The British Council and the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (hcmf//) will host a reception in Huddersfield on Saturday 21st November to celebrate the festival’s participation in the Dual Year of UK and Mexico 2015 which promotes collaboration between the two countries in the field of contemporary music. A concert at 12.30pm on the same day by the London Sinfonietta will feature a new commission by Mexican composer Marisol Jiminez.
As a result of a research trip for the Festival’s Artistic Director, Graham McKenzie, in October 2014, facilitated by colleagues in the British Council in London and Mexico, the British Council has entered a fruitful and creative partnership in the area of cutting edge music with some impressive collaborations:
- In May 2015, at the invitation of the XXXVII Foro Internacional de Música Nueva Manuel Enriquez (an international platform for new music), British composers James Dillon and Matthew Wright travelled to Mexico to work for one week with Ensemble CEPROMUSIC to present a concert of Latin American premieres of their music
- Following a triumphant concert in London, the London Sinfonietta performed a programme of works, including a commission from Marisol Jiminez, in Mexico City and Guanajuato as part of Festival Cervantino (through Mexican partners Festival Cervantino and CONACULTA), and will be performing in Huddersfield (on Saturday 21 November, 12.30pm, St Paul's Hall) as part of hcmf// 2015
- In November, the 2015 edition of Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival will include a short residency by Ensemble CEPROMUSIC (23rd – 24th November) – who will perform two concerts presenting works by leading Mexican composers – Julio Estrada, Victor Ibarra, and Hilda Parades – and also engage in an open workshop with PhD student composers from the University of Huddersfield
- Artistic Director of Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Graham McKenzie, has been invited to curate a concert at the next edition of Foro Internacional de Música Nueva Manuel Enriquez in May 2016, and is in discussion with the British Council in Mexico and London regarding a two day edition of hcmf// to take place in Mexico City at Museo Choppo in June 2016.
This year, the British Council has invited the following international delegates to attend hcmf//:
CANADA
Louis Dufort – Composer, Le Vivier
COLOMBIA
Mauricio Pena – Head of the Music Department, Sala Luis Angel Arango, Banco de la Republica, Bogota
Santiago Gardeazabal – Nova et Vetera
MEXICO
Pacho Paredes – Artistic Director, Museo Chopo, Mexico City
UNITED STATES
Mark Christman – Director, Arts Nova, Philadephia
AUSTRALIA
David Chisholm – Director, Bendigo Festival
GERMANY
Elke Moltrecht – CEO/Executive Director, Academy of the Arts of the World, Cologne
Björn Gottstein – Director, Donaueschinger Musik Tage
Matthias Engler – Co-Director, Ensemble Adapter, Berlin
Beate Schüler – Curator, dramaturge and culture manager, Ensemble musikFabrik
ITALY
Cecilia Balestra – Director, Milano Musica
