Væntanlegir tónleikar / Upcoming concerts

Estonian Music Days 19.03.2012 in Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre's chamber hall at 18:00

Konveier concert: curated by Páll Ragnar Pálsson and Tui Hirv

Program

Sander Saarmets (1985) - Pram Tak Mir for solo violin and electronics (2011)

Javier Elipe Gimeno (1980) - Ombres/éclats for flute and piano (2011)

Bryan Christian (1984) - Airs no Oceans keep for soprano, flute, violin, viola and cello (2011)

Páll Ragnar Pálsson (1977) - Kátínuvísindin (Hýperbólusetning/Parabólusetning) for soprano, harp and percussion (2010-2011)


Performers

Tui Hirv - soprano

Adrian Rannut - violin

Laur Eensalu - viola

Marcus Uus - cello

Leonora Palu - flute

Age Juurikas - piano

Liis Viira - harp

Alexandra Kremenetski - percussion

Gdansk

Karol Kisiel, conductor of Repertorio Vocale ensemble, commissioned  from me a piece for to be performed during their trip to Karol's hometown, Gdansk. The piece is called Молюсь оконному лучу (I pray to the sunbeam from the window) and is for 12 voices and a string trio. Poem by Anna Akhmatova. 

The premiere was in Tallinn's Swedish st. Mikael's church on February the 3rd. Outside was -24° so the church was quite cold but that did not prevent the performers in doing an exelent job. Two days later we went to Poland. 

Laur Eensalu, Karolina Normak and Theodor Sink played the srting trio at the Tallinn concert.

Here the choir is rehearsing in Gdansk with Łukasz, Liliana and Natalia that played the string trio part. 

Gdansk is a very beautiful city.

We had a concert in Sopot, a small town between Gdansk and Gdynia.

The tempature in the church in Sopot was even lower than in Tallinn (!)

From the concert in Gdynia.

Nordic Music Days 2011 and recordings in the Greenhouse studio

Last autumn we spent in Iceland visiting family and friends as well as performing at Nordic Music Days and recording new pieces in the Greenhouse studio with Duo Harpverk.

Rehearsing Náttúruljóð (Nature Poems) in Kaldalón with members of the Reykjavík Chamber Ensemble. 

Náttúruljóð are in 6 parts for soprano and string quartet. Poem by Sjón.

Rehearsing in Kaldalón, the chamber hall in Harpa, Reykjavík's new concert house.

Here we are in the Greenhouse studio, recording with Duo Harpverk two pieces, Hýperbólusetning (Hyperbolic Inoculation) and Parabólusetning (Parabolic Inoculation) or together Kátínuvísindin (The Merry Science). Poem by Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl.

Katie playing the harp at the speed of light!

Upcoming concerts

January 28th in Háteigskirkja, Reykjavík, at 14:00


Kammerkór Suðurlands performs at Dark Music Days festival Kom, skapar, heilagi andi (Veni Creator Spiritus) for choir and percussion.

The piece is based on a composition by my great, great, great-grandfather, Pétur Guðjohnsen (1812-1877).



February 3rd in Swedish-St. Mikael's church, Tallinn, at 19:00

Premiere of Молюсь оконному лучу (I pray to the sunbeam from the window) for 12 voices and string trio. Poem by Anna Akhmatova.

The piece was commissioned by Karol Kisiel for his ensemble Repertorio Vocale.

Program:

1. Carlo Gesualdo:         Tribulationem et dolorem inveni

                                       Illumina faciem tuam

2. Luca Marenzio:          Provate la mia fiamma

                                       Crudele acerba

3. Carlo Gesualdo:         Sospirava il mio core

                                       O mal nati messagi

                                       Tallor sano desio

                                       Gioite voi col canto

                                       Asciugate i beghli occhi

Break

4. Páll Ragnar Pálsson:   I pray to the sunbeam from the window – Premiere

5. Tõnu Kõrvits:            The Night Is Darkening Round Me

                                       Kadri-Liis Kukk – soprano solo

6. Veljo Tormis:             Vepsa Rajad

Soloists: Kadri-Liis Kukk – soprano, Aule Urb – alto, Kristel Marand – alto, Annely Leinberg – alto, Joosep Trumm – tenor, Jaanus Väljaots – bass

Performers:

Repertorio Vocale

String trio: Karolina Normak – violin, Laur Eensalu – viola, Theodor Sink – cello

Conducted by Karol Kisiel



February 10th and 11th in Gdansk, Poland

Sopot: 10th of February, Mundus Cantat Festival, 19:00 in St. John's Church

Gdynia: 11th of February, House of the Crafts, 16:00

Program:

