Dark Music Days
Each year, the Iceland Symphony takes part in the Dark Music Days, a festival of contemporary Icelandic music and this year the orchestra has two concerts and one open conversation with Composer-in-Residence Anna Thorvaldsdóttir.
The orchestra's concert on January 31st features three first performances, as well as other outstanding recent works. The Iceland Symphony will be joined by the Icelandic flautist Hallfríður Ólafsdóttir and Mario Caroli from Italy, as well as the bassoonist Martin Kuuskmann will perform at the concert under the baton of conductor and composer Daníel Bjarnason.
Before the concert on January 31st, the orchestra invites guests to a conversation with Composer-in-Residence Anna Thorvaldsdóttir (in Icelandic). Her work Metacosmos will receive its premiere in Iceland at the concert and at the event, she will talk about her work which was written for the New York Philharmonic and premiered there in April 2018.
On February 1st the orchestra will premiere two works by composers who took part in the Yrkja project which is a collaborative project between the Icelandic Music Information Centre and various musical institutions and groups. Yrkja gives young composers the opportunity to acquaint themselves with the orchestra at close range under the guidance of Anna Thorvaldsdóttir, Iceland Symphony's Composer-in-Residence. The conductor is Bjarni Frímann Bjarnason, Assistant Conductor of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.