Inferno

Daníel Bjarnason has had a fruitful collaboration with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra for over a decade, both as a conductor and composer. He was the ISO's composer in residence from 2015 to 2018 and principal guest conductor from 2019 to 2021 and now works with the orchestra as an artist in collaboration. Daniel's compositions have garnered significant attention worldwide and in this concert, we get the opportunity to listen to the Icelandic premiere of his percussion concerto Inferno. The concerto was commissioned by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, where it premiered in 2023. The soloist is percussion virtuoso Vivi Vassileva, who specializes in contemporary music and has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras worldwide.

Like the percussion concerto Inferno, which directly references infernal flames in its title, the latter part of the program also delves into deep and underworldly themes in various senses. The second half of the programme opens with, Daniel Bjarnason's work "A Fragile Hope". It was premiered by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in February 2024. Daniel describes his work as drawing inspiration from Iceland, where incredible forces reside beneath the surface, both in the volcanic activity of the land and in the surrounding ocean. The piece is dedicated to the memory of composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, who passed away in 2018.

The final piece of the concert is by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Francesca da Rimini was an Italian noblewoman born in 1283 and Tchaikovsky's eponymous tone poem recounts her tragic story: Her husband murdered her after discovering her love affair with his brother. Tchaikovsky found inspiration for the work while reading Dante's "Divine Comedy," where Francesca appears as one of the damned souls Dante encounters in the depths of hell.