Composer Hilda Paredes, who comes from Mexico and has been living in London for a long time, states “As soon as you leave your homeland, you become a citizen of the world.” Her work not only establishes continuity between the past and the present but also denies any separation between the musical cultures of the northern and southern hemispheres or the Old World and the New, repeatedly building bridges between the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica and European-American modernity. The complexity of her sound world is rooted in this dual cultural identity and reflects diverse influences from both worlds. But Paredes does not look only to the past. She takes a keen and compassionate interest in the social conditions in her country, using her works to address themes of migration and the search for a better life.