June in Buffalo 2021 Senior Composer: Hilda Paredes

We are pleased to announced that Hilda Paredes will be working with students at this year’s June in Buffalo Festival as one of a number of  senior composers and guest lecturers. Hilda Paredes was born in Tehuacan, Puebla in 1957 and is currently based in London, England. While it is fundementally European on the surface, Mexican and pre-colonial culture runs as a deep background thread through much of her work.  At the same time, many of her means for manipulating rhythm and structure have been influenced by her interest in the music of India.

Firmly established as one of the leading Mexican composers of her generation, Hilda Paredes has been based in London for 35 years. Musicians, singers and conductors frequently praise the perfect balance she achieves between brilliant compositional technique and a keen sensibility for the particular instruments and individuals for whom she writes.

The versatility of her work is manifest in a catalogue that includes a wide range of electroacoustic works created at IRCAM, at SWR Experimentalstudio and at CIRM, where the electronics of her widely celebrated chamber opera Harriet, Scenes in the life of Harriet Tubman, were created. Harriet is based on poetry by Mayra Santos-Febres and a selection of dialogues by Lex Bohlmeijer,  and tells the story of Harriet Tubman, who escaped her childhood of slavery and helped others to freedom via the Underground Railroad, a network of safe routes to the free states. After the premiere at the Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, the Dutch critic, Joep Stapel, placed Harriet as the number one Best Classical Music of 2018. In 2019, Paredes was awarded a prestigious Ivors Composer Award for this work. 

While there is a testimony of constant collaboration with Mexican poets and artists in her works, she also draws inspiration from music and cultures from around the world. Her music has been acclaimed by the critics for the refinement of her craft, marked by the intensity of the relationship between time, dramatic force and poetic approach. 

 In addition to this award, Paredes has been honoured with a number of international accolades, including the PRS for Music Foundation, J.S. Guggenheim Fellowship, Rockefeller, Fund for Culture Mexico/USA, and the Fellowship from Sistema Nacional de Creadores (FONCA) in Mexico.

Hilda Paredes’ music has been commissioned and performed by many prestigious ensembles, orchestras and soloists including Trio Arbós, Arditti Quartet, Aventure, Collegium Novum Zurich, Contrechamps, Court Circuit, Ensemble Intercontemporain, L’Instant donné, Hilliard Ensemble, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Recherche, Ensemble Signal, Grup Instrumental de Valencia, ICE, London Sinfonietta, Lontano, The New Julliard Ensemble, Neue Vocalsolisten, Plural Ensemble, Psappha, Ensemble Phoenix Basle, MDi Ensemble, Orchestra di l’Arena de Verona, RTE, OFUNAM, Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México, amongst many others.

Her works have been presented by such prominent international festivals and venues as the Wigmore Hall, Huddersfield Contemporary Music and Edinburgh Festivals in the UK; Eclat and Ultraschall in Germany; Festival D’Automne a Paris, Musica and Octobre en Normandie in France; Wien Modern and Klangspuren in Austria; Akiyoshidai and Takefu Music Festivals in Japan; Archipel in Switzerland; De Ijsbreker Chamber Music Festival in Amsterdam; Warsaw Autumn in Poland; Ultima in Oslo; Melbourne International Music Festival in Australia; June in Buffalo, the Composer Portraits Series at Miller Theatre NY, and Festival of Arts and Ideas in the USA, Ars Musica in Bruxelles; Festival de Alicante, Festival de Música Religiosa de Cuenca and ENSEMS Festival in Spain; and Festival Internacional Cervantino in Mexico.