The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival has teamed up with Sweden’s premier new music establishment to bring a multicultural blast from Scandinavia to gritty Yorkshire.
Press release below:
Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (hcmf//) 2022 takes its partnership with Sweden’s leading cultural institutions to another level with an extensive music survey by some of the most original voices in new Swedish music.
The partnership, started in 2019 and halted during the two years of the pandemic, rebounds with the announcement of Lisa Streich (pictured) as this year’s hcmf//composer-in-residence, with perhaps the most comprehensive survey on his work to date – the music described as “envelopingly beautiful… physical, cruel and tender”. Performances, including a host of UK premieres, will be given by the Ensemble Intercontemporain, the Riot Ensemble, the London Sinfonietta and the Diotima Quartet.
The Swedish program of hcmf// also includes performances by composer, musician and artist Ann Rosén, works by Johan Svensson + Lisa Järnegard, interpreted by the virtuoso duo Heather Roche/Eva Zöllner, and a solo by David Granström as part of a day dedicated to electronic music in partnership with the ORAM Awards on November 24.
And Swedish Ethiopian-born experimental singer, songwriter and improviser Sofia Jernberg will take on the artistic direction of Freedom to Move, an intensive three-day creative workshop with five UK-based singers across all genres, who will be selected through of an open call. The workshop ends with a public performance as part of the hcmf// short films. The concept (part of Sounds Now: https://www.sounds-now.eu/about/) will also be repeated at Ultima (NO), November Music (NL) and Onassis Cultural Center (GR) with Sofia working with five singers in each country.
Hosted in an eclectic mix of traditional concert spaces, a sprawling industrial mill, churches and bars, hcmf// is the UK’s largest international festival of new and experimental music taking place annually on ten days in November and includes over 50 events – including concerts, music-theatre, dance, multimedia, talks and film and a related learning and engagement programme.
