Huddersfield’s festival of contemporary music (hcmf//) returns this month, with 50 events over 10 days. The annual festival, which has presented cutting-edge music for the past 30 years, works in collaboration with the University of Huddersfield, taking over a wide variety of spaces around the Yorkshire town. Highlights this year include Thought, a new festival-commissioned work by Glenn Branca (pictured), which will be performed, alongside UK premieres of pieces by Nico Muhly and Arnold Dreyblatt, by Crash Ensemble as part of their American Originals concert (Sun 18 Nov, Bates Mill, £15) and John Cage’s complex Freeman Etudes, performed by virtuoso violinist Irvine Arditti (Tue 20 Nov, St Paul’s Hall, £15). The festival prides itself on the debuting of music, with 381 world premieres and 813 UK premieres over the years. Huddersfield is a 30 to 45-minute train ride away.

Fri 16 Nov – Sun 25 Nov, various venues, various times, various prices, www.hcmf.co.uk

Image: Danijel Mihajlovic

Fri 16 Nov - Sun 25 Nov
Words:
Chris Horkan
Published on:
Sat 24 Nov 2012