When Susanna Eastburn left her job with music publisher Chester Novello after eight years, to move to Huddersfield, she wondered if she would ever get the chance to work again with the composers she met through the company and in her travels abroad.
Although Eastburn moved to the northern town jobless, life fell into place in that uncanny way it does, and she soon found herself drawing on years of knowledge and contacts, after landing the job of Artistic Director of the Huddersfield Contemporary Music festival in April 2001.
Taking over from predecessor and founder of the 25-year old event, Richard Steinitz, was no easy task, but Eastburn said the fact most of the ideas for last year’s festival were already in place eased her into the role.
‘It was a good way of learning about programming a festival like this,’ she recalls. ‘It stood me in very good stead when I started to think about what I wanted to do for the 2002 festival.’
After a quarter of a century, the festival’s success has confirmed a strong local interest in Huddersfield for music at the cutting edge of the contemporary classical genre. The event continues to draw national and international composers of high calibre, combined with an award-winning education programme.
For Eastburn, 33, the role offered the opportunity to build on the festival’s roots, as contemporary classical music continues to evolve alongside other musical genres, with the influence of technology.
‘One of the differences between myself and Richard, inevitably, is that I have a completely different relationship with composers of my generation,’ Eastburn explains. ‘I’m not going to change the fact it’s contemporary classical music because that’s what I’m interested in as well, but while I aim to programme a broad range of the genre, I’m always thinking about what is new and trying to do things slightly differently from the mainstream.’
‘Huddersfield should lead the way, it shouldn’t just replicate things that have been done in London or elsewhere – we should be exploring new talent and works that haven’t been performed in Britain before.’
Eastburn explains that thanks to Steinitz, who successfully raised commissioning funds, this year’s event has commissioned a number of emerging artists experimenting with new media.
These include a multimedia piece by Matt Wright for the Apollo Saxophone Quartet, incorporating remixed audio and video footage; a major new project from Evan Parker, in collaboration with Norwegian video artist Kjell Bjorgneengen, for the Electro-Acoustic Ensemble; and a film and music spectacle by Martin Matalon, who has created the score to Luis Bunuel’s film L’Age d’Or.
‘It’s very difficult to find commissioning funds these days – the sources have virtually dried up,’ comments Eastburn. ‘So it’s unusual for us to commission new work on this scale.’
But while the festival explores young emerging talent in this year’s programme, Eastburn is equally enthusiastic about the featured performers, in particular one of her personal favourites and good friend, Per Nørgård.
The Danish composer, 70, is making his first appearance at Huddersfield, alongside other key musicians, including Irish composer, Gerald Barry, and Christian Wolff of the New York School. Several American contemporary jazz musicians are also making their UK debut, including Steve Mackey, Joey Baron, Joe Lovano and New Yorker Annie Gosfield.
One of Eastburn’s own passions is the music of Nordic composers like Nørgård, to who, she says, she can listen endlessly. She notes the funding systems in Scandinavian countries are more generous than a lot of other nations, allowing a vibrant and larger community of composers and new music to emerge.
However, Eastburn continues, the atmosphere in Huddersfield at festival time sets the town apart from other cities in the UK – a similar festival in London, she believes, would be unlikely to draw the same audience response.
‘It’s quite an intimate environment during festival time,’ she acknowledges, admitting she hasn’t been around since the festival’s birth, but nonetheless has been a regular visitor for the past nine years.
‘What distinguishes it from the larger metropolitan centres is that there is a chance for the audience to have a much more meaningful encounter with a composer like Nørgård, that goes beyond just seeing them in a concert hall,’ explains Eastburn, who will be engaging the composer in a talk at this year’s event.
‘I think that’s one of the reasons we have built up such a loyal following over the years.’
The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival will play at various venues around Huddersfield from November 21 to December 1.
For further information visit the festival website or telephone 01484 425082. For bookings call the Box Office on 01484 430528.
