Preparing for April workshops...
Only two lines are now missing from my sketch for the second weekend of workshops. A lot of time, ink, and tippex, as well as four sheets of (now ripped and curled) A2 paper have been used. I have...
View ArticleSketches are all very well...
Having recently returned from the second workshop weekend, for which I prepared a further four sketches, I am in the process of listening back to recordings and evaluating the results. The eight...
View ArticleTime to get serious...
With the workshop weekends fading into the distance and the impending first performance looming dangerously in the not so distant future I am, officially, starting to write the piece for the Nieuw...
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The Last Phase
Work on my Nieuw Ensemble piece is in its last phase; roughly a quarter of the notation is complete. Pictured are two pages of an overall plan. Each box represents a single phrase, a small gestural...
View ArticleOn reflection...
The experience of working with the Nieuw Ensemble this year has been very positive for me. I feel I have developed as a composer through participating in the programme and I was pleased with the...
View ArticleLooking Back
It feels great to look back on a year working with and writing for the Nieuw Ensemble. Composing for the group posed many new challenges which were rewarding to overcome. The weekends in Amsterdam were...
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Coffee and Manuscript
Well, it's time I got on with sketching material for the first workshop in Amsterdam and, in keeping with the perennial rules of procrastination, write my first blog for the HCMF website at the same...
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Frantically Creating
OK, so Amsterdam is looming up (we go out on Friday) and I'm frantically trying to create what I deem as enough appropriate material for the first set of workshops. I thought it might be helpful to...
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Lazy Day Monday
Well, I'm back from Amsterdam and completely wiped out! I've had a really fantastic weekend with the Nieuw Ensemble - they're all really helpful, and I had a great time working with them.FridayWe met...
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Thoughts from the first weekend
Things learnt:1) Never be late when people are being paid to be there2) Always come prepared with sketches and ideas - stay up late doing them if needs be!3) Plan ahead4) If unsure of something, ask5)...
View ArticleKCC
Tomorrow we start the Huddersfield leg of the world tour that is Keyboard Choreography Collection. I'm coming back to my old home and really looking forward to it. The warmth of the people and the cold...
View ArticleMonday
Cold Monday in Huddersfield, but warm people. Visited the nursery school and met Emma and Isobel and visited the space, which will be warm and cosy, and saw the 'new' piano that has been donated. Barry...
View ArticleTuesday - first day
We had a great morning with the nursery group - 10 children one aged 2, one aged 4 and the others aged 3. We were a big group of adults in their small space.Barry had done wonders with the tuning of...
View ArticleWednesday - 2nd Day
Just back to Meltham, after another long day.We left in thick slushy snow that melted during the day and came back to bare potholes.Bob led the hour at Christchurch Woodhouse nursery. We had three new...
View ArticleThursday 3rd day
Now finished all the workshop sessions at the nursery and with the adults. A real contrary emotion of a day.In the evening the group made beautiful keyboard choreography and there was a clear feeling...
View Article4th day: the end of the project?
I stayed up late on Thursday evening sorting out the programme and the collation of all the new techniques and approaches and questions and Bob stayed up much later editing the first draft of the film...
View ArticleBelated thoughts on the first weekend
Seeing as Edd has done such a fine job in summarizing the weekend?s activities, I will briefly draft a few personal responses to the first Amsterdam events.Admittedly, I had a somewhat of a crisis...
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Anxiety beginning to set in!
Well, it’s about time I started properly getting down to some work for the next Nieuw Ensemble weekend in Amsterdam. The deadline for sketches to be sent out to Amsterdam is the 15th May - scarily...
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Poised at a moment of indecision
Ok, so it’s the day before the sketches are due for the next weekend. I have sketches for 3/4 different types of material which I’m slowly evolving. I forgot about this, but I also have material which...
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Earl Grey, Biscuits and SARDINES
Approaching now the deadline for our scores. It's been a gruelling process I think - to be not experienced in writing for larger ensembles is to miss out just how long it takes to write a single page,...
View ArticleRadio Kootwijk Live
What would you do if one of the world’s most respected contemporary music festivals asked you to curate a 20-60 minute programme with a maximum of four musicians?Graham McKenzie, artistic director of...
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Work almost done
Well, everything has been finished and sent to Amsterdam.The work on the piece, now entitled Equivalents, has been important for me this year acting as a counterbalance for the other increasingly less...
View ArticleA brief introduction...
We're approaching the end of July, it's been almost a month since the second and last workshop in Reggio Emilia with Icarus ensemble, and my piece is now due at the end of September. First, a quick...
View ArticleI supikkjarìi - My piece for Icarus
The piece is almost finished now and very soon I'll send it to the ensemble - the deadline is the end of this month. I have to admit that, similarly to what I read in last year's blogs, I've been...
View ArticleAlmost there...
The concert is just a few weeks away now, and everything has been sent to the ensemble. Apart from finishing the piece and struggling with the parts, in the last weeks I've also been involved in some...
View ArticleECPDP Icarus Workshop I
Note to self: Italians know how to make music, and Italians know how to cook. I'm stating the obvious here (don't mind the stereotyping), but I just experienced these two truisms for the first time...
View ArticleA new documentary about Maja S K Ratkje
We've invited Ingo J. Biermann, director of a new documentary about Maja Ratkje, to come to the Festival to talk about his film. This is what he says about it on his site: A cinematic feature...
