Hilda Paredes

Firmly established as one of the leading Mexican composers of her generation, Hilda Paredes Arditti, composer in residence (Mexico) has been based in London for almost 40 years. 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 for the refinement of her craft, and the versatility of her work is manifest in a catalog that includes a wide range of electroacoustic elements. Most recently at CIRM, she composed her chamber opera “Harriet, Scenes in the life of Harriet Tubman,” ranked by Dutch critic Joep Stapel as the number one Best Classical Music of 2018. In 2019, Hilda was awarded a prestigious Ivors Composer Award for the same work. In addition to this award, Paredes has been honored with a number of illustrious international accolades, including Music Theatre Now, the PRS for Music Foundation, J.S. Guggenheim Fellowship, Fund for Culture Mexico/USA, and the Fellowship from Sistema Nacional de Creadores (FONCA) in Mexico. She received the Music for Dance Award from the Arts Council of Great Britain in 1988 for her piece El Prestidigitador. Through her participation in the Garden Venture Opera Project in Dartington, she was awarded the Arts Council of Great Britain Composers Award to write her first chamber opera “The Seventh Seed,” released by Mode Records (60). In 2001 she was awarded the J.S. Guggenheim fellowship for the creation of her opera “El Palacio Imaginado,” a production which premiered to much acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. Hilda Paredes’ music has been commissioned, premiered and performed by many prestigious ensembles, orchestras and soloists including Trio Arbós, Ensemble Modern, Lontano, The New Juilliard Ensemble, Neue Vocalsolisten, Ensamble Sospeso, Plural Ensemble, Ensemble Phoenix Basle, and Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México, amongst many others. Her works have been presented by prominent international festivals and venues in Europe, North America, Australia, and Asia. Much in demand as composition tutor and lecturer, Hilda is a regular guest lecturer at the University of Buffalo and has taught composition and lectured at universities across Europe and the United States. 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. Paredes graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and subsequently obtained her Master of Arts at City University in London, and later completed her PhD at Manchester University under Prof. John Casken. Some of her lectures and articles have been published in both English and Spanish. Paredes’ works have featured on the AEON, Mode Records NY, Bridge and IBS labels, and are published by University of York Music Press.