James Black – Rethinking Experimental Music for this year’s Klang Festival (interview)
Interview by Nikola Nedeljkovic Gøttsche
Since taking over as Artistic Director of Copenhagen’s Klang Festival in 2022, composer and performer James Black has been quietly reimagining one of Denmark’s most important spaces for experimental music. Originally from Bristol, England, Black moved to Copenhagen in 2013 and graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Music’s soloist program in 2018. Their CV boasts major honors and multiple working grants. But for all the accolades, Black speaks with clear-eyed skepticism about the power structures embedded in classical music. Moving beyond the conservatory-rooted traditions that defined the festival for years, Black’s approach now includes sound art, electronic music, unexpected venues, and collaborations far outside the usual networks.
In this conversation, Black reflects on their curatorial evolution, reckoning with questions of access and legitimacy, and speaks with the unguarded honesty of someone in the middle of rethinking everything—including the very notion of what a festival should be.
P/A: This is your third year with Klang. Can you talk about how your curatorial approach has changed since you started?
James Black: “My first festival wasn’t my program; it was already set when I came in. So, I was just learning how to do this job, how to curate. I hadn’t done a job on this level before. It was, and still is, a new world for me.
When it came to doing my first proper edition last year, there were some delayed projects and big things already in place, so I was building around that. I was figuring out: what can go here, what spaces do we move in, and how do I do my version of Klang? Overall, I was really pleased with how that went. I made a lot of mistakes, but I learned. So, this next one—this year’s program—was about seeing what had happened and what I wanted to explore next, but also what was missing.”
P/A: What did you feel was missing?
JB: ”I looked at the people we commissioned and asked: Is there some kind of thread? Because, going with gut instinct, I realized we ended up with a certain type of music. Not to say that everything failed last year – not at all – I was really pleased. But it’s complicated. So, I made a conscious decision to go after more electronic music because that was not so present last year. And it’s not my area of expertise… which is exactly why I had to do it.
That’s the thing: if I want this festival to be for everybody who wants to use it – which I do – then I need to make sure that people can see themselves here. Not to please everyone, but to say: this way of making music is equally valid.”
“I’m thinking a lot about community. There’s a tension between reaching out through different spaces and staying rooted in one. But I want to do both.” – James Black
P/A: How do you identify those gaps? What’s your process for recognizing what’s missing – and deciding what should be given more space?
JB: “It’s about seeing a lot of music, listening, going to festivals, observing what formats work—even the ones I thought wouldn’t. Thinking about what I’ve seen in the past that’s been bubbling away for 10 years. Staying open. Being an antenna.
Borealis was very inspiring – especially how they incorporated Yoik and Sápmi musicians. Archipel in Switzerland, too. They made this one big hub and focused on community. You eat together, stay together, you’re there for eight days. Very Swiss – Maison communale and all that. But it was inspiring.
I’m thinking a lot about community. There’s a tension between reaching out through different spaces and staying rooted in one. But I want to do both.”
P/A: That leads to the question of how you balance local commitments to community, language, and context with Klang’s international aspirations or partnerships.
JB: “At the risk of sounding provincial, I’m tending to focus more on the local. When I started this job, even in the interview, they asked what Klang’s problem was. I said: Klang has a bigger international profile than it does locally. That’s not good.
People should at least know about it. I don’t need everyone to love it – that would be bland – but they should know. So, I’m trying to foster more links here, because what surprised me most is how little people talk to each other in this city. Everyone’s in their little cave. That’s fine. But we need to connect. Especially now, when funding is hard. We just need to talk more. Like, “oh, I didn’t know this person, they live down the road from me” – this is an experience that I’ve had a lot at other festivals – like, oh, there’s all this stuff happening right underneath my feet, and I didn’t know. I hope that people can have that experience.
I have this vision of putting people in the same room—not pandering. Just back off and let things happen. Music is fucking awesome. This isn’t a business conference. You witness something together. Share the space. The dream is that it leads to something down the line.”
P/A: Klang has historically been rooted in classical avant-garde. You’re opening up the festival to other genres, other scenes. Do you worry about losing something core in the process?
JB: “I think that any form of making music that is only rooted in one scene is not that interesting. That goes for both the conservatory avant-garde world and the noise-in-the-basement scene. Klang should be the cross-pollination space.
Last year, we changed the name from Klang – Copenhagen Avantgarde Music Festival to Klang Festival – Copenhagen Experimental Music. “Experimental” is the best word I’ve found so far. I kind of miss “avant-garde” sometimes. Because at least “avant-garde” is strong, it’s combative; I like that. “Experimental” can be a little vague. But I think “experimental” is an approach. You can be experimental in any genre—it can sound completely different. The important thing is the sense of play, the challenge, the curiosity. That’s built into avant-garde classical music just like it is for an experimental noise artist. We’re asking the same questions. We have the same problems.
