One of Europe's most significant events for new and experimental music, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (HCMF), is being held for the 48th time this year. The festival will feature works by eight Finnish composers, performed by internationally renowned ensembles.

The second year of collaboration with Music Finland highlights the diversity and experimental nature of Finnish contemporary music. Finnish music will play a particularly prominent role in the festival program during the opening weekend.

The British vocal ensemble The Carice Singers will perform works by Lotta Wennäkoski, Perttu Haapanen, and Joel Järventausta, which explore rich soundscapes, creative harmonies, and meditative moods. The Mivos Quartet, a leading contemporary music ensemble from New York, will premiere Ville Raasakka's work The Trees are Talking, which takes the string quartet into new areas of expression by examining the hidden communication systems of nature.

As part of the hcmf// shorts series, Mark Reid Bulatović and Thorkell Nordal will premiere a work combining sound with ritualistic performance art in an animistic spirit.

The Finnish music program culminates in a concert by the Finnish saxophone quartet Saxtronauts (pictured above), featuring works by Meriheini Luoto, Osmo Tapio Räihälä, and Mioko Yokoyama. The concert offers a cross-section of the vitality and experimental nature of contemporary Finnish music. Luoto's Talven uneen vaipuen (Falling into Winter Sleep), Räihälä's Oil Today Water Tomorrow, and Yokoyama's Tetra-Alloy are all UK premieres.

"HCMF has always been a forum for bringing new and exciting sounds to the fore," says the festival's artistic director Graham McKenzie.

The festival begins on Friday, November 21, and continues until Sunday, November 30, in Huddersfield, UK. This year, Music Finland will be joined by Teosto and the Finnish Institute in Britain and Ireland as Finnish partners during the opening weekend. Read more about the festival programme here.

Dig deeper into the Finnish composers in these spotlight articles:

-Osmo Tapio Räihälä
-Mioko Yokoyama
-Ville Raasakka
-Lotta Wennäkoski