The Estonian program begins on Saturday, November 22 with the screening of the film “Every Sound a Jewel,” which provides an insight into the life and creative development of world-renowned composer Arvo Pärt.
Continuing the Pärt them and paying tribute to the great composer’s 90th birthday, later the same day, The Carice Singers will perform a concert of extraordinary emotional depth and sonic color, exploring Baltic mysticism, Nordic vibrancy and the human response to conflict.
On Sunday, November 23, Mingo Rajandi will perform a U.K. premiere of “Lady Sapiens” at the Bates Mill Blending Shed.
Inspired by the 2023 book of the same name by Thomas Cirotteau, Jennifer Kerner, and Eric Pincas, Rajandi’s “Lady Sapiens” sets out to give women the roles the might have held hundreds of thousands of years ago – hunters, artists, leaders, shamans, healers, inventors – sonically restoring these erased voices and reconnecting with a deeper, more complex, and more truthful human past.
Mingo Rajandi. Source: Virge Viertek
hcmf// Artistic Director Graham McKenzie describes Rajandi as “a powerhouse” and “unapologetic champion of low notes.”
“[Rajandi] rages against societal divisions where even musical instruments are placed into rigid categories of masculine or feminine, and where playing instruments like the double bass or serpent is rarely seen as feminine,” McKenzie said.
Estonia’s first female electronic music composer
Later in the evening, the Estonian Electronic Music Society Ensemble (EMA) take to the stage. Using their Historically Informed Performance approach, EMA have transcribed the music of Õie Olinda Sacherman from tapes of her work that they found.
Sacherman may have been Estonia’s first female composer of electronic music, though little is known about her. On the cover of a tape of her work found by EMA, the year of her birth is marked as 1915, but the year of her death is unknown; presumably she emigrated abroad, where all trace of her has been lost.
It is not known where Sacherman worked, but based on the distinctive sound of the Drossel-circle circuits used at the time, it seems likely that she had access to equipment from the Estonian Radio.
EMA will premiere Sacherman’s work at the festival alongside more recent works by Estonian composers Tatjana Kozlova-Johannes, Ekke Västrik and Rauno Remme – using technology from the 1950s and 1960s, transporting the audience back to the past.
Artistic First Encounters
On Monday, November 24, Mingo Rajandi will perform once again, this time alongside Heiner Goebbels – one of the great innovators in the world of theater, music and performance art.
The performance, which is the first in a series of duos representing “artistic first encounters” between Goebbels and three exceptional musicians will be at St. Paul’s Hall and entry is free.
The Estonian program concludes with a performance by Tuulikki Bartosik and Helen Anahita Wilson, also on November 24.
The duo will present the world premiere of “love — hate — attachment — music,” exploring attachment theory through composed, indeterminate, and improvised exercises in wild musical masochism and asking the question: What happens to music when the relationship between its creators breaks down?
Bartosik and Wilson enter an uneasy contract, locked in a destructive but addictive duo, sounding out their dysfunctional bond through magnetic, harmful beat motifs and distorted Nordic songs. Attempts at freedom through improvisation, electronic overload, and vocal departures are repeatedly dragged back into the same corrosive orbit in which the pleasure of sound is only accessed through their endurance of distortion and dysfunction.
Exciting collaboration
In 2024, the Estonian Contemporary Music Center signed an agreement with the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (hcmf//) – one of the largest festivals of its kind and based in the West Yorkshire town of the same name.
Tuulikki Bartosik. Source: Liisa-Ingrid Kerson (Ingridient)
The agreement was part of a broader deal to increase cultural cooperation between the U.K. and Estonia.
At the time, Taavi Kerikmäe, head of the Estonian Contemporary Music Center, said: “This is a unique situation – we can connect the best of Estonian contemporary music with this network of top players in the world.”
“This is a huge creative boost for everyone involved, and it’s also a direct investment that enhances the export of Estonian contemporary music,” Kerikmäe added.
From 2025, the collaboration gives Estonian composers and musicians increased opportunities to develop networks, create new partnerships, and present their works on the international stage.
In turn, British artists will get the chance to perform for Estonian audiences and collaborate with their Estonian counterparts.
The Estonia-UK contemporary music cooperation agreement being signed. Source: Ministry of Culture.
Ivo Lille, music advisor at the Estonian Ministry of Culture, described the cooperation agreement as “the sign of long-term and purposeful work in the internationalization of culture, further strengthening the cooperation and cultural exchange between Estonia and the U.K.”
When the deal weas signed in June 2024, hcmf// Artistic Director Graham McKenzie said: “This exciting collaboration has been in the works for some time and will bring a rich and diverse selection of Estonian artists to the U.K., who work in all genres of new music, while also creating new opportunities for British artists to present their work in Estonia.”
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More information about the 2025 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (hcmf// ), including the full program, is available here.
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