But then I’m also wary of this kind of arms race of being radical or being experimental. I don’t like the criticism of, “Oh, well, this is too traditional”. Maybe for your experience, but maybe that’s not what the artist is doing. It could be very radical for them.
Trying to navigate that discussion has been challenging. “Radical” has become one of my trigger words. Now I’m speaking more as a composer than as an artistic director, but they do bleed into each other. It’s happened many times that I’ve done something that I just feel is very obvious and normal to me, and then someone’s like, “Look how radical,” and I’m like, that’s actually a bit… I’m not trying to disrupt anything; I’m just saying something. And if you experience that as disruptive, that’s on you. You need to reflect on that.
It’s something about queer identity as well, in that I’m used to sticking out a little bit. I’m used to not being safe all the time, especially nowadays. It’s this idea of being labeled as radical when you’re doing actually something extremely normal.
So, to open up a more kind of softer approach as well has been a concern of mine – more sensitive. I use the phrase “human-focused” quite a lot. Creating a space for reflection. As well as just like hardcore “fuck you,” which is still present, of course, but I do think there has to be space for both.”
“The whole thing is drenched in power structures: Who’s the best? Who’s the most interesting? It’s extremely exclusionary.” – James Black
P/A: That openness seems to have social implications too. How are you addressing that? So much of Klang has traditionally come out of the conservatory system. How do you reckon with that history?
JB “It’s something I’m thinking about all the time. Who is Klang for? Who can it be for? Klang has come out of classical music. And so have I. I’m part of the problem. The whole thing is drenched in power structures: Who’s the best? Who’s the most interesting? It’s extremely exclusionary.
I don’t like this way of thinking, where it’s kind of like just this comparison thing of saying, “This is the most interesting music” or “the most interesting composer.” It’s like, interesting for whom? Interesting for what? Interesting for this avant-garde classical machine? Sure. Or interesting that they do things in their community? Which I find more interesting.
Of course, I love the conservatory, but I don’t think it’s an unfair criticism to say that it’s difficult to get into this place, and that locks a lot of people out. So that locks a lot of ways of making music out.
And I’m carrying that legacy with me, so I am trying to rid myself of it. This question about the power structure is interesting because the moment something gets booked at Klang – and I don’t want to hype Klang up here – but it does get some kind of legitimacy. You may agree or not agree with that legitimacy. So that’s interesting. I don’t know how to deal with this part yet. It’s about giving that legitimacy out to more people. But it’s a very complicated question.”
“I’m not going to claim Klang can do anything on a large political scale. But a space to reassess your own values is always valuable.” – James Black
P/A: Do you see Klang becoming more political – or maybe more activist – in its tone or mission? How do you think about your role beyond programming, in terms of leadership or setting an example around inclusion and ethics? It feels like Klang is more than just a concert series – it’s a space people step into.
JB: “I see it very much as a social space – with music. It’s a very complicated issue. Diversity is extremely important for reasons we don’t need to go over for the millionth time. I just take that as fact. The end. And then we move towards that. The question is: how do we do that?
Especially in this country, if you’re looking for artists of color, they’re probably not going to come up through the conservatory system – frankly – because of the aforementioned exclusionary stuff. So this broadness of genre isn’t just about my taste. It’s also because we need to broaden the kinds of people we can program. And that includes artists from countries where they don’t have the same structures in place. And this is also why there’s more electronic music on the program, because a lot of people can very easily get access to a laptop. That’s a much lower barrier than a conservatory education.
I’m a big fan of music coming out of the circumstances around you – who you are, what you do – rather than trying to force yourself into some aesthetic mold. So, I try to make that what’s-going-on-around-me question more interesting. And I do think that what we’re doing as a society right now is just fucking horrible. It’s a nightmare. I’m not going to claim Klang can do anything on a large political scale. But a space to reassess your own values is always valuable. Hopefully, that can translate.
Because then you get to the bigger question: what is culture ultimately for? Some spaces are meant to entertain – fine. Some are restful – also fine. Klang is a space of challenge. That’s how I see it. I’m suspicious of stuff with too much polish. I like the weirdos. The people who clearly have something to express, but it’s not commercial enough for something like Roskilde. That’s what I’m after.”
P/A: What do you hope people walk away with? What do you want them to take from Klang?
JB: ”It’s pretty hard to be a person right now. Pretty hard to navigate through what’s going on. So, I hope people find some kind of spark.
It’s too Disney to say, this will give you hope to keep going, but there’s some truth in that. I hope people have a good time. And I don’t think, in today’s world, we can underestimate the value of just having a good time.”
P/A: And what comes next?
JB: ”Well, no spoilers – we never know what’s going to happen, budget-wise – but there’ll be more of this crossover stuff. We have more projects coming that are unexpected fusions. More work in public space. This year was more electronic-focused; next year I want to go deeper into the public-space angle. At the same time, I’m still trying to balance all this with the idea of Klang as a community hub.”
Info: Klang Festival takes place across different venues in Copenhagen June 9-15. See the program on their website.
