Hidden Notes

About

Hidden Notes is a brand new annual two day event in Stroud, Gloucestershire. 

Founded by local independent arts magazine Good On Paper it focuses on presenting the works of contemporary classical and avant-garde composers rarely seen together on the same stage to an eager audience, whilst also providing the artists with a platform to perform new music and collaborations.

The unique and eclectic line-up features musicians from some of the world’s most forward thinking record labels including the likes of Erased Tapes, One Little Indian, Bedroom Community, Gondwana, Touch and Prah Recordings all held in the epic surroundings of St Laurence Church in the heart of Stroud. 

 

ABOUT HIDDEN NOTES

HIDDEN NOTES FESTIVAL

”Top Festival for expanding your musical horizons…” The Big Issue, Festival Guide

”A festival you won’t want to miss…” Electronic Sound

"The audiences were friendly; there was a camaraderie. I was continually caught off guard by people turning around to revel in the incredible sound. It was the atmosphere most classical music programmers would dream of.” Freya Parr, BBC Music Magazine

“With audiences that come from Poland, Spain, Germany, Japan and America, you’ll be mingling in a crowd of international, like-minded music lovers.” Composer Magazine

“One of the best festivals around…" Chris Parkin, the Nearfield

“I genuinely haven't seen a festival line-up in such an exceptionally long time that has interested me as much as this edition of Hidden Notes.  The most imaginative and profound music is created in the interchanges between more established music genres, and all of the composers listed here are pioneering experts at that.  Contemporary minimalism, electronic music, traditional folk, composition for the moving image, sound art; all genres which are traditionally male dominated, and yet Hidden Notes have come up with a triumph of programming of some of the best composers in these genres today, and they just happen to be women.  This will surely set the quality standard for years to come.” Vick Bain, the F List  

”It was wonderful to be at a festival with such an incredible (women-strong) line up. It felt really welcoming and like a true celebration of electronic and experimental music…” Isobel Anderson, Girls Twiddling Nobs podcast

“An eclectic, mind expanding, very interesting, superbly curated festival!” Breaking More Waves

”Pull up a pew to hear a multitude of sounds from musicians from around the world…” Alternative Classical

Founded by local independent arts magazine Good On Paper, Hidden Notes Festival which takes place in multiple venues in the centre of Stroud, Gloucestershire (including churches, galleries, art centres, and independent record shops) focuses on presenting the works of contemporary classical, folk, electronic and avant-garde composers rarely seen together on the same stage whilst also providing the artists with a platform to perform new music and collaborations in intimate spaces. It also features film screenings, book talks, exhibitions, late night DJ sessions, installations and more resulting in a packed and varied programme of art, music, literature and film…

VOL.1 2019 LINEUP:
Manu Delago Ensemble - Lubomyr Melnyk - Daniel Pioro and Valgeir Sigurdsson - Hatis Noit - Sebastian Plano - Emily Hall - Claire M Singer - Emilie Levienaise Farrouch - Spindle Ensemble - Group Listening - Dave Howell (Fat Cat/130701) DJ Set

VOL.2 2022 LINEUP:
Jonny Greenwood - Penguin Cafe - Erland Cooper - Poppy Ackroyd - Peter Broderick - James McVinnie - Shida Shahabi - Daniel Thorne - Harriet Rilet - Daniel Inzani + Beth Gibbons and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra: Henry Gorecki Symphony No.3 (film screening) - Tones, Drones and Arpeggios: The Magic of Minimalism (film screening) plus Q&A with Charles Hazlewood chaired by Jane Millichip - Sisters With Transistors (film screening) - Ben Corrigan from Excuse the Mess (book talk) - Lates At HN ft Stone Club, Sasha Lewis and Mully Jowers - IF Moonbathing (installation) by John Best and David Sheppard - Resident Artist: Dan Rawlings - DJ Sets: 130701 Records, Byrd Out and Klang Tone Records

VOL.3 2023 LINEUP:
Hannah Peel - Midori Takada - Manchester Collective - NYX - Alexandra Hamilton Ayres - Akusmi - Brighde Chaimbeul - Fran & Flora - Sarah Nicolls - Josh Semans + Particle Shrine (installation) by Christo Squire and Teppei Takori - Delia Derbyshire: The Myths and the Legendary Tapes (film screening) plus Q&A with Caroline Catz chaired by Jane Millichip - Ryuichi Sakamoto: CODA (film screening) - Leah Broad: Quartet (book talk) with Edith Bowman - Resident Artist: Boss Morris - Breakfast Club: Andrew Heath and Phonsonic - Record Shop Sessions: The Flamenco Thief and Tudor Acid

