Anna Thorvaldsdottir

Brighternow · October 2011

<div class="Message" style="margin: 5px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: 14.3000001907349px; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-variant: normal; line-height: 20.0200004577637px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">- Here's a little something about the Islandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir and her debut on Innova Recordings: <span style="font-size: 14.3000001907349px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-variant: normal; line-height: 20.0200004577637px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.annathorvalds.com/"><img src="http://a2.ec-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/123/b237bc12bb8e429e9a0c08d5f67c5122/l.jpg" alt="image" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 14.3000001907349px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%;"> </a> <span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">- "Anna Thorvaldsdottir is a composer who frequently works with large sonic structures that tend to reveal the presence of a vast variety of sustained sound materials, reflecting her sense of imaginative listening to landscapes and nature. Her music tends to portray a flowing world of sounds with an enigmatic lyrical atmosphere. Anna’s music is frequently performed internationally, and has been featured at several major venues and music festivals such as Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival in NYC, the Composer Portraits Series at NYC's Miller Theatre, ISCM World Music Days, Nordic Music Days, Ultima Festival, Klangspuren Festival, Beijing Modern Music Festival, Reykjavik Arts Festival, Tectonics, and the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Her works have been nominated and awarded on many occasions - most notably, Anna is the recipient of the prestigious Nordic Council Music Prize 2012 for her work Dreaming, and The New York Philharmonic's Kravis Emerging Composer Award.Some of the orchestras and ensembles that Anna has worked with include International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), BIT20, Musiques Nouvelles, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Yarn/Wire, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the CAPUT Ensemble, the Oslo Philharmonic, and Either/Or Ensemble. Anna holds a PhD from the University of California in San Diego. Anna’s debut portrait album - Rhízōma - was released in October 2011 through Innova Recordings and was very well received and appeared on a number of “Best of 2011” lists, e.g. at TimeOut New York and TimeOut Chicago. Anna's new portrait album - Aerial - was released by Deutsche Grammophon/Universal Music Classics in November 2014 and appeared on a number of year end lists, e.g. at New Yorker Magazine, Boston Globe, iTunes Classical, and WQXR's Q2." <a href="https://annathorvalds.bandcamp.com/album/rh-z-ma" style="font-size: 14.3000001907349px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-variant: normal; line-height: 20.0200004577637px; color: rgb(75, 0, 130); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><img src="http://cf-images.emusic.com/music/images/album/128/494/12849418/600x600.jpg" alt="Rhizoma album cover"> </a> Performed by The Iceland Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Daníel Bjarnason, The Icelandic CAPUT Ensemble, conducted by Snorri Sigfús Birgisson, and percussionist Justin DeHart. The works on Rhízōma, the debut album by prominent Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir, rise from the earth, born from ghostly roots. Deep sustained tones evoke subterranean caverns; fractured cascades mimic the intricate crystalline structure of giant glaciers. A fleeting rustle of percussion here, the stony scrape of a prepared piano there—a living landscape listened to and learned from. Against these textures skate lines of melody that evoke an enigmatic lyricism. The works throughout the collection display a keen and unique perception of the world through music, despite the variety of settings, perhaps flavored by the composer dividing her time between La Jolla and Reykjavik, between the sunny California coast and Iceland’s volcanic vistas. Rhízōma consists of three larger pieces for orchestra and chamber orchestra, punctuated by five smaller movements from a solo percussed piano work. The larger works are given life by two ensembles who couldn’t be better suited to the task: the Grammy-nominated Iceland Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Bjarnson perform the cinematic “Dreaming,” while the award-winning Icelandic CAPUT Ensemble conducted by Snorri Sigfus Birgisson perform “Streaming Arhythmia” and the opening “Hrím,” which was awarded Composition of the Year for 2010 at this year’s Icelandic Music Awards. Between these larger works lie five movements from the work “Hidden,” performed on prepared piano by percussionist Justin DeHart. Although her compositions have appeared on a number of albums, Rhízōma is the first full album to consist only of her works and heralds the arrival of a vital new voice in classical music. Anna is a composer whose work is frequently performed by both ensembles and soloists throughout the US and Europe and has been nominated, and won awards, including for the Prix Europa and the International Rostrum of Composers. The Icelandic CAPUT Ensemble specializes in the performance of contemporary music. Established in 1987, CAPUT has premiered countless works, ranging from solo pieces to large chamber orchestra works. The Iceland Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1950 and is one of the leading Nordic orchestras, recording regularly for BIS, Chandos, and Naxos. Percussionist Justin DeHart received his DMA from UCSD in 2010. Although he specializes in contemporary music, he works in a variety of genres. </div><div class="Message" style="font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 5px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 0);"><a href="http://www.innova.mu/albums/anna-thorvaldsdottir/rhizoma">Innova Recordings.</a> </div><div class="Reactions" style="font-size: 11px; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-family: 'lucida grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', tahoma, sans-serif; font-variant: normal; line-height: 18px; margin: 15px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://emusers.net/forum/index.php?p=/post/quote/1328/Discussion_1328" class="ReactButton Quote Visible" style="margin: 0px 2px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: top; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(30, 121, 167); display: inline-block;"><span class="ReactSprite ReactQuote" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: text-top; display: inline-block; width: 14px; height: 14px; line-height: 14px; background-image: url(http://emusers.net/forum/applications/dashboard/design/images/sprites-14-000000.png); background-position: -316px -6px; background-repeat: no-repeat;"></a></div>

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Anna Thorvaldsdottir