IT IS one of the top festivals for new music and this weekend visitors from across the globe flooded into town for the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.

For more than 30 years, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival has brought musicians, composer and artists to the town every November to share the latest developments in new music.

Its pursuit of musical excellence has won it awards and international as well as national fame. But it has also won many friends and supporters with its work in creating partnerships with musicians, artists, programmers and funders across the world.

This year’s festival, which opened on Friday, has a distinct Nordic feel. Bent Sørenson, described as Denmark’s greatest living composer, is here as the festival takes an in-depth look at Denmark’s lively new music scene. And many of Norway’s leading ensembles are playing at the festival.

This year’s opening concert was devoted to the UK premiere of a new accordion concerto by Sørenson who is this year’s HCMF composer in residence. Much more of his music will be heard during the week.

On Saturday, a silent black and white documentary took us into his world of composing while top Danish musicians from Ensemble SCENATET completed the portrait by playing his music.

As Sørenson talked to an audience in Huddersfield University’s Phipps Hall about the elusive and transient nature of creating music, whole families were getting hands on experience of art and design just two floors below.

The festival’s Pop-Up Art School literally popped up on the ground floor of the university’s Creative Arts Building and families were soon making paper dresses and jewellery, learning to knit or embroider, try their hands at chalk drawing, collage or making newspaper bunting.

And this is another huge plus for the festival which combines informal, hands-on creative sessions with cutting edge performances from some of the most innovative music performers around.

Travelling between venues, chatter flowed between programmers from Russia, Spain, France and Asia who were among the many overseas visitors welcomed to the festival. And they will have a lot to talk about.