VOL.4 2024 LINEUP:
Suzanne Ciani - Will Gregory Moog Ensemble - Mary Lattimore - Galya Bisengalieva - Echo Collective - Katherine Tinker - Hekla - William J.Stokes - Laura Cannell - Daniel Inzani - Rachel Musson - Slow Moon - GRANDAD - Unicorn Ship Explosion - James Merry - A Life In Waves - Deep Listening: The Story Of Pauline Oliveros - Ben Murphy: Ears To The Ground - Paul Purgas: Subcontinental Synthesis

HN continues its close working relationship with d&b audiotechnik who install a state of the art sound system in the church from their base in Stroud.

Huge thanks also to our festival sponsors Darbyshire , Ecotricity, Stroud Arts Festival and the Laura Kinsella Foundation.



HIDDEN NOTES RECORDS

In May 2021 Hidden Notes continued it’s ever widening trajectory, launching a record label with the release of experimental/contemporary classical chamber quartet Spindle Ensemble’s sophomore album Inkling which made it onto the Guardian’s top ten contemporary albums of 2021 list.

In February 2022 Hidden Notes Records released the creative collaborations born out of the excuse the mess podcast as limited edition books and album downloads. Released as two volumes, to mirror the two series of excuse the mess in which they were made..17 unique voices from contemporary music worlds and beyond featuring Hannah Peel, Gold Panda, Anna Meredith, Galya Bisengalieva, Manu Delago, Robert Ames, Emily Hall, Oliver Coates, Mira Calix, Matt Calvert, Douglas Dare, Laura Jurd, Mark Lockheart, Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch, Anne Nikitin, Alev Lenz and Elliot Galvin.

Further releases on Hidden Notes Records are currently in the works including ondes martenot player, composer and producer Josh Semans’ second album in 2023.


 

ABOUT STROUD

“Most people fall in love with Stroud before they even pull into the station. The train from the East snakes through the Golden Valley, with stone cottages perched up on the vivid green hillsides above. The tracks follow the magical mossy furrows of the old canal and the river Frome which run alongside each other. You might spot an otter or a kingfisher or a deer as well as the less shy sheep, cows and horses. You will see stone mill buildings that long ago wove red woollen military jackets. And you will pass Pangolin Editions and Gallery - Europe’s biggest sculpture foundry where works by Eduardo Paulozzi, Sarah Lucas, Damien Hirst (who also has his own production facility across town) and Lynn Chadwick, and public monuments to Charles Dickens, George Orwell and Britain’s female wartime steel workers have been rendered in bronze.

At the station you will pass the Brunel Goods Shed, which has been lovingly re-purposed by SVA (Stroud Valleys Artspace) as one of the most charming arts venues. Everyone from The Comet Is Coming to This is the Kit have performed at this sister venue to SVA’s gallery and kitchen also in town. The Prince Albert is another Stroud musical hub, recently name checked in the Guardian as one of the UK’s best local music venues. The town’s beautiful churches (Rodborough and St Laurence’s) double as music halls, too, as does the new canal-side Stroud Brewery building. Art gets into every nook and cranny here.

Stroud sits where five valleys meet, spreading out like a star between the lush rolling hills, traditionally known as wolds. You could say Stroud puts the “wolds” into “Cotswolds” but its industrial heritage and creative community save it from tweeness and existing merely as a tourist attraction. Eavesdrop at a local cafe and you’ll hear one table enthusing about an upcoming poetry event, another plotting the line-ups for the various stages at August’s Fringe Festival, and a gaggle of Extinction Rebellion founders (the movement was born in Stroud) regrouping after a successful spate of peaceful protests.

The breath-taking Slad Valley is often referred to as “Laurie Lee country”, because it was the writer's home, and the setting for his famous coming-of-age memoir Cider with Rosie. Lee’s portrait proudly hangs in the cosy, untouched Woolpack pub in Slad, where after dinner service, spontaneous rowdy sing-alongs often erupt around the piano. The poets Michael and Frances Horovitz moved to the Valley in the early 1970s, bringing celebrated beat poets including the likes of Allen Ginsberg to perform in town. Their son, the poet Adam Horovitz, still resides in Slad and remembers his parents and Laurie Lee drinking together when he was little. The truth is, with STROUD'S disproportionate amount of resident artists, musicians, writers and creative thinkers, you never know who you’ll spot at a gig or the farmers market or INDEED in the pub.”

By Amy Fleming
(Stroud resident and writer/editor for the Guardian as well as FT, 1843, Newsweek, Good On Paper)