The 4th annual Tectoncics Reykjavik Music Festival
Presented by Iceland Symphony Orchestra
Artistic Director: Ilan Volkov
Thursday, April 16 & Friday, April 17, 2015
The fourth annual Tectonics Reykjavik Festival, (Thursday April 16; Friday April 17, 2015) brings together revolutionary composers and legendary musicians from four continents in a two-day marathon, programmed by conductor and ever-curious polymath, Ilan Volkov.
Presented by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in partnership with Harpa, Iceland's iconic palace of music, Tectonics features programmes of newly commissioned music for the concert hall as well as site specific explorations of Harpa's kaleidoscopic public spaces and late-night programmes of improvisation, collaboration and experimental performance.
Tectonics, which began in Iceland in 2012, is now an international phenomenon and this year's event in Reykjavik will be the 10th edition of the festival worldwide. Other events this year will take place in Glasgow, New York and Tel-Aviv – all curated by Volkov.
Featured artists in Reykjavik this year include, from America, irreverent experimentalist Alvin Curran, adventurous percussionist Robyn Schulkowsky, guitarist and king of drone metal Stephen O'Malley and performances by Australian cutting-edge performers Jon Rose and Joel Stern and idiosyncratic UK duos Part Wild Horses Mane On Both Sides and Usurper.
In two evening concert programmes, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra premieres works by Icelandic composers Áki Ásgeirsson, Magnús Pálsson/Þráinn Hjálmarsson, Kristín Þóra Haraldsdóttir, Hlynur Aðils Vilmarsson and Úlfur Hansson alongside works by American composer Catherine Lamb and Austrian Klaus Lang.
Each Iceland Symphony's concert also features a unique concerto with exceptional soloists performing improvised and notated music: Iancu Dumitrescu's Elan and Permanence for Electric Guitar and Orchestrawritten expressly for Stephen O'Malley, and Elastic Band for Violin and Orchestra which Australian composer Elena Kats Chernin created with virtuosic violinist and improviser Jon Rose. Both were premiered at previous Tectonics festivals in, respectively, Glasgow and Adelaide and are receiving their second performances in Reykjavik.
The festival opens with a uniquely collaborative, site specific performance by anarchic Icelandic composer's collective S.L.Á.T.U.R and British instrument inventor Sarah Kenchington, who builds her extraordinary mechanical instruments from discarded materials. Appearances by renowned Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir and the up-and-coming Bergrún Snæbjörnsdóttir form part of the programme of late-night shows.
The Icelandic Youth Orchestra and students from the Iceland Academy of the Arts will join the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in world premieres by Robyn Schulkowsky and Alvin Curran, commissioned by Tectonics for a second site-specific performance in Harpa's foyer.
Tectonics – where Iceland goes, the world follows
The first Tectonics Festival in Reykjavik took place in 2012, emerging from Volkov's dual roles as symphonic conductor and experimental music promoter - he co-owns a small Tel Aviv club where, in between orchestral engagements, he showcases cutting-edge improvising musicians. He was also curious to find out whether the orchestra, essentially, he says, a nineteenth century beast, could be more radical and experimental. The only way to find out was to bring his two musical worlds together - “Hence the tectonics idea of two plates crashing into each other” Volkov says.
Four years later, Tectonics has become an international phenomenon; Volkov has built on his links with orchestras and ensembles in Scotland, New York, Israel and Australia to curate and conduct experimental showcases. Tectonics Reykjavik kicks off the 2015 series with festivals following in Glasgow (May 1-3, 2015), New York (May 7-9, 2015) and Tel-Aviv (November 18-21, 2015).
Visit the festival website for further program details: www.tectonicsfestival.com
Press Contacts:
For Iceland Symphony Orchestra/ Sinfóníuhljómsveit Íslands:
Margrét Ragnarsdóttir Marketing director / Markaðs- og kynningarstjóri
Sími/Tel.: (354) 545 2501
GSM/Mobile : (354) 820 1955 magga@sinfonia.is
International PR:
Faith Wilson Arts Publicity
+44 (0) 20 7635 8775 m: +44 (0)7941 137453 faith@faithwilsonartspublicity.com
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