What is hcmf all about?

Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival is all about a broad spectrum of contemporary music practice and experimental music practice. If there’s one thing that defines what we present, it’s music that’s not in the mainstream. But within that, contemporary music today – for me – encompasses everything from noise at one end to orchestral works at the other.

People traditionally think of contemporary music festivals as being about 20th-century, modernist notated music. It is that, but it’s also about showing the links between that and the other forms of experimentation in contemporary music practice today. There’s a younger generation of artists who are equally as comfortable writing for a formal concert in a hall with an orchestra, working with a sound installation in a gallery or performing themselves in a small improvisatory group.

How does hcmf compare to other festivals?

Well we sit at the table as part of a network of the major European contemporary music festivals – Reseau Varese – with 23 festivals across 13 member states. But in terms of artistic programming and curation, we also have a lot of synergy with some of the younger, edgier festivals that are quite comfortable crossing between different genres of music – or working in the spaces between the genres. Perhaps we also have a greater emphasis on the new and emerging artist than some of our peers would tend to have.

I’ve worked a lot in contemporary visual arts as well, and one of the things about that world is that the contemporary galleries are generally dealing with the emerging artist. The established artist – or the previous generation are at a certain point more likely to be presented by the museums. In contemporary music it is almost the complete opposite with the larger contemporary music festivals frequently focussing on the major figures. If you consider therefore the contemporary music festivals as being the museums, then my question sometimes to the contemporary music world is, ‘Who are the galleries?’ I think the position in Huddersfield is that of a major contemporary gallery. It’s quite easy for us to move between the two worlds and bring them together.

What are the highlights of this year’s festival?

There are some things that I’m particularly pleased we’ve managed to pull off this year. Jonathan Harvey is someone I’ve admired for many years – in fact, his piece Bhakti was one of the first pieces of contemporary music to really draw me into that world. We’re performing Bhakti with London Sinfonietta at this year’s festival. I’m absolutely delighted that Jonathan will be composer in residence. We’ve also got a really beautiful installation of his seminal electronic work Mortuos Plango in St Thomas’s Church. It is a wonderful visualisation of the work by two artists based in Belgium called Visual Kitchen. In a sense, you can immerse yourself and become part of the work.

We have a big emphasis on Richard Barrett in his 50th year. We’re presenting two sides of Richard: the one that’s very much a major contemporary composer, with a big piece on the first day of the festival a new production of Opening of the Mouth, performed by ELISION from Brisbane. A world premiere of a new work written for London Sinfionetta. But also later on in the festival, Richard will be performing in a more improvisatory setting with his own ensemble, fORCH.

Emmanuel Nunes isn’t often heard in the UK, if at all. In the last few years, I’ve become enormously interested in the complexity of his work. His work really requires a platform in the UK and I’m glad that we’re able to provide that.

Musica Elettronica Viva are one of the very early, groundbreaking electronic ensembles, with Alvin Curran, Richard Teitalbaum and Fred Rzewski. They’ve been an ensemble, loosely speaking, for 40 years or so, and perform very rarely these days, so to bring three of them to Huddersfield this year is something I’m really looking forward to. And also, you’re never quite sure what they’re going to do. I like to have things in the programme where you’re not quite sure what’s going to happen.

I’m very pleased that our opening concert is a performance of a new requiem by Wolfgang Rihm, performed by the Arditti Quartet and the Hilliard Ensemble. There are two performances of the work in France before Huddersfield; the third performance was due to be at the Carnegie Hall in New York in early December. For a long time we tried to get permission for a performance in Huddersfield and I am very grateful to the Carnegie Hall in New York for making that possible.

Is one of the festival’s purposes to create links between artists that may not be immediately obvious?

Absolutely. I think in this country we’re very determined to split things into genres and label them, more so than in some other European countries. One thing we’ve tried to achieve in recent years is to show the diversity of the artist by working with them in different situations – highlighting their composition work for ensemble but then also presenting them in a performance setting – perhaps an improvisation or an installation, to show that those classifications are often not relevant to the artist. Contemporary music, experimental music, electronic music, sonic artworks: all those things are part of the same family.

Is it important to commission new work?

There’s always an enormous pressure on festivals to commission and present new work, and I think sometimes there’s too much emphasis on it. One of the real problems for contemporary music is that new works are written and really only have one or two performances. They don’t get the chance to develop as a live experience and become part of the repertoire. I really believe that festivals when we commission new work have a responsibility to ensure a second performance.

Interestingly, when we were talking to Jonathan Harvey, we said early on that there were so many of his works that hadn’t been heard in the UK, or not for a long time, that we didn’t want to ask for a new one. What we wanted to do was put the resources into making sure that we presented his existing works in the best way that we possibly could. So while it is important to commission new works, for me it’s particularly important to commission them from younger artists and give them a platform for their voices to be heard.

How do you start planning hcmf?

Well, planning sounds too organised and scientific a method for what I do! If you’re talking about planning, then you probably want to speak to Nikki Cassidy and the rest of the team, who do a wonderful job of the planning and organisation.

For me, really, it’s about music I’ve heard, music I’ve been listening to, something that triggers off a thought and makes me go and explore an area of art practice or music practice, which I then try to make sense of. I very much describe myself as a curator, not a programmer. Some festivals are about people going to other festivals and looking for work to buy in to that festival. For me, it’s about following a path from one thing at the beginning of the festival to the end. The great jazz pianist Cecil Taylor said that ‘the composition begins when you select the musicians’ – so for me the festival is kind of a composition.

What I feel is that we have a strong responsibility to try and draw from the artist what it is that they really want to realise – to help them articulate and facilitate their ideas. In a sense the way I programme or curate is very artist or dialogue led. If things are working quite well, I like to take them apart a bit, to say, ‘What would happen if we did this differently and introduced this?’ Again this is only possible if you have a strong relationship with the artist and that element of trust that can be built up over a period of time.

Which festival events would you recommend to someone who was new to contemporary music?

There are areas of the programme where it’s easy for people to dip in and out of it. There’s the installation-based work, where you can get a taste of Jonathan Harvey. Also, from last year, we established the first Monday of the festival as a free Monday – not an Orange Wednesday, but a free Monday – of music: there’s a number of short performances, and also other performances that day which are entirely free. You can move around the performance space and dip in and out of those. There’s also a piece by Kristoffer Zegers called Piano Phasing, with 25 pianos, so up to 50 piano players of different technical abilities will be involved with that performance.

Is there anything that you think may prove controversial or challenging to the audiences?

In a sense almost everything we do or present is in some respect challenging. Contemporary music is challenging – you really have to engage with it – to listen – but it is incredibly rewarding if you are prepared to make that commitment.

Although you know exactly who’s appearing at each festival, is there anything that feels like a surprise or a discovery when the actual performances occur?

When you commission and present the number of world premiere and UK premiere performances that we do, then in a sense there are always surprises and discoveries. Disappointments as well – things don’t always work out. But we need the failures in order to recognise the successes. That is what is really exciting about putting on this sort of festival. This year we close the festival with a new collaboration from composers Enno Poppe and Wolfgang Heiniger – a work for 100 instruments performed by musikFabrik. I have no idea how this concert will sound, but the possibilities are irresistible.

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