Sketch drawing print

During the earliest stages of the composition process I sketch out the musical ideas and the sounds that I hear for each piece before notating the music itself on staff paper. These drawings serve as a mnemonic device for me to remember the music as it begins to emerge and come into existence. I have mostly kept these drawings to myself (as they are a part of a musical process for me rather than anything else). I have been considering for a while to make a sketch drawing available in print and now feel ready to offer this one.

This image is the initial sketch I did for the chamber opera UR_ as I was working on it. It represents the foundational idea for the work, the narrative, the framework, the musical and structural ideas.

See here if you would like to acquire one

warmth,
Anna

AION nominated

Very honoured by this nomination 🌸 AION has been nominated for the 2021 Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco Music Composition Prize, along with works by Thomas Adès, Steve Reich, Chaya Czernowin, Pascal Dusapin, and Outi Tarkiainen, among other wonderful composers and works. See here for more information.

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Berlin Phil's Digital Concert Hall - METACOSMOS

 
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Wonderful initiative by the Berlin Philharmonic - they have made their Digital Concert Hall available free of charge, for 30 days with code BERLINPHIL. See the 2019 European premiere of Anna’s METACOSMOS here, conducted by Alan Gilbert: www.digitalconcerthall.com/en/concert/51848

Year End

It has been such a nice and busy music year! Going over 2019 - and not counting most choral performances - we have counted over 150 live performances of Anna's music.

Among these performances were premieres of two new large-scale pieces - the string quartet Enigma and the orchestral work AION, a 40 min symphonic work commissioned by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and co-commissioned by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.

Spektral Quartet rehearsing Enigma, with video work by Sigurður Guðjónsson]

Spektral Quartet rehearsing Enigma, with video work by Sigurður Guðjónsson]

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METACOSMOS has been featured on a selection of year-end-lists - performed by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Daníel Bjarnason, released by Sono Luminus on the album Concurrence

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And NPR Music included METACOSMOS in their list.

From the album Concurrence

From the album Concurrence

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Esa-Pekka Salonen’s concert with the San Fransisco Symphony was included in the list of best performances in 2019.

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THANKS FOR A WONDERFUL YEAR OF MUSIC IN 2019 AND I LOOK FORWARD TO NEW MUSIC ADVENTURES IN THE COMING YEAR

ISO prepares for UK tour with Anna's AERIALITY, Ravel, & Sibelius

This Thursday Sept 12 in Reykjavik's award-winning Harpa Concert Hall, Yan Pascal Tortelier leads the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in a compelling programme of French and Nordic works, including Anna’s "striking" (Guardian) and "uncannily tactile" (NY Times) AERIALITY. The orchestra then revisits the programme in February 2020, when it embarks on an eight-concert UK tour (8-16 February 2020), featuring alternating soloists Jean-Efflam Bavouzet and Yeol Eum Son. Anna will be joining the orchestra on the tour.

Since its premiere in 2011, AERIALITY - a "highlight" of the New York Philharmonic's 2017/18 season, according to the New York Times - has been performed more than 40 times by 27 different orchestras around the world. The opening performance of the ISO's UK tour at Nottingham's Royal Concert Hall will mark its 50th performance. AERIALITY is the centrepiece on Thorvaldsdottir's acclaimed portrait album Aerial, released by Deutsche Grammophon in 2014.


ISO UK tour dates and venues:

8 February - Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham
9 February - Theatre Royal, Norwich
10 February - Cadogan Hall, London
11 February - Symphony Hall, Birmingham
13 February - St David's Hall, Cardiff
14 February - The Anvil, Basingstoke
15 February - Town Hall, Leeds
16 February - Usher Hall, Edinburgh

Interview

I did an interview with Anne Lanzilotti about music and the compositional process in my studio ❁

METACOSMOS - inspiration

I had a nice chat with Simon Clark for his vlog about the inspiration behind METACOSMOS leading up to the UK premiere of the work at the Proms Festival in the Royal Albert Hall July 2019.

AION - trailer

A trailer for AION - a Choreographed Symphonic Stage Work where a full symphony orchestra, 8 dancers and enveloping visuals share a space in a unique way merging in and out of each other throughout the process of the piece.

Music by Anna Thorvaldsdottir, choreography by Erna Omarsdottir - trailer from the premiere performed by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and the Iceland Dance Company at the Point Festival in May 2019.

When AION is performed with choreography it is 50 minutes in duration (with a music score of 47 minutes). Anna’s music score of AION is an orchestral work in 3 movements and performed as a concert piece AION is approximately 37 minutes in duration. The subtitles of the three movements are Morphosis, Transcension and Entropia.

Concept and artistic direction: Anna Thorvaldsdóttir and Erna Ómarsdóttir
Music: Anna Thorvaldsdóttir
Choreography: Erna Ómarsdóttir
Assistant choreographer: Lovísa Ósk Gunnarsdóttir
Conductor: Anna-Maria Helsing
Video art: Pierre-Alain Giraud and Valdimar Jóhannsson

Costumes: Agniezska Baranowska
Editing: Pierre-Alain Giraud

Dancers: Charmene Pang, Elín Signý Weywadt Ragnarsdóttir, Erna Gunnarsdóttir, Félix Urbina Alejandre, Inga Huld Hákonardóttir, Shota Inoue, Tilly Sordat and Una Björg Bjarnadóttir.

 Choreography was created in collaboration with IDC dancers.

A production of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the Iceland Dance Company.