This year he can certainly claim that he has achieved that objective, with a series of programmes that will leave most local concert-goers searching in vain for familiar names among the featured composers.

The scene is set next Friday with the UK premier of Dick Raaijmaker's The Graphic Method: Bicycle, where a man on a bike is pulled very slowly while his heartbeat, breathing and muscle contractions are amplified.

In the following 10 days, Huddersfield will hear 27 world premieres and 30 UK premieres.

Artists include Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Klangforum Wien, Arditti Quartet and Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart.

The festival does briefly look back at Stockhausen, while the final event marks the fiftieth anniversary of the New York concert when John Cage's experimental music was first presented.

This year, electronic music is a major feature, as are endurance pieces, such as Radu Malfatti's XII, lasting for 12 hours.

Those looking for an entry point could begin with a programme of music by British female composers, including Thea Musgrave and Sally Beamish. It is presented by the Scottish Flute Trio (Nov 24).

And if you want to please the children, collect cardboard tubes, bits of garden hose, coat-hangers and spoons, and enjoy making junk instruments (Nov 22 and 29).

Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Nov 21-30, 01484 430528, www.hcmf.co.uk