Tónleikakeppni TUF / TUF music festival

Bartholdy Strengjakvartettinn, sem inniheldur m.a. vinkonu mína hana Guðnýu Jónasardóttur sellóleikara, sigraði tónleikakeppni TUF 2013. Það þýðir að þau munu frumflytja nýjan strengjakvartet sem ég er að vinna að, í Hörpu í ágúst, 2013. Meira hér: http://musicfest.is/

Bartholdy Strengjakvartettinn var myndaður árið 2012 við Royal Academy of Music. Þau hafa nú þegar fest sig í sessi sem viðurkenndur kvartett í London. Nýlega unnu þau virtan styrk frá David Poznanski og er metnaðarfullt tónleikaár framundan. Þau fá leiðsögn frá Garfield Jackson ásamt því að koma fram á meistaranámskeiðum hjá öðrum listamönnum á borð við David Finckel (Emerson Quartet) og Wihan Quartet. Meðlimir kvartettsins hafa unnið til margvíslegra verðlauna og eru öll virkir einleikarar. Heimalönd þeirra eru Ástralía, Kanada, Portúgal og Ísland. Þessi alþjóðlega samsetning skapar spennu og fjölbreytni í efnisskránni ásamt því að endurvekja hið hefðbundna með frumlegu ívafi.

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The Bartholdy quartet just won the TUF competition in Iceland. That means they´ll be performing, amongst other pieces, my new string quartet in Harpa, Reykjavik this August. More here: http://musicfest.is/en/

Harpa, Reykjavik, Iceland. Music hall and conference center.

Sönglagahefti / Songbook presentation

Yesterday I signed up on Issuu, publication service, and am trying out the embed option. Below you should be able to flip through my latest publication Skuggablóm - sönglagahefti (Shadowflowers - songbook), which I finished last summer. My goal is to begin the hard-copy distribution in Iceland next week.

Photos from last weeks of ´12

 Ann So-Hee, dancer, at LCDS (London Contemporary Dance School) in Your breath in my ear
by me and Esther Siddique.

Our dancers at LCDS in Your breath in my ear.

Richard Jones performing my piece Become for viola and piano 

at the Forge, Camden, last November.

Me being interviewed by Matthew Downes at the New dots concert.

Thoughts on harp writing

The harp´s distinctive appearance, it´s size and it´s place in music history, are assets which should be utilised when creating a stage piece like Your breath in my ear. All those aspects help to create a memorable theater experience before the performance even starts. As soon as audience members enter the hall and see the instrument on stage they get curious and the mood of the piece starts to infiltrate their minds, affecting each audience member differently. Once the actual performance does start then the harp´s soundworld blends perfectly with the world of dance, giving it a light and floating sensation.

Writing for harp could be compared to solving a puzzle like sudoku. You know where to start, and you know where you want to end, but in order to reach your destination you have to make many different parameters align. That can be a fun challenge and even though it´s often a journey of compromises to one´s music, the final outcome is always a plesant one in my experience.

"Your breath in my ear" - tech rehearsal

Here are some of pic´s/video from our tech´rehersal yesterday at the Place theater, london (WC1H 9PY). We will premiere "Your breath in my ear" tonight 8pm, second performance saturday 8pm. 

We are all very proud of this piece of ours.

 

Thomas Abela preparing the prepared guitar.

Esther Siddique, choreographer, photographing Victoria ("Tori"), dancer.

 Andrew Power, cellist.