Hilda Paredes facts for kids

Hilda Paredes in 2024.

Hilda Paredes (born in Tehuacan, Puebla, Mexico, 1957) is one of Mexico's most important modern composers. She has won many special awards for her music. She lives in London and is married to the well-known English violinist, Irvine Arditti.

About Her Life

Hilda Paredes was born in Tehuacan, Puebla, Mexico. As a child, she learned to play the piano and the flute. When she was 21, she moved to London for college. There, she kept studying and playing the flute. She often performed and arranged music for different groups, mixing popular and classical styles. During this time, she also started writing her own music.

As a student, she learned from famous composers like Peter Maxwell Davies and Richard Rodney Bennett. She graduated from the Guildhall School of Music. Later, she earned her Master of Arts degree from City University in London and her PhD from Manchester University.

In 1988, she won the Music for Dance Award from the Arts Council of Great Britain. This was for her work with dancers and choreographers.

She wrote her first chamber opera, "The Seventh Seed," after working on an opera project in Dartington. An opera is like a play where most of the words are sung. This opera was later released by Mode Records.

Hilda Paredes still stays connected to music in her home country. She teaches at the National University in Mexico City. She also produced a radio show about new music. Plus, she worked with the Orchestra of Baja California, arranging old Spanish and Mexican songs.

She has received many important awards. These include a special fellowship for composers from the Arts Council of Great Britain. She also won awards from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Fund for Culture Mexico/USA, and the J.S. Guggenheim Fellowship in the USA.

Paredes still lives in London and works as a composer. She has taught music and given talks at universities in Manchester, San Diego (USA), Mexico, Spain, and France. In 2007, she was a special visiting professor at Mills College in the US.

Her second chamber opera, "El Palacio Imaginado" (The Imagined Palace), was a big success. It was shown for the first time in Europe and the USA. Many groups asked her to write this opera, including Musik der Jahrhunderte and the English National Opera.

Hilda Paredes has been asked to write music for solo artists, groups, and orchestras all over the world. Her music has been played by famous groups like Lontano, London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Modern, and the Arditti Quartet. It has also been performed at major music festivals. These include festivals in the UK (Huddersfield), Germany (Berlin Philharmonic), France (Festival D'Automne), Japan (Akiyoshidai Music Festival), and Mexico (Festival Internacional Cervantino).

In 2018, she created a musical play called "Harriet." This work was about the life of Harriet Tubman, an amazing Afro-American freedom fighter. It was first performed in Amsterdam and at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.

In 2024, Hilda Paredes was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award. This is a very important award for composers. Her piece "The Hearing Trumpet" was nominated for Best Chamber Ensemble Composition.

Her Music Recordings

Hilda Paredes has released many recordings of her music. These recordings help people around the world listen to her unique compositions. Some of her works that have been recorded include:

• "The Seventh Seed," her chamber opera.
• "Permutaciones," for solo violin.
• "Metmorfósis," for guitar.
• "Nana de la Luna," for mezzo-soprano and piano.
• "Tres Piezas In Memoriam L.J.," for a group of instruments.
• "Recordando a Celia," for piano.
• "Uy U T’an," for string quartet, played by the Arditti Quartet.
• "Can Silim Tun," for four voices and string quartet.
• "Ah Paaxo’ob," for a large group of instruments.
• "Cotidales," for piano and string quartet.

Her Published Music

Many of Hilda Paredes's musical works have been published. This means that other musicians can buy the sheet music and perform her compositions. Some of her published pieces include:

• "Sonetos Eróticos," for soprano and a group of instruments.
• "Chacdzidzib," for piccolo.
• "Las Estrellas," for piano.
• "Recordando a Celia," also for piano.
• "Demente Cuerda," for various wind instruments, percussion, strings, and solo harp.

The University of York Music Press is now publishing more of her works, such as:

• "Permutaciones," for solo violin.
• "Homenaje a Remedios Varo."
• "Zuhuy Kak," for solo cello.
• "Tres Piezas In Memoriam L.J.," for a group of instruments.
• "Ah Paaxo’ob," for a large group of instruments.
• "Cotidales," for piano and string quartet.
• "Corazón de Onix," for flute, clarinet, piano, violin, viola, and cello.
• "Recuerdos del Porvenir," for flute, oboe, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, viola, and cello.
• "Páramo de voces," for piano and electronics.
• "Sobre un páramo sin voces," for piano.
• "Recordare," for symphony orchestra.
• "In Memoriam Thomas Kakuska," for solo violin.

Other Things She Does

Hilda Paredes has also been involved in other musical activities:

• From 1991 to 1996, she produced a weekly radio show called "Apariciones Sonoras del Siglo XX" (Sound Appearances of the 20th Century) for Radio UNAM in Mexico. This show was about new music.
• From 1992 to 1993, she worked with the Orchestra of Baja California. She arranged and prepared traditional Mexican and Spanish songs for them to play. Some of these arrangements were released on CDs.

Awards She Has Won

Hilda Paredes has received many awards for her amazing work:

• 1988: Music for Dance Award from the Arts Council of Great Britain, for her piece El Prestidigitador.
• 1989: The Holst Foundation supported her work Sonetos Eróticos.
• 1990: Fellowship for Composers, for her opera The Seventh Seed.
• 1993: Grant from the National Fund for Culture and Arts (FONCA), Mexico, for En el Nombre del Padre.
• 1993-1996: Fellowship for Creative Artists, Mexico.
• 1996: Fund for Culture Mexico/USA, which helped pay for the recording of The Seventh Seed.
• 1997-2000: Fellowship for Creative Artists, Mexico.
• 2000: Became an honorary member of the Sistema Nacional de Creadores (National System of Creators), Mexico.
• 2001: J.S. Guggenheim Fellowship, New York City.
• 2002: Premio de la Unión de Cronistas de Teatro y Musica (Award from the Union of Theater and Music Critics), Mexico.
• 2003: FONCA, for a project to record four of her pieces on the Mode label.
• 2006: Sistema Nacional de Creadores, Mexico.

See also

In Spanish: Hilda Paredes para niños