCMF Composer in Residence Yannis Kyriakides, while the phenomenal Arditti Quartet teams up with experimental guitarist Fred Frith.
Iconic American composer Robert Ashley makes his Huddersfield debut with Ensemble MAE and the Nieuw Ensemble makes a welcome return to the Festival as part of an extensive Dutch programme that features HCMF 2007 Composer-in-Residence, Yannis Kyriakides.
Highlights include the UK premiere of Yannis Kyriakides’ critically acclaimed major work, The Queen is the Supreme Power in the Realm; a new HCMF-commissioned World Premiere by inspirational saxophonist and composer Evan Parker and the World Premiere of a unique concert/ installation by pianist and visual artist Tomoko Mukaiyama, working with Dutch fashion design duo Klavers van Engelen. Berlin-based ensemble mosaik makes its Festival debut, performing an eagerly anticipated World Premiere from British composer, Sam Hayden.
In addition, there’s a host of special events unique to HCMF. Amsterdam’s premier avant-garde music event, Night of the Unexpected, migrates to the cavernous industrial spaces of Bates Mill, the former woollen spinning mill that’s become the hippest venue in town. It’s the first time the legendary event has taken place outside Amsterdam, and it has been co-curated by HCMF Festival Director, Graham McKenzie and Amsterdam-based Roland Spekle.
Radical electronica Festival, Cut & Splice (co-curated and co-produced by Sonic Arts Network and BBC Radio 3), makes a rare foray out of London for to present a food-inspired programme in the company of the Vienna Vegetable Orchestra, creating an experimental sound universe with massed forces of carrot flutes, pumpkin basses and leek violins.
It’s typical of Festival Director Graham McKenzie’s curatorship of HFCM that much of the music during the Festival demands to be seen as much as heard. Many aspects of the programme have their roots in performance art – such as renowned German sound artist Christina Kubish’s specially commissioned Electrical Walk, produced in association with Ultrasound Festival; Nicholas Brown’s domestic installation/performance with Monika Germino at its hub, The Soul Finds Rest in Unity, and Janek Schaefer’s sound installation Extended Play at Huddersfield Art Gallery, which takes its inspiration from Schaefer’s Polish heritage and the World War II musical system of gramophone codes called Jodoform.
All this, plus a performance for 20 harps with harpist Rhodri Davies and much, much more.
With over fifty concerts and performances across ten days, thirty world premieres, fifty UK premieres and ten new HCMF commissioned works, a free stage, durational concerts, installations, talks and a dynamic education and outreach programme – Huddersfield is the only place to be in November.
Box office
Tel 01484 430528 or book online at http://www.hcmf.co.uk
Further Information
The Festival brochure is available by calling 01484 425082.
Highlights
The Night of the Unexpected (Opening Event)
Friday 16 November
The Night of the Unexpected, the Festival’s opening event, is a statement about current developments in New Music. The audience will be surrounded by concerts, performances, sound installations and enjoy an evening full of surprises. With an international program cutting right through styles and cultures, from improvised to notated, and exploring the boundaries of experimental pop, the Night of the Unexpected is a must-see experience.
Featuring Charlemagne Palestine, Alvin Curran, Monica Germino, Edwin van der Heide, Rhodri Davies & Ko Ishikawa, Evan Parker & Joel Ryan, Staalplaat Soundsystem, [rout], Niels Meliefste and many more…
Christina Kubisch
Electrical Walk
17 – 25 November
Renowned German sound artist, musician and composer Christina Kubisch has created an 'Electrical Walk' specifically for Huddersfield, exploring the hidden electromagnetic acoustic landscapes of the city and creating a fascinating guided walk. Sources include illuminated retail displays, cash machines, communication antennae and security devices scattered throughout Huddersfield
Free event but cash deposit and ID required in return for a headset.
