Hilda Paredes
Firmly established as one of the leading Mexican composers of her generation, Hilda Paredes has been based in the UK 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.
While there is a testimony of constant collaboration with Mexican poets and artists in her works, she also draws inspiration from many different 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.
“whilst living in London and rooted in the contemporary European music, echoes of pre-colonial Central American cultures surfaces in her music, as well as a very definite essential strength channelled towards a refined and sensitive music always poetically framed” Mundo clásico 2016
The versatility of her work is manifest in a catalogue that includes a wide range of electroacoustic elements, creating works at IRCAM and SWR Experimentalstudio. Most recently at CIRM, she composed her widely celebrated chamber opera Harriet, Scenes in the life of Harriet Tubman, that won the Ivors British Composers award, stage category in 2019.
Her music has been recipient of important international awards, such as the PRS for Music Foundation,The Gwärtler Stiftung in Switzerland, the Fellowship from Sistema Nacional de Creadores,(FONCA) in Mexico and in 2001was awarded the J.S. Guggenheim fellowship for the creation of her opera El Palacio Imaginado, based on a story by Isabel Allende and with a selection of contemporary Mexican indigenous poetry. Commissioned by Musik der Jahrhunderte, English National Opera and the Festival of Arts and Ideas in New Haven, the production was premiered with much acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic.
After studying composition at the Conservatoire in Mexico City with Mario Lavista, she was an active participant in master classes at Dartington Summer School, studying with Peter Maxwell Davies, Harrison Birtwistle and Richard Rodney Bennett. She was also a student at Franco Donatoni’s Masterclasses at the Academia Chighiana. She graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and subsequently obtained her Master of Arts at City University in London and completed her PhD at Manchester University.
Paredes’ music has been commissioned, premiered and performed by many prestigious ensembles, orchestras and soloists includingTrio Arbós, Arditti Quartet, Aventure, Collegium Novum Zurich, Contrechamps, Court Circuit, Ensemble Intercontemporain, L’Instant donné, Hilliard Ensemble, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Recherche, Ensemble Signal, Ensemble Sospeso, Grup Instrumental de Valencia, ICE, London Sinfonietta, Lontano, The New Julliard Ensemble, Neue Vocalsolisten, Ensamble Sospeso, 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 music has been widely performed at important international festivals, including Huddersfield Contemporary Musicand Edinburgh Festival in the UK; Eclat and Ultraschall in Germany; Festival D’Automne a Paris, Musica and Octobre en Normandie, in France; Wien Modern and Klangspurenin Austria; Akiyoshidai and Takefu Music Festivals, in Japan; Archipel and Music monat, in Switzerland; De Ijsbreker Chamber Music Festival, in Amsterdam; Warsaw Autumn, in Poland; Ultima, in Oslo; Melbourne Festival, in Australia; 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; Festival Internacional Cervantino in Mexico, amongst many others.
Hilda is in demand as composition tutor and lecturer regularly at the University of Buffalo, the University of San Diego California, amongst others and was appointed the Darius Milhuad Professor at Mills College in the US. She was professor at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya in Barcelona and in the 2015 Spring term at Dartmouth College in the US. She returned to Mills College in 2016 as the as the Jean Macduff Vaux Composer-in-Residence. Her works have featured on the AEON, Mode Records NY, Bridge and IBS labels, amongst others and are published by University of York Music Press. www.uymp.co.uk
Firmly established as one of the leading Mexican composers of her generation, Hilda Paredes has been based in the UK 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.
While there is a testimony of constant collaboration with Mexican poets and artists in her works, she also draws inspiration from many different 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.
“whilst living in London and rooted in the contemporary European music, echoes of pre-colonial Central American cultures surfaces in her music, as well as a very definite essential strength channelled towards a refined and sensitive music always poetically framed” Mundo clásico 2016
The versatility of her work is manifest in a catalogue that includes a wide range of electroacoustic elements, creating works at IRCAM and SWR Experimentalstudio. Most recently at CIRM, she composed her widely celebrated chamber opera Harriet, Scenes in the life of Harriet Tubman, that won the Ivors British Composers award, stage category in 2019.
Her music has been recipient of important international awards, such as the PRS for Music Foundation,The Gwärtler Stiftung in Switzerland, the Fellowship from Sistema Nacional de Creadores,(FONCA) in Mexico and in 2001was awarded the J.S. Guggenheim fellowship for the creation of her opera El Palacio Imaginado, based on a story by Isabel Allende and with a selection of contemporary Mexican indigenous poetry. Commissioned by Musik der Jahrhunderte, English National Opera and the Festival of Arts and Ideas in New Haven, the production was premiered with much acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic.
After studying composition at the Conservatoire in Mexico City with Mario Lavista, she was an active participant in master classes at Dartington Summer School, studying with Peter Maxwell Davies, Harrison Birtwistle and Richard Rodney Bennett. She was also a student at Franco Donatoni’s Masterclasses at the Academia Chighiana. She graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and subsequently obtained her Master of Arts at City University in London and completed her PhD at Manchester University.
Paredes’ music has been commissioned, premiered and performed by many prestigious ensembles, orchestras and soloists includingTrio Arbós, Arditti Quartet, Aventure, Collegium Novum Zurich, Contrechamps, Court Circuit, Ensemble Intercontemporain, L’Instant donné, Hilliard Ensemble, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Recherche, Ensemble Signal, Ensemble Sospeso, Grup Instrumental de Valencia, ICE, London Sinfonietta, Lontano, The New Julliard Ensemble, Neue Vocalsolisten, Ensamble Sospeso, 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 music has been widely performed at important international festivals, including Huddersfield Contemporary Musicand Edinburgh Festival in the UK; Eclat and Ultraschall in Germany; Festival D’Automne a Paris, Musica and Octobre en Normandie, in France; Wien Modern and Klangspurenin Austria; Akiyoshidai and Takefu Music Festivals, in Japan; Archipel and Music monat, in Switzerland; De Ijsbreker Chamber Music Festival, in Amsterdam; Warsaw Autumn, in Poland; Ultima, in Oslo; Melbourne Festival, in Australia; 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; Festival Internacional Cervantino in Mexico, amongst many others.
Hilda is in demand as composition tutor and lecturer regularly at the University of Buffalo, the University of San Diego California, amongst others and was appointed the Darius Milhuad Professor at Mills College in the US. She was professor at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya in Barcelona and in the 2015 Spring term at Dartmouth College in the US. She returned to Mills College in 2016 as the as the Jean Macduff Vaux Composer-in-Residence. Her works have featured on the AEON, Mode Records NY, Bridge and IBS labels, amongst others and are published by University of York Music Press. www.uymp.co.uk
Compilations with this composer
Compilations
