EVENTS

Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival runs from 20 Nov - 1 Dec 1996. (01484 425 082)

THE FESTIVAL

One of the biggest and best new festivals in Europe, Huddersfield combines a trail-blazing artistic policy with a warm, informal approach to contemporary music.

COMPOSERS AND PREMIERES

This year, there are composers and performers travelling from as far afield as Russia and Australia. New music from Asia includes the world premiere of Orchestral Theatre III by Tan Dun (China) and the UK premiere of Toshio Hosokawa's Hiroshima Requiem (Japan). Karen Markham's A Mystical Journey is another world premiere, this time for children's choir, chorus, soloists and English Northern Philharmonia.

The twin highlights, however, must be a retrospective of the late Morton Feldman and a weekend of Stockhausen who will be putting in a personal appearance with his clique of devoted performers to perform a world premiere of Bijou, a UK premiere of Pieta and the ever-popular chamber piece, Tierkreis. Fri 22, Lawrence Batley Theatre 7.30pm

ESSENTIAL STOCKHAUSEN

After nearly half a century of extraordinary new music, opinion on the pioneer of electronic music is still split, with some considering him a visionary and others a bogeyman. Whatever else, he's a giant egotist, and has spent the last 10 years trying to out-Wagner Wagner with Licht, an autobiographical cycle of seven operas, framed in cosmological terms and named after the days of the week.

On Thursday, the composer's son Markus will be taking a trumpet masterclass (10am University Recital Hall), while next weekend punters have the chance to see a film of Stockhausen's Helicopter String Quartet. This is Stockhausen at his most outrageous, mixing his work from the ground while the camera follows four helicopters, each carrying a different member of the Arditti String Quartet. Sat 23 Lawrence Batley Theatre, 10.15pm

SPECIAL EVENTS

On Thursday Javier Alvarez's Pyramid of Pianos (12.30pm St Paul's Hall) showcases the talents of 200 keyboard players of all ages.

Next Saturday, the festival takes to the streets when charismatic South African composer and multi-instrumentalist Eugene Skeef leads Open Ears (3pm Piazza, Princess Alexander Walk), an outdoor-indoor musical celebration that proceeds across the town.

Also worth hearing are Ensemble Bash (1pm St Paul's Hall, 26 Nov), a dynamic percussion group who wil be giving lessons in the beats of West Africa and Latin America in a workshop following their performance.

A series of Feldman concerts concludes with Last Notes, his final composition. (Sat 30 9.45pm, St Paul's Hall).

Booking (01484 430528)