The 2026 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival features UK premieres of works by two important names in new music, James Dillon and Rebecca Saunders. Both published by Edition Peters, the composers open and close the festival respectively, with Dillon's Lamentations : receiving its UK premiere on the first night and Saunders' thirst marking the festival's finale.
The musicians of Ensemble Proton and Schola Heidelberg join forces on Friday November 21 for the opening night of the festival. Dillon composed Lamentations : for them in a co-commission between HCMF and Musikfestival Bern, where the work received its World Premiere in September. The large-scale work combines vocal, instrumental and electronic forces to exhilerating effect, resulting in music of striking intensity and emotional depth. The work, dedicated "to the innocents caught between the war machines" speaks to communal grief and the value of protest in a powerful contemporary statement.
Ensemble Proton + Schola Heidelberg: James Dillon // Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival
The following weekend, on Sunday November 29, Ensemble Resonanz take the stage at Huddersfield Town Hall for the festival's closing concert featuring the UK premiere of Saunders' thirst. For 18 strings and conductor, this work was commissioned by Südwestrundfunk, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Ensemble Resonanz, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ Amsterdam, Klangspuren Schwaz, and with support from the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation. The work contemplates the meaning of 'thirst,' with relation to the human condition and that of music in contexts physical and existential. How can music, like thirst, encourage an expression of inner vulnerability and humanity? thirst received its World Premiere at Donnaueschinger Musiktage in October to great acclaim.
Ensemble Resonanz: Rebecca Saunders // Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival
