Dartington, chapter 2

Dartington, chapter #2: The Advanced Composition Course

Jack Symonds working on his composition "Sunless Communion"

Advanced Composition course 2012 from left: Ben Ashby, Helgi R. Ingvarsson, Will Handysides,

Detlev Glanert, Chris Birch, Jack Symonds and Michael Cutting.

The Composers Ensemble rehearsing our pieces. Ahran Kim (flutes), David Campell (clarinets), 

Alexandra Wood (violin/viola), Adrian Bradbury (cello) and Simon Limbrick (percussion).

Jack Symonds conducting.

Me and Detlev Glanert at rehearsal.

Conductor Ben Gernon and me discussing my piece "The Distance Between Us".

 Naturally we had a few drinks after the concert

 Ben Ashby working on his composition "In memoriam Charles Michael"

 Lesson with Detlev Glanert

Ben Ashby analysing a orchestral piece by Chris Birch

From Paddington to Dartington

Dartington, chapter #1: "From Paddington to Dartington". 

 So I made it to Dartington after 3-4 hour trip with some equally exciting and stressful moments on the train when I almost forgot the name of my stop. Thanks to very accurate descripion from DISS (nice acronym btw for Dartington International Summer School) I did manage to narrow the options down to 1 stop: "Totnes". Seeing loads of people get off the train carrying violins and cellos helped too. After checking in, a short introduction session and dinner, me and my new mates sat down at the local pub. Later in the evening it started pouring down. Sitting under a tent in pitch dark, pouring rain with an occasional thunder drinking beer is very cozy. First session of the Advanced Composition Course is today at 11am.

 

Skuggablóm á leið í prentun

Sönglagaheftið Skuggablóm er tilbúið og fer í prent í dag eða á morgun. Kærar þakkir til Árna Kristjánssonar fyrir handrit og textagerð, Eyþór Páls Eyþórssonar fyrir uppsetningu og hönnun, Hrannar Þráinnsdóttur og Kristínar Einarsdóttur og fl. fyrir prófarkarlestur! Ég get varla beðið eftir að handleika gripinn síðar í vikunni. Hægt er að panta eintak á helgirafn@gmail.com

Wreckage of Dreams: A mini opera

I´m having a wonderful time back in Iceland this summer. Meeting friends, fishing, partying and tanning (yes, tanning in Iceland. More than I ever did in England).

But the pen is always close. I wrote a mini-opera to submit to ENO´s mini operas competition (http://www.minioperas.org/). The thing is that I also needed to polish my Mmus composition folio for my viva voce this september, so I only had 2 weeks to write it, 2 day to rehearse, 1 day to record and 1 day to edit it. I´m pretty proud of it. It would not had been possible if I did not have great friends who were willing to help me out with a moments notice.


Go check it out here: http://www.minioperas.org/composer/wreckage-of-dreams-13/

ENO (English National Opera) will choose 10 soundtracks, from 130 entries, to continue to the next round August 6th.

Huuuge thanks to:

Man: Helgi R. Ingvarsson
Woman: Guðrún Matthildur Sigurbergsdóttir

Spoken word: Jenný Lára Arnórsdóttir & Haraldur Ágústsson

Choir: Guðrún Matthildur Sigurbergsdóttir, Jenný Lára Arnórsdóttir, Haraldur Ágústsson & Helgi R. Ingvarsson.

Piano: Matthildur Anna Gísladóttir
Cello: Þórdís Gerður Jónsdóttir.

Next up:
Small trip to Akureyri, Iceland. And then finishing my Mmus composition folio.

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More information about the opera:

"Wreckage of Dreams" is a mini opera, based on Shaun Gardiner´s script (http://basement-garden.co.uk/). The opening reads:

"The scene, lit only by the moon, is a small boat, adrift on the sea with a dead engine. A large number of refugees lie on the raft: they swamp it, almost concealing the shape of the hull. It is as if a mass of bodies floated on the sea. They have been adrift for fourteen days, and are dying of thirst and starvation"

This music/soundscape is a music/soundscape piece where I try to bring the audience into the world of the sea´s unpredictable currents, where the waves can be both gentle and aggressive, using only a piano, cello and 4 voices along with a few post-production effects. A larger orchestration could easily be created from this reduction. Although I treated Shaun´s script quite freely I was very intrigued by everything he wrote (written late june - july 23rd 2012).

Wisdom

"A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." - Antoine de Saint Exupéry