HCMF 2016: looking forward – Georg Friedrich Haas

by 5:4

It’s been announced this morning that the Composer in Residence at this year’s Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival will be Georg Friedrich Haas. His work has been an occasional feature at HCMF in the past, nowhere more spectacularly than in the 2013 UK première of in vain, a piece concerning itself with endless states of transition, with an added air of theatricality through having all of the lights in the performance space extinguished at various points.

HCMF 2016 will include three UK premières: Klangforum Wien will present The Hyena for ensemble and narrator (featuring the composer’s wife, Mollena Williams-Haas), the Ardittis – who else? – will be performing the Ninth String Quartet, while the Hannover Trombone Unit will take on Haas’ Octet for Eight Trombones, composed last year. All three of these performances will be taking place in the opening weekend, ensuring the festival begins with a hefty wallop.

Tickets for these events will go on sale later this month. With this year’s Proms promising little more than lumbering predictability and blandness, it’s encouraging to have a much more exciting prospect on the horizon. More info about HCMF in due course.


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Sparky P.

And BBC3 damn jolly well better broadcast more of these concerts on Hear & Now in December/January (especially the Arditti gigs).

Cliff_L

Yes Sparky — I remember the waste of the entire Dillon string quartets in 2010.

Btw, there’s an interesting discussion of “in vain” at the first and as yet only issue of Talking Musicology.

Cliff_L

That’s interesting to know, thanks. A question to sneak into the next meet the performers session!

Cliff_L

Oops! There is indeed a second edition now. Apologies for not checking this first.

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