Newcastle University

Mystical Dances, a new composition by Agustin Fernandez, senior lecturer in the International Centre for Music Studies, has been premiered at the Huddersfield Festival, Britain's most prestigious festival of contemporary music.

Agustin's new work was specially commissioned for, and played by, Northern Sinfonia, conducted by their musical director, the Austrian violinist and conductor Thomas Zehetmair.

After the concert, Agustin commented: 'I am very pleased with the performance. The orchestra did a splendid job.

'I was rather nervous before the performance. The Huddersfield Festival has a reputation as a showcase for very hard-core experimental and modernist music, whereas my composition is innovative in a different sense, but the signs were that it was very well received by the audience', he said.

• Agustin's compositions also featured in the second concert of the I3 series, which took place in The Sage Gateshead recently. I3 is the creative strand of the ICMUS CETL (Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning) activities, at the heart of which is a series of concerts held in partnership with Durham University and The Sage Gateshead.

The concert also featured works by the project's Visiting Composer, Gerald Barry, a a world-class exponent of contemporary composition, PhD student Matthew Rowan and Durham PhD student Kelcey Swain. Northern Sinfonia again performed all the works, conducted by their guest conductor Baldur Brönnimann, from Switzerland.

Agustin Fernandez's next premiere will be the first complete performance of A to Z, at Nybrokajen 11, Stockholm, on 5 December. The next I3 concert, featuring works by composers from Newcastle and Durham Universities, will be performed at The Sage Gateshead on 14 January.

Web links to further information:

Agustin Fernandez's information and commentary page

Photo credit: Graham Oliver