New Music for Strings Festival 2019: Iceland Events
part of the Icelandic Contemporary Music Institute, a partnership with New Music for Strings and Harpa International Music Academy (HIMA)
Many events are free and all are open to the public.
Concerts
Monday August 12 | 9:00pm
Mengi | 2 Óðinsgata Reykjavík (map)
Tickets can be purchased in Mengi on the day of the concert | open to the public
Intimate works composed and performed by NMFS Faculty and Artists-in-Residence
Works by Dai Fujikura, Eivind Buene, Tryggvi Baldvinsson, Anne Sophie Andersen, Matthias McIntire, Angel Lam, and Salvatore Sciarrino
Featuring performers Henrik Brendstrup, Mari Kimura, Ásdís Valdimarsdóttir, Gróa Margrét Valdimarsdóttir, Patrick Yim, and Emmanuel Vukovich.
Tuesday August 13 | 8:00pm
Kaldalón at Harpa Hall
free admission | open to the public
Next-Generation String Artists, presented by New Music for Strings
A diverse group of early professional and graduate artists converge in Reykjavík to create and perform ground-breaking string music together. These early career composers and performers, hailing from many countries, will present their own work and that which they developed under the guidance of NMFS’s world-renown faculty. This special glimpse of next-generation artists comes to you through the generous support of Ýlir music fund. NMFS artists-in-residence will assist performances.
Works by Tomoko Ozawa, Blake Harrison-Lane, and Tianrun Long, Felsenfeld, Takemitsu, Ysaÿe
Featured performers are NMFS participants Þórdís Gerður, Daniel McCarthy, Timothy Leonard, Wei (Connie) Wan. Assisted by NMFS artists-in-Residence Gróa Margrét Valdimarsdóttir, Júlía Mogensen, Patrick Yim, Laura Liu, and Emmanuel Vukovich.
Wednesday August 14 | 9:00pm
Mengi | 2 Óðinsgata Reykjavík (map)
Tickets can be purchased in Mengi on the day of the concert | open to the public
Encounters and Quests in New Chamber Music
New Music for Strings presents chamber works performed and composed by NMFS faculty and artists-in-residence.
Works by Chen Yi, Eivind Buene, Þuríður jónsdóttir, David Cutright, Dongryul Lee, and Emmanuel Vukovich / John McDowell
Featuring NMFS artists-in-residence and participants.
Thursday August 15 | 7:30pm
Norðurljós at Harpa Hall
click below for tickets | open to the public
Festival Gala Concert, presented jointly by NMFS and Harpa International Music Academy
The first half of the culminating Festival Gala Concert, presented jointly with Harpa International Music Academy on Aug. 15, will feature a combined faculty-student orchestra led by the Emerson String Quartet’s Eugene Drucker, as well as music of NMFS faculty composers Chen Yi (through the generous support of Norðurljós Confucius Institute) and Mari Kimura. Also included is the European premiere of David Cutright’s Tableau no. 2, performed by NMFS and HIMA faculty soloists. All music in the second half of the concert will evoke this year’s festival theme of “Scenes and Soundscapes” through cinematic narratives, exotic textural spaces, or abstract journeys of the imagination. This includes the world premiere of a new work by Þráinn Hjálmarsson, commissioned by NMFS and the Composer’s Fund of RÚV / STEF, as well as the music of David Bruce.
Works by Elgar, Shostakovich, Chen Yi, David Bruce, Mari Kimura, Áskell Másson, David Cutright, and Þráinn Hjálmarsson
Featuring all faculty, artists-in-residence, guest artists, and participants.
Lectures and masterclasses
Saturday August 10 | 1:30-2:30pm
Iceland Academy of the Arts
music campus - Skipholti 31 (map)
free admission | open to the public
NMFS artist-in-residence David Cutright presents his research on the string music of Karol Szymanowski.
Sunday August 11 | 12:00-1:00pm
ICELAND ACADEMY OF THE ARTS
music campus - Skipholti 31 (map)
free admission | open to the public
NMFS faculty artist Mari Kimura discusses the groundbreaking interactive electronics and extended techniques she has developed for the violin.
Monday August 12 | 12:00-1:00pm
Iceland Academy of the ArtS
music campus - Skipholti 31 (map)
free admission | open to the public
Lecture by NMFS composition faculty, Professor Eivind Buene of the Norwegian Academy of Music.
Tuesday August 13 | 12:00-1:00pm
ICELAND ACADEMY OF THE ARTS
music campus - Skipholti 31 (map)
free admission | open to the public
Lecture by NMFS composition faculty and Pulitzer-prize finalist Chen Yi, a distinguished professor of composition at UMKC in the US.