Bernstein and Villa-Lobos

Brazilian conductor Ligia Amadio comes to Iceland to conduct the Iceland Symphony, and her programme features music from North and South America. Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazil's most celebrated composer, struck a folk-like tone in his works, which blended the seductive rhythms of Brazilian music with influences from Stravinsky. Among his best-known works is the Bachianas Brasileiras series, which fuses Brazilian sound with Baroque form and style in a captivating way. Bachianas Brasileiras no. 7 dates from 1942 and is now being performed in Iceland for the first time. American music also dominates the latter half of the programme, which features Leonard Bernstein's unforgettable suite from West Side Story, performed here to celebrate the centennial of the composer's birth.

Iceland's beloved composer Jón Ásgeirsson celebrates his ninetieth birthday in autumn 2018. His arrangements of the verses of Vatnsenda-Rósa and the lullaby Sofðu unga ástin mín are familiar to all Icelanders, and he has written large and ambitious works as well, including concertos and operas. His Flute Concerto, composed in 2000, is an appealing work in folk style, and its premiere on this programme is eagerly anticipated. Emilía Rós Sigfúsdóttir has in the past years established a career as one of the leading flute players in Iceland. Her performances have been praised by many critics and her performance of Ibert Flute Concerto with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in 2016 received a five-star rating by a critic at Fréttablaðið, Iceland's biggest newspaper.

Unfortunately the flautist Freyr Sigurjónsson had to cancel his performance. In his place we welcome Emilía Rós Sigfúsdóttir.