2015 - a great year coming up

2015 will be a great year, I can feel it.
There are many exciting things coming up:

FIRSTLY; I´d like to announce that my show-case concert in the beautiful and state-of-the-art Harpa Reykjavik Concert and Conference Centre (http://harpa.is/) will be SEPTEMBER 6TH. Reserve the date, more info later. (I hope that this project may lead to a CD release later on).

SECOND; my chamber opera ÉVARISTE will be premiered at The Courtauld Gallery, Somerset House, LONDON, JULY 12th. It will be an all-Guildhall School of Music & Drama cast and rehearsals will start January 18th. FOLLOW THE PROCESS ON INSTAGRAM: "helgi_composer"

THIRD; Loftkastali / Castle In Air (https://soundcloud.com/helgirafn/loftkastali-castle-in-air-solo-cello-2013) will receive it´s DUBLIN PREMIERE end of March in the RHA Gallery by non other than Martin Johnson (http://www.thehibernianorchestra.ie/past-soloists/past-soloists/martin-johnson.html)
and ANDAÐU / BREATH (https://soundcloud.com/helgirafn/breath-cello-harp-2012). will be performed at the DIT CONSERVATORY DUBLIN ´at the same opportunity´ (http://www.dit.ie/conservatory/)

OTHER exciting projects include:

• the creation of 2-3 monodramas,
• starting a new Icelandic opera based on an Icelandic folk tale (script already well underway) with Árni Kristjánsson and Rannveig Káradóttir,
• finishing the next version of BRÁÐ opera with Friðþjófur Þorsteinsson, starting a piece for solo trumpet and wind orchestra for a performance in Harpa 2016,
• and be a musical director for a Choir Festival in Kensington, London, April 18th.

Oh yes... and learn Finnish! Did I forget anything?

Best wishes
www.helgiingvarsson.com

Speaking at King´s College Study day in May.

I havent blogged for a long time.

The reason is that I do so much reading and writing regarding my work through my MPhil/DMus studies at Guildhall that I dont have much writing energy left. What I HAVE been doing is TWEETING, so if you´d like to see what I´m up to, then follow me @helgiingvarsson

NEWS: I will be speaking about my research at King´s College Study Day May 27th. That´s an exciting and important step for me to build up credibility as a researcher and a doctorate. More on that soon.

I did tweet a somewhat profound thought just now that´d I´d like to document here though:

"I´ve never been interested in the school of thought that uses art to shock or appall people. It´s more of an art to try and fascinate them."

-Helgi R. Ingvarsson

Get up and dance at Sensible

Not only classical music for me, nope. 

Spent 7 good hours yesterday mixing and editing Deborah Tyfield ´s new track "Get up and dance" with Deborah Tyfield and producer Jon Moon (Amy Winehouse, Cat Stevens and more) at Sensible Studios, with string and piano arrangements by me wrapped in dubstep/pop/electronica awesomeness. This Monday we will hopefully finish the track and send it off to mastering. 

Deborah´s FB artist profile: https://www.facebook.com/deborahtyfieldofficial?fref=ts

Harry Partch: Genesis of a Music

Yesterday, after being recommended by my supervisor, I glanced through Harry Partch´s Genesis of a Music. I dont know if I find his ideas about "Just Intonation" and "The Monophonic Concept" directly relevant to what I want to do in my music/research, although they are interesting no doubt. His ideas in general about music on the other hand, and the way he phrases them, are intriguing. Some of it simple truth at it´s core, but refreshing nevertheless.

"A tone in music, is not a hermit [...] it is always in relation to another tone, heard or implied. In other words, it is a musical interval." (p.86)

"The impulse to the growth and evolution of music is generated by the human ear, not by the piano keyboard." (p.95)

Scene 2, recitativo.

I´m spending today writing recitative from speech melodies, using the recorded voices of esteemed Guildhall School of Music & Drama vocalists Matthew Mcguigan, Holly Marie Bingham and Chloë Jane Treharne. 

In order to get one musical phrase I must listen to the same spoken sentence about 40-50 times in a row. Good bits like "Unlike some men, my theorems do not lie", "Impulsive! Impetuous!" and "Monsieur Galois. Polytechnique has a long tradition for mathematicians, standards which you know very well" are stuck in my head now, happily so. 

‎Évariste opera‬, libretto by Lori Ann Stephens