In association wit Ultrasound Festival.
http://www.ultrasoundfestival.com http://www.christinakubisch.com
Monica Germino (violin)
plugged &unplugged
16 November
The soul finds rest in unity
16 – 25 November
Bringing the violin into the 21st Century, Amsterdam artist Monica Germino performs music from her solo programme plugged and unplugged for violin and (custom made) electric violin, voice, soundtrack, effects, movement, light and installation. Monika Germino is also the centrepiece of Nicholas Brown’s installation The Soul Finds Rest in Unity, giving micro-performances throughout the festival in a single room of a terraced house.
musikFabrik
17, 18 November
Cologne supergroup musikFabrik dedicates itself to creating exemplary interpretations of contemporary music; searching for new and experimental possibilities of expression in the field of music performance and interdisciplinary projects. HCMF offers a rare opportunity to catch Germany’s premier new music ensemble in two concerts. In the first they present the UK premiere a major new full-length work from HCMF Composer in Residence Yannis Kyriakides. The Queen is the Supreme Power in the Realm and Cornelius Cardew’s seminal work Treatise. The second concert includes the world premiere of a new piece by Rebecca Saunders complemented by works from two giants of contemporary music, Jonathan Harvey and Sir Harrison Birtwistle, in a programme that showcases the virtuosity of renowned oboist Peter Veale.
Evan Parker / Evan Parker’s Electro-Acoustic Ensemble
17 November
Evan Parker is an inspirational saxophonist and a genuinely original organiser of music. The creative result of his long held interest in the digital processing of acoustic sound, the Electro-Acoustic Ensemble produces one of the most radical but beautiful masses of sound in modern music. For the world premiere of his new HCMF commissioned concert-length work, Parker swells the ensemble to almost orchestral proportions, adding musicians of the calibre of Ned Rothenberg and Ichikawa Ko to the established line-up.
Rhodri Davies – branches
21 November
For the debut concert of Rhodri Davies’ new ensemble, branches, he has assembled twenty harpists, including students from the Royal Northern College of Music, Huddersfield University and Chethams School of Music, to perform massed harp music. The infrequently performed John Cage’s Postcard from Heaven for 1– 20 harps calls on the harpists to improvise on ragas. The ensemble will also perform Michael Parsons’ pointillist composition, Constellations, and a new work by young composer Catherine Kontz.
Robert Ashley / Ensemble MAE
22 November
A programme dedicated to the music of pioneer American composer Robert Ashley. Ashley has worked closely with ensemble MAE on several projects, and has written two pieces for the ensemble, Hidden Similarities and Tap Dancing in the Sand. In this programme MAE will present a slice of his music spanning his entire career, which they have recently recorded on CD. A unique opportunity to experience the power of Ashley on stage, performing his own work.
http://www.robertashley.org http://www.ensemble-mae.com
ensemble mosaik / open sources
23 November
Berlin artist’s ensemble mosaik make their UK debut at HCMF with an experimental, electronics-based programme of four world premieres. The programme, entitled open sources, explores the performer-composer relationship; highlights include a new piece by featured composer Sam Hayden (co-commissioned by HCMF) and Mexican sound artist, Carlos Sandoval’s theatrical new work.
http://www.ensemble-mosaik.de
Cut & Splice (Co-produced by Sonic Arts Network and BBC Radio 3)
Vienna Vegetable Orchestra & Charles Amirkhanian
24 November
A free-ranging festival of electronic music and sound art unique in its approach to programming, Cut & Splice 2007 explores the social, political and cultural aesthetics of food... This year’s festival, in Huddersfield for the first time, considers ideas from consumption to excretion by curating work from amongst the world’s most pioneering artists working with sound. Participating artists include celebrated US sound poet Charles Amirkhanian working with the Vienna Vegetable Orchestra, whose 'fastfood' workshop for market day shoppers will explain in a few minutes how to build a carrot flute or a cucumber-o-phone, with hot soup available throughout…
http://www.sonicartsnetwork.org http://www.gemueseorchester.org
Arditti Quartet / Fred Frith (electric guitar)
24 November
The Arditti Quartet has ensured its place in music history for its spirited and technically refined interpretations of contemporary and 20th Century music. For this unique concert they team up with consummate experimentalist Fred Frith, performing a complete programme of his exotic compositions for string quartet and electric guitar, including a World Premiere and three UK Premieres.
http://www.ownvoice.com/ardittiquartet
Fred Frith, composer, improviser and multi-instrumentalist, has situated himself for more than thirty years in the area where rock music and new music meet. Co-founder of the British underground band Henry Cow (1968-78), he moved to New York in the late seventies and came into contact with many of the musicians with whom he’s since been associated, including John Zorn, Ikue Mori, Tom Cora, Zeena Parkins, and Bob Ostertag. He’s written for dance, film, and theatre, and established music ensembles such as Ensemble Modern, Arditti Quartet, Asko Ensemble. Best known world-wide as an improvising guitarist, Fred has also performed in a variety of other contexts, playing bass in John Zorn’s Naked City, violin in Lars Hollmer’s Looping Home Orchestra, and guitar on recordings ranging from The Residents and René Lussier to Brian Eno and Amy Denio.
