Past Concerts
2012
Listening in Suomi: Magnus Lindberg and the New Finnish Sound
with counter)induction
Monday, January 23, 2012, 8 pm
$15 ($10 ASF Members)
Magnus Lindberg's recent appointment as composer-in-residence of the New York Philharmonic has spurred a new interest in contemporary Finnish composition. Join Mr. Lindberg and counter)induction for this special evening as he introduces his own works and those of his compatriots, including the New York premiere of his Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano (2008), Clarinet Quintet (1992), Kaija Saariaho’s Pres for cello and