In November, I spent 5 days at the international Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (HCMF) – courtesy of a Philadelphia Music Project professional development grant – attending myriad concerts and symposia featuring music performed by some of the best new music bands in Europe (or anywhere).

Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (c. Alex Beldea)

Presenting 36 paid and 34 free events over a span of 9 days, the HCMF proved to be an ambitious showcase for (mostly) experimental music that explored the “Nordic Sound” including works by featured composer Bent Sorenson and other Danish and Norwegian composers, as well as music by Xenakis, Bernhard Lang and Fausto Romitelli, a recently-deceased Italian composer I had never heard of but whose music made me want to hear lots more.  Wildly-extended instrumental techniques, multi-genre commissions, free improv and electro/acoustic works (with both fixed media and real-time computer interaction) made up the bulk of the thought-provoking programming.  Interestingly, although about 150 composers were represented in this festival, U.S. composers consisted of only a small fraction of the programming, including music by Aaron Jay Kernis and Annie Gosfield.

Emanuele Casale

Unexpectedly, one of the stand-out pieces was Studio 2a, a bass recorder/tape work by Emanuele Casale (again, an unknown to me) that picks up where Davidovsky leaves off in an astounding work of complex beauty, performed in a shattering performance by the young Brit, Chris Orton.  In fact, I experienced the great majority of performances as shatteringly beautiful: the ensemble recherche, the Cikada Ensemble, Ensemble Scenatet, players from the London Sinfonietta: they all played with total conviction, passion and brilliant virtuosity. There were lots of large, long and complex ensemble pieces (8-10 players), performed WITHOUT A CONDUCTOR, with the aid of lots of body language and the benefit of countless rehearsals – these performances could lure any listener into a new music addiction.

It was wonderful to get to hear some of the most cutting-edge music in Europe today. The HCMF, of course, has lots of support, including the BBC Radio 3, the British Council, the resources of the University of Huddersfield, arts funding from Norway and France, and several large foundations.  Although the town of Huddersfield is out in the middle of nowhere, an hour northwest of Manchester, events were packed, and often sold out.

musikFabrik (c. Carolene Lees)

Makes me wonder what audiences and funders would hear on this side of the ocean, if new music in the U.S had access to the kind of broad government and media support that European composers and ensembles have?

We’ll start this out the easy way and talk about Network’s season and the terrific music (and more!) that you’ll find here, but we hope to widen the conversation as we go along.  We love to hear about the amazing cultural life that characterizes Philadelphia, New York, San Francisco, St. Louis, London…it’s a rich and vivid world of art out there, and we look forward to exploring it all with you.

I’ve been using the royal “we,” and really, this blog is from all of us at Network–but in fact, today’s post is just by me, Lisa Miller. I’ve been with Network since 1997, and I’ve probably met some of you (I hope a lot of you!) at Network’s concerts, or talked to you on the phone. I’m also the one who’s been randomly popping up in front of people after a concert, asking them to make a few comments for the camera. (I know, it’s only semi-polite to sail up and ask like that, but it’s actually pretty fun to hear what strikes people right after hearing a performance. Once they start talking about the music, they usually forget about the camera and become really passionate about what they felt as they listened. It’s a blast to hear!)

When I get a chance I’ll post some of those video comments here or on Network’s Facebook page. But in the meantime, since I brought up having opinions: what nicer way to begin this blog than sharing some of the enthusiasm that a couple of reviewers felt for our recent concert The Poetry of Solo, when we played upstairs at the World Cafe? Here you go:  Tom Purdom’s article in the Broad Street Review, and Chuck Holdeman, in a blog post for LocalArtsLive.

Please come back to our site often–we’ll have much more from the composers and artists we’re working with this season, plus posts from Linda Reichert, Network’s Artistic Director, and Judith Mendelsohn, our Program Associate, and others.  And I hope you’ll always feel free to share your opinions with us, through our website or just by emailing or posting to our Facebook page–we love to hear from you.