hcmf// 2021

hcmf// 2021 is a return to live programming, a reunion of artists and audiences with the festival’s hometown. We’re excited to be back to presenting performances in immense concert spaces like Huddersfield Town Hall, St Paul’s Hall and the raucous Bates Mill Blending Shed. We’re looking forward to hosting exhibitions across the innovative and intimate gallery spaces scattered across Huddersfield, such as DAI Hall and the Bath House Gallery at Sovereign Design House. We’re thrilled, most of all, to be able to invite our live audience back to Huddersfield, whether you’re local to the area or coming from further afield.

Last year, we were forced online by the pandemic, and recreated our programme to fit the space and scope of our digital platforms. At hcmf// 2021, we’re letting loose on scale. We’re taking on the demands of Composer in Residence Chaya Czernowin, who writes bold, unbridled music which seems to exist outside of the usual boundaries of time and nature. We’ve programmed composers that look at sound in radical new ways, from the tragi-comedy of Laurence Osborn to the game-breaking experiments of Cath Roberts. We’re premiering Eupepsia/Dyspepsia, a fascinating new ‘sound museum’ from Eva Reiter, depicting the historiography of music through themes of appropriation and cultural violence; and we’re presenting new work from saxophonist John Butcher, who’s doubling up on collaborators for one of his most ambitious improvisations yet.

Now that hcmf// is back in the real world, we’re also excited to welcome back some of contemporary music’s most freewheeling ensembles. The Riot Ensemble is here with a suitcase of radical new compositions from established and emerging artists alike; Ensemble Musikfabrik returns with two seemingly insurmountable pieces, challenging themselves always; Red Note Ensemble performs a new work by James Dillon, and London Sinfonietta offers a colourful selection of music from Catalan composers. We’re thrilled to welcome Ictus Ensemble to the festival, and to have Ensemble Klang back after a joyously noisy appearance in 2018.

hcmf// 2021 will be different, in some ways: it’s five days long, taking place across fewer venues than usual. But the DNA of the festival remains the same, woven into our programming. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the return of hcmf// shorts, our packed day of free events, which closes things out on Monday 22 November. We’re excited to invite you along, whether you’re an excited festival regular who can’t wait to return, or you’re trying out the festival for the first time, we hope to see you at hcmf// 2021.

For more information visit https://hcmf.co.uk/2021-programme/