Atli Ingólfsson, composerAtli Ingólfsson, composer. Photo © Kristinn Ingvarsson.

 

 

Various interesting collaborations and performances have occurred in the past few months.

 

The Staatstheater Cottbus Orchestra, conducted by Daniel Klajner, premiered the piece commissioned by them, Mani for orchestra, on December 16 and 18, 2012. The following January this piece was performed in a slightly revised version by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in Reykjavík. It will now in July be recorded by the Cottbus Orchestra, along with other commissioned works from the same project. Yet again, the same little piece has been chosen for performance on the world music days in Slovenia and Vienna in November 2013.

 

The music theatre project I had been planning with Cinnober Teater in Gothemburg since a couple of years back finally came to life in the form of Play Alter Native for children’s choir, barytone, two actors, harp, recorder, viola and percussion. The text is by Norwegian playwright Finn Iunker, here in Svante Aulis Löwenborg’s translation and adaptation. It was altogether a wonderful experience to plan, complete, organise and rehearse this show of roughly 70 minutes which played eleven times in Gothemburg from March 24 through April. Director Löwenborg did an incredible job directing and keeping this all together, and my thanks also go out to main roles Niclas Franson, Anna Forsell and Jon Svavar Jósefsson, the children from the Oskar Fredriks’ School and last but not least the marvellous Stina Hellberg, harp, Katarina Widell, recorder, Margarida Edlund, viola and Einar Nielsen, percussion.

 

Reviews were very positive and we are planning to stage the work in other languages as well.

 

At present (june 2012) different projects are occupying the studio. The most immediate of them right now is throwing a big party to celebrate my fiftieth birthday. It should be preceeded by a concert featuring some of my more festive songs and pieces (or arrangements) and hopefully also the first screening of a video work artist Jeannette Castioni is working on to fit the music of Elsku Borga mín for choir. The music of this piece will be recorded in the autumn but Castioni bases her first cut on the rather good concert recording from 2009. But the concert/party will take place on August 24 at Norðurpóllinn Theatre, Reykjavík area.

 

Since the last news insert was written events have brought me to the composition of two epitaphs for mixed choir entitled Að Hreðavatni and Gróðurljóð in both cases to Icelandic texts (the latter to my own words).

 

Among happier occasions I might mention some performances of older pieces, such as Linda Chatterton’s inclusion of Three Mouments in the program on her Iceland visit in March 2012 and the performance of Forbidden Mantra, Vink II and Blast at the Brandon University School of Music.

To conclude here is a link to Chiara Telleri performing my rather lyrical Tratto for oboe solo, written for the ten year anniversary of Ensemble FontanaMix in Bologna.

Tratto for solo oboe