The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival is held in Huddersfield

Huddersfield

Huddersfield is a large market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England, situated halfway between Leeds and Manchester. It lies north of London, and south of Bradford, the nearest city....

, West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire

West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It has a repertoire of cutting-edge jazz, orchestral, choral and electroacoustic

Electroacoustic music

Electroacoustic music originated in Western art music during its modern era following the incorporation of electric sound production into compositional practice. The initial developments in electroacoustic music composition during the mid-20th century are associated with the activities of composers...

 performances, along with film, dance and music theatre. Guest composers who have taken part in the festival include Karlheinz Stockhausen

Karlheinz Stockhausen

Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...

, Terry Riley

Terry Riley

Terrence Mitchell Riley, is an American composer intrinsically associated with the minimalist school of Western classical music and was a pioneer of the movement...

, Brian Eno

Brian Eno

Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...

, John Cage

John Cage

John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...

, Will May, Steve Reich

Steve Reich

Stephen Michael "Steve" Reich is an American composer who together with La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass is a pioneering composer of minimal music...

, Daniel Giorgetti

Daniel Giorgetti

Daniel Giorgetti is a British composer. Giorgetti was born in London and studied piano and composition at the London College of Music with Martin Ellerby, and the Royal College of Music with Edwin Roxburgh....

, Jonathan Harvey

Jonathan Harvey (composer)

Jonathan Harvey is a British composer. He has held teaching positions at universities and music conservatories in Europe and the USA and is frequently invited to teach in summer schools around the world.-Life:...

, and Sir Harrison Birtwistle

Harrison Birtwistle

Sir Harrison Paul Birtwistle CH is a British contemporary composer.-Life:Birtwistle was born in Accrington, a mill town in Lancashire some 20 miles north of Manchester. His interest in music was encouraged by his mother, who bought him a clarinet when he was seven, and arranged for him to have...

.

Venues used include the Lawrence Batley Theatre

Lawrence Batley Theatre

The Lawrence Batley Theatre is a theatre in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England which offers drama, music, dance and comedy.The theatre is named after Lawrence Batley, a local entrepreneur and philanthropist, who founded a nationwide cash and carry chain....

, Huddersfield Town Hall, St Paul's Hall, St Thomas's Church and the Creative Arts Building of the University of Huddersfield

University of Huddersfield

The University of Huddersfield is a university located in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England.- History :The University traces its roots back to a Science and Mechanic Institute founded in 1825...

. There is also a Festival Hub which offers refreshments, CDs and free live shows every morning of the festival.

In 2011 Jexper Holmen became composer in residence for 2011–12.

The 2010 festival ran from 19 November to 28 November. The composer in residence was Rebecca Saunders

Rebecca Saunders

-Biography:Saunders studied violin and composition at the University of Edinburgh. This was followed by a scholarship from the DAAD from 1991 to 1994 to study composition at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe with Wolfgang Rihm, and in 1997 a doctorate in composition with Nigel Osborne.She has...

.

The 2009 festival ran from 20 November to 29 November. Jonathan Harvey

Jonathan Harvey (composer)

Jonathan Harvey is a British composer. He has held teaching positions at universities and music conservatories in Europe and the USA and is frequently invited to teach in summer schools around the world.-Life:...

 was composer in residence, and the festival also featured the Arditti Quartet

Arditti Quartet

The Arditti Quartet is a string quartet founded in 1974. The quartet is associated particularly with contemporary music.-Early history:The quartet was founded in 1974 by violinist Irvine Arditti together with John Senter, Levine Andrade and Lenox Mackenzie...

, Nieuw Ensemble

Nieuw Ensemble

The Nieuw Ensemble was founded in 1980 in Amsterdam. It has a unique instrumental structure, using plucked instruments such as mandolin, guitar and harp in combination with wind, string and percussion. Ed Spanjaard has been the principal conductor since 1982...

, Louis Andriessen

Louis Andriessen

Louis Andriessen is a Dutch composer and pianist based in Amsterdam. He teaches composition at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague...

, Pianophasing

Pianophasing

Pianophasing is based on a vision of the work's composer, Kristoffer Zegers.As a child, Zegers was fascinated by the rhythmic phases of church-bells, which never ring in time. When he began to compose, he noticed that even pieces of music with minimal rhythmical differences are sometimes subject to...

 composed by Kristoffer Zegers

Kristoffer Zegers

Kristoffer Zegers is a Dutch composer.Taught by Gilius van Bergeijk, Jan Boerman, Martijn Padding, Clarence Barlow, Diderik Wagenaar at the Royal Conservatory in Den Haag.In Zegers' music microtonal clusters are the main object...

 and musikFabrik

Musikfabrik

The musikFabrik is an ensemble for contemporary music located in Cologne. Their official name is: musikFabrik Landesensemble NRW e.V. .-Overview:...

.

The 2008 festival ran from 21 November to 30 November. A highlight was the performance of several Frank Zappa

Frank Zappa

Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...

 pieces by the Ascolta

Ascolta

- Early years :The orchestra was formed in 2003 by seven musicians. It is based in Stuttgart. They played their first public performance at the Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik music festival.- Current composition :...

 ensemble with guests.

In 2006 the festival took place from 17 November to 26 November. On the event list was zeitkratzer, Kitchen Motors

Kitchen Motors

Kitchen Motors is an Iceland based think tank, record label and an art collective specializing in instigating collaborations and putting on concerts, exhibitions, performances, chamber operas, producing films, books and radio shows....

, Lumen 3, and Psappha

Psappha New Music Ensemble

Psappha New Music Ensemble is an ensemble of contemporary classical musicians based in the North West of England, specialised in the performance of works by living composers. Founded in 1991, Psappha takes its name from the composition of the same name by Greek modernist composer Iannis Xenakis...

.

In 2005, the festival was held from 17 November to 27 November and featured the latest works by Helmut Lachenmann

Helmut Lachenmann

Helmut Lachenmann is a German composer associated with musique concrète instrumentale.-Life and works:...

.