Here are some highlights from last year featuring sound excerpts, pictures and videos.
Bergzies by Clint McCallum. Performed in February at Mengi Reykjavík (where it was premiered), Seyðisfjörður and Eskifjörður as a part of a solo flute show entitled Flute and Noise. Here is a live recording from Mengi.
An excerpt from Variations II by John Cage. Performed by Lilja Ásmundsdóttir on her instrument Hulda and me on Lokkur. We played it at IAA’s Hugarflug Conference in February and at a Children’s Concert in Mengi in April.
Pictures from a workshop in Visby, Gotland in May. This is a study called The Colors of the Wind in which I invite people to come listen to the wind play the flute. Photos: Þorgerður Edda Hall. The workshop was a part of a work in progress from the two-year Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership NAIP: Training Artists Without Borders (2016-2018). The work will be presented next month at the Reflective Conservatoire Conference at Guildhall, London.
COW Concert Series took place in the Fall at Mengi featuring works by Pauline Oliveros, John Cage and Christian Wolff, and others, with participation from students at IAA, Erik DeLuca, Einar Torfi Einarsson, Mathias Halvorsen and others. The concerts can all be watched on Mengi’s Facebook page. The concert featuring works by Christian Wolff. The one featuring works by Pauline Oliveros and the last one we did featuring works by John Cage.
I had the pleasure of doing two shows with Stephen Dorocke and Julian Thayer; one in February and the other one in November in which we were joined by Katinka Kleijn and Paul Lydon. Both shows featured improvised music.
An excerpt from the one in February.
Deilt með tveimur. A festival hosted by The National Radio RÚV curated by me. Here is a video from the concert I did with Bergrún Snæbjörnsdóttir and Hafdís Bjarnadóttir featuring three works, one by each one of us. My piece Concert for Horn, Lokkur and Rokkur is the last one on the program. This was one out of four concerts on the program which can all be watched here.
Music for Political Spaces by my colleague at IAA and composer Einar Torfi Einarsson. This piece will have its premiere in a week at Dark Music Days. The picture is from a video performance filmed in a house in Reykjavík City Center which has now been torn down. Photo: Einar Torfi Einarsson.
Also happy to be a part of a project by Anna María Bogadóttir about the same house. A group of musician did a Deep Listening Meditation within the building in its last days; a eulogy of sorts.
Other fun music activities: Participating in John Fonville’s Portrait Concert at UCSD, working with my friend Brian Griffeath-Loeb and inviting him as a guest lecturer at IAA, playing with singer and Langspil expert Eyjólfur Eyjólfsson at the Folk Music Museum in Siglufjörður, leading workshops for flute students in Akureyri and the East Fjords, playing in Bergrún Snæbjörnsdóttir's piece at Norður og Niður Festival.
As a professor at the IAA I enjoyed initiating and teaching courses on John Cage and American Experimental Music and another one called The Composer/Performer, in which we — in collaboration with Erik DeLuca — made a book inspired by Fluxus. Also: hosting workshops and symposiums featuring the Norwegian band Lemur, Wandelweiser composer Stefan Thut, visiting Brunel University where I gave a lecture/recital, developing work under the umbrella CRiM (Centre for Research in Music) at IAA and so much more…
Last but not least: taking part in Björk’s new album: Utopia! Here is a video with all the flutists that took part in this adventure.
Happy 2018!