"Events include soloists performing their own and others’ work, an experimental meeting of music and theatre and a non-professional string ensemble premiering a competition-winning commission."

Audiences at the 2010 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival will once again have the chance to catch performances by up-and-coming artists and performers during hcmf// shorts, the free, bite-sized concerts taking place throughout the afternoon of Monday 22 November.

Seven fresh and innovative performances have been selected from an open application process; the events include soloists performing their own and others’ work, an experimental meeting of music and theatre and a non-professional string ensemble premiering a competition-winning commission.

In addition, leading contemporary ensemble Apartment House will present an informal, unseated performance of a John Cage work in the atrium of the University of Huddersfield’s Creative Arts Building. The piece, titled But what about the noise of crumpling paper which he used to do in order to paint the series of “Papiers froisses” or tearing up paper to make “Papiers dechires?” Arp was stimulated by water (sea, lake, and flowing waters like rivers), forests, was written by Cage to celebrate the centenary of the birth of the sculptor, abstract artist and poet Jean Arp.

The seven successful artists and their planned hcmf// shorts programmes are as follows:

Kate Ledger, piano

Ray Evanoff: Diagrams of Drawings Not Meant to Correspond

Timothy McCormack: ]regate[ s.p. ]Aggre[

Ben Isaacs: new work

Based in West Yorkshire, Kate Ledger is currently researching the technical and interpretative role of physicality in performance. These three pieces explore this in a variety of ways and form part of a larger repertoire which Ledger is building. She also plays in the clarinet and piano duo Wake Up with Heather Roche.

Lefteris Papadimitriou, laptop

Panorama

Greek composer and performer Lefteris Papadimitriou is studying for a PhD at CeReNeM, the University of Huddersfield’s Centre For Research in New Music, with the aid of a special joint scholarship funded by the university and hcmf//. Panorama is a series of electronic pieces, composed using sounds ranging from those of outer space to old analogue synths. An ‘orchestration’ of the different sound layers creates a new compound layer which continually oscillates between the familiar and the alien.

Yorkshire Late Starter Strings

Laurence Rose: a theory of nothing

Yorkshire Late Starters Strings (YLSS) is a group for adult string instrument learners, with levels of experience ranging from Grade 1 to Grade 8+. Laurence Rose is a Regional Director of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and an amateur composer who has written for both professional and amateur ensembles. a theory of nothing is the second work commissioned by YLSS as a result of a bi-annual competition to find new music that will challenge and stimulate all its musicians. The piece is built around relatively simple, repeated figures and the transitions between them, with players freely choosing parameters such as tempo or pitch from a menu.

Radio Kootwijk Resonating

Six artists in search of an audience

Radio Kootwijk Live is a Dutch group of artists with an interest in challenging established performance rituals. Those attending their performance can expect everything but a regular concert. Find yourself becoming a substantial part of the show while enjoying a fresh journey through the galaxy of musical creation; music, light, theatre and no corner of Bates Mill left unused.

Charlotte Pugh, recorder

Christopher Fox: Winds of Heaven (second part)

Nicholas Peters: Going Missing

An accomplished recorder player who is also a member of the Southbank Gamelan Players, Charlotte Pugh recently completed her MMus in Performance at SOAS, with distinction, and is about to start an AHRC-supported PhD in Performance at the University of York. Winds of Heaven makes use of amplified vocalising and alternative fingerings, whilst Going Missing explores a block structure using a range of durations.

Peyee Chen, voice

Erin Gee:  mouthpiece I

Johnny Herbert: new work

Michael Finnissy: Song 1

Michael Finnissy: Song 16

Erin Gee: mouthpiece II

Peyee Chen completed an MA at the University of York earlier this year, having received her BMus from Northwestern University in 2008. As well as an interest in florid ornamentation in early music, her performances explore unaccompanied contemporary vocal repertoire: from the 1960s and ‘70s pieces by Michael Finnissy to Herbert’s new composition, these works question and untangle the intricate relationship between text and music.

Manasamitra

Supriya Nagarajan & Vijay Venkat

Artistic director of the Yorkshire-based South Asian arts-promoting organisation Manasamitra, Supriya Nagarajan has been a performer in Carnatic classical music in both Europe and beyond, whilst Vijay Venkat  is a Masters graduate of the University of London; the pair are working together on a CD entitled Music in Shades. Their performance combines South Indian classical Carnatic notes with western violin styles, and contemporary violin and voice with soulful melody.

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