1. Carlo Gesualdo:         Tribulationem et dolorem inveni

                                       Illumina faciem tuam

2. Luca Marenzio:          Provate la mia fiamma

                                       Crudele acerba

3. Carlo Gesualdo:         Sospirava il mio core

                                       O mal nati messagi

                                       Tallor sano desio

                                       Gioite voi col canto

                                       Asciugate i beghli occhi

Break

4. Mart Saar:                  Seitse sammeldunud sängi

5. Gustav Ernesaks:       Lindude laul

                                       Kella hääli

6. Tõnu Kõrvits:            The Night Is Darkening Round Me – Polish premiere

                                       Kadri-Liis Kukk – soprano solo

7. Páll Ragnar Pálsson:   I pray to the sunbeam from the window – Polish premiere

8. Veljo Tormis:             Vepsa Rajad

Soloists: Kadri-Liis Kukk – soprano, Aule Urb – alto, Kristel Marand – alto, Annely Leinberg – alto, Joosep Trumm – tenor, Jaanus Väljaots – bass

Performers: 

Repertorio Vocale

String trio: Natalia Walewska – violin, Liliana Dąbrowska – viola, Natalia Kasperczyk – cello

Conducted by Karol Kisiel

Viðtal og upptökur frá Norrænum Músíkdögum í Ópus / Interview and a recording from Nordic Music Days on Icelandic National Broadcast's show Ópus

Hér má hlusta á viðtal við mig og upptöku frá Norrænum Músíkdögum þar sem Náttúruljóð voru flutt af strengjakvartett Kammersveitar Reykjavíkur og Tui Hirv.

Einnig má heyra þarna verk Mirjam Tally, Winter Island, frá sömu tónleikum ásamt öðru verki af nýju plötunni hennar, Eclipse.

Here is an intereview with me and a recording of Náttúruljóð (Nature Poems) from Nordic Music Days festival in Reykjavík. Performers are Reykjavík Chamber ensemble string quartet and soprano Tui Hirv.

In the recording you can also listen to Mirjam Tally's pieces, Winter Island, from the same concert performed also by the same quartet. Also there is a piece from her new album, Eclipse.

Icelandic Day in Tallinn

Twenty years ago, Iceland was the first country to recognise Estonia's independence from the Soviet union. As a gesture of gratitude there was a special day here in Tallinn on August 21st devoted to Icelandic culture where Icelandic musicians, writers, photographers, chefs and designers came to show their art to the Estonian nation.

It was really nice to see Tallinn become like my local 101 Reykjavík for a day, as different as these cities are! Plenty of familiar faces around and such a pleasure it was to walk between different events in the old town.

Me and Tui organised a concert under our label Konveier for the festival with Icelandic chamber music in the Swedish St. Michael's church in the old town of Tallinn, performed by Estonian musicians. One of them, Atli Ingólfsson, also came specially to Tallinn to attend the concert, which definitely made the event even more special.

Program:

Páll Ragnar Pálsson - Skip hangandi úr lofti í kirkju (Ship Hanging from the Ceiling of a Church) for piano  trio
Atli Heimir Sveinsson - Plutôt Blache Qu'azurée I and II (Rather White than Sky Blue I and II) for clarinet trio
Atli Ingólfsson - Forbidden Mantra for flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello and piano

Encore:

Arvo Pärt - Spiegel im Spiegel

Conductor: Taavi Kull

Performers: Karolina Normak - violin, Laur Eensalu - viola, Margus Uus - cello, Marion Aruvee - flute, Marten Altrov - clarinet, Liisa Hirsh - piano.

Below are pictures taken earlier the same day during a rehearsal.

Tartu New Composers Festival 2011

This June I went to Tartu, a university town in the middle of Estonia, to participate in Tartu New Composers Festival in Jaani Kiri where Balancing on Babeltower for baritone saxophone and prepared piano, was premiered by Kaadri-Ann Sumera on piano and Ursula Chillaud on saxophone. 

Below you can read the annotation to the piece.

This Easter I went to an all night Vigil at my local Orthodox church in Nõmme. It was a special experience for me, very different from what I am used to in Iceland’s Lutheran church. People had dressed up in the appropriate clothes, women with shawl over the heads, the scent of incense and prayer candles filled the room. The choir sang music I had only heard in Rachmaninov’s piece written from the same material. I found the whole experience to be very strong and have a deep effect on me.

Lately I’ve found myself thinking about the story about the Babel Tower and what we can learn from it. I think life might be full of Babel Towers; those are there either to distract us or to guide us, all depending on how we grasp things.

It is in our nature to develop, both us as individuals, and in a larger context, mankind. In the process we can, and repeatedly do, get self-centered and then lose sight of the whole context, become too aware of our abilities and ourselves. The balance between our spiritual self, and intellectual self gets lost. These are the Babel Towers I am talking about.

At a certain point in the sermon the congregation all gathered outside the church and walked around it while the church bells were ringing. I noticed that the song the bells were playing had a tritone, something I had never before encountered in church music. Walking home after the sermon we could hear the bells down the street. I decided to use the motive in the final part of the piece. It seemed somehow appropriate.


Commissioned by Tartu New Music Ensemble for the 10. Festival of Estonian Composers in Tartu, June 2011.