View ArticleFrom Amsterdam to Bolsterstone - via giant shell-shaped tents
My working week started in a crisp, autumnal Amsterdam on Monday, after an intensive weekend of workshops with the Nieuw Ensemble, working with four young composers on our European Composers...
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hcmf// head for TUSK Festival
Warm up for hcmf// 2012 with TUSK Festival which takes place from 5th-7th October in Newcastle upon Tyne.Our Sarah will be going and is hoping to catch Rhodri Davies ahead of his hcmf// set. She’s also...
View ArticleJohn Cage's Song Books
Here's a nice little video of Robert Worby and others performing Cage's Song Books. There are two connections to hcmf// 2012: Song Books is part of our programme and Robert is one of the BBC Radio 3...
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Red Note Ensemble sound off
Here's a fun idea from our friends at Red Note Ensemble.From Monday 24th September to Saturday 6th October, to take part and celebrate Social Media Week...
View ArticleIngo J. Biermann's music video portrait
We've been chatting to filmmaker Ingo J. Biermann who's currently making a documentary about our Composer in Residence, Maja S K Ratkje. He's going to join the pre-concert talk with Maja on 18 November...
View Article"This f***ing world is a waste of time"
At this year's festival, Crash Ensemble will be performing a new work by Glenn Branca that was co-commissioned by hcmf// and, if you arrive early (9.45pm), you'll get the rare opportunity to hear the...
View ArticleCinema trailer for Maja S K Ratkje documentary
Regular readers will know that we're taking a keen interest in Ingo J. Biermann's new documentary about our Composer in Residence, Maja S K Ratkje.He's going to join the pre-concert talk with Maja on...
View ArticleECPDP - Nieuw Musical Possibilities
The European Composers' Professional Development Programme enabled twelve composers to develop compositions with one of three different international ensembles. I was fortunate to be one of four...
View Article4 x 10/10
As we enter into this last phase of rehearsing the four new pieces for our premiere at 14:00 in the Town Hall, I have been thinking about the journey that the four ECPDP composers have taken with...
View ArticleSir Simon Rattle on Haas' in vain
Watch Sir Simon Rattle speaking passionately and eloquently about Georg Frederich Haas' in vain, which Rattle considers "one of the only already acknowledged masterpieces of the 21st century". Click...
View ArticleYorkshire's best kept secret
Nicholas Crane reckons that Huddersfield is one of Yorkshire's best-kept secrets and points to hcmf// and the town's love affair with music as evidence. Catch up with the programme here:...
View ArticleGraham McKenzie on the second ticket release for hcmf// 2013
Graham McKenzie, Artistic Director of hcmf//, discusses the concerts that have just gone on sale as part of the second release of tickets.This includes the return of Irvine Arditti, EXAUDI and Oslo...
View ArticleArt Rules - the new Twitter?
Interesting piece by Charlotte Higgins in today's Guardian. She takes a look at Art Rules, a new Twitter-shaped social media platform designed to encourage debate about the arts.It launches on 21st...
View ArticleGraham McKenzie on Hector Parra
hcmf// Artistic Director Graham McKenzie introduces the 2013 festival’s Composer in Residence Hèctor Parra and explains how the Catalan composer first captivated him at hcmf// 2011.He reveals how...
View ArticleGraham McKenzie on hcmf//'s monumental John Zorn day
Graham McKenzie, Artistic Director of hcmf//, reveals how this year’s programme will feature a first in the festival’s 36-year history: a full day devoted to John Zorn in his 60th birthday...
View Articlehcmf// tops Guardian's must-see events list
We were proud to top the list in Andrew Clements' summary of the best classical music and opera of Autumn 2013, published in the Guardian:...
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Guest blog: Red Note Ensemble
We invited John Harris, Chief Executive and Artistic Co-Director of Red Note Ensemble, to blog about how they're preparing for their concerts at hcmf// 2013. What he sent is an intriguing insight into...
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Tour Tales - Mytologier
A week has passed and I'm just about recovered from the amazing weekend which was the Mytologier ‘folk caravan'.Following a series of school and community storytelling workshops, as well as a pop-up...
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Guest blog: Red Note Ensemble
Here's another update from our guest blogger John Harris, Chief Executive and Artistic Co-Director of Red Note Ensemble. With hcmf// 2013 just days away, he reflects on final preparations for their...
View ArticleGuest blog: Red Note Ensemble
In his latest guest blog, John Harris, Chief Executive and Artistic Co-Director of Red Note Ensemble, reveals the playfulness and edginess of Inconsistent Whisper, which sees musicians controlled by...
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Gaman CD launch
After 6 years of unusual concert adventures in the Nordic countries, USA and Europe, the Danish trio Gáman now present their debut CD, Early & Late, with the trio’s favourite repertoire: a unique...
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Carlos Casas: Avalanche
By Val Javin Wind howls, thumps and rumbles around the rafters. It's cold and the chill bites all the harder as an answering call comes from what, in the imagination, could just be a wolf.Then comes a...
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The opening weekend of hcmf// 2014
By Val Javin How better to start a weekend at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival than with the rich, atmospheric tones of baritone Thomas Buckner?Buckner joined chamber orchestra, Ostravskà...
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