Tomoko Mukaiyama (piano/installation) /show me your second face
25 November
Is it possible to look at music? How do we view the concert? Alongside her established career as a concert pianist, Tomoko Mukaiyama began her activities as a visual artist some ten years ago. As a stage artist, Tomoko’s first objective was to create an installation in a concert space. In show me your second face, this brand new piano performance installation has been developed by Tomoko together with Dutch fashion designers Niels Klavers and Astrid van Engelen.
http://www.tomoko.nl
Extended Play – Janek Schafer exhibition
Huddersfield Art Gallery
16 November 2007 – 5 January 2008
Janek Schaefer’s sound installation Extended Play takes its inspiration from Schaefer’s Polish heritage and the World War II musical system of gramophone codes called Jodoform, broadcast by the BBC between London and Warsaw to convey vital messages to the Polish Underground during occupation. Rather than using sequences of individual musical notes to represent letters of the alphabet, Jodoform used a series of pre-arranged recordings, many of them Polish folk melodies, to communicate fixed messages.
Hub Shorts
19 – 24 November
Successfully introduced in 2004, HCMF Hub Shorts gives groups of up to 6 performers the opportunity to perform in front of the Festival audience in the Syngenta Cellar at the Lawrence Batley Theartre at 4pm.
Young Composers’ Workshop Offering an incomparable opportunity for young British composers to have their compositions workshopped by leading musicians, this year’s YCW is led by Ensemble MAE, along with HCMF 2007 Composer in Residence, Yannis Kyriakides. Composers aged 19 - 30 were invited to submit a score for the ensemble and some of the composers will be awarded a commission for the HCMF 2008.
Education and OutreachAs ever, the HCMF experience is completed by a dynamic Education and Outreach programme which is integral to the main Festival programme. The programme presents a myriad of opportunities for Festival audiences to see, hear and participate in the huge variety of projects and performances taking place over the 10 days.
Yannis Kyriakides - Composer in Residence
HCMF Composer in Residence, Yannis Kyriakides, is undoubtedly one of the most exciting composers to have emerged from the European scene in recent years. Kyriakides was born in Limassol, Cyprus in 1969 and immigrated to Britain with his family in 1975. After studying musicology at York University, drawn by the music of Louis Andriessen, he moved to Amsterdam to study with the composer.
As a composer, Kyriakides strives to create new forms and hybrids of media, synthesizing disparate sound sources and exploring spatial and temporal experience. He has focused, in the majority of his work, on ways of combining traditional performance practices with digital media. The sensory space where music happens is a particular preoccupation. The question as to what music is actually communicating is also a recurring theme in his work and he is often drawn to the relation between emotion and language and how that defines our experience of music.
HCMF 2007 presents the first comprehensive overview of Kyriakides’ work in the UK. German super group musikFabrik perform Kyriakides most recent large composition, The Queen is the Supreme Power in the Realm. Based on Victorian era telegraphic codes, the musical language of the piece derives from various forms of coding of language into sound. At 45 minutes long and including live electronics and improvisation., it’s a major statement from the composer.
HCMF also presents the UK premiere of Kyriakides’ highly personal but powerful audio-visual work, The Buffer Zone. Exploring boundaries of separation, the work is inspired by the UN Buffer Zone in Cyprus that runs across the island and divides two communities.
Under the leadership of Kyriakides, MAE (formerly known as the Maarten Altena Ensemble) has developed itself from an improvisation collective into an ensemble that explores new musical and multi-disciplinary territories. Straddling a broad spectrum of experimental traditions, the idiosyncratic line-up of the group reflects this eclecticism. For Huddersfield, Kyriakides directs the ensemble across two very different presentations. For the first, the ensemble performs with iconic American artist and composer Robert Ashley. The second concert is an all Kyriakides programme.
Wordless – an installation based work for headphones, commissioned for the ARGOS Festival in 2004, completes a programme that astounds in its complexity and diversity.
http://www.kyriakides.com
Notes to EditorsHuddersfield Contemporary Music Festival runs from 17 – 26 November 2006 at venues in and around Huddersfield town centre.
Box officeTel 01484 430528
Further InformationThe Festival brochure is available by calling 01484 472085.
For further information, to request images or interviews, please contact
Sheralyn Bonner, Marketing Director on 0113 279 9909, email marketing@HCMF.co.uk
Date of Issue: Friday 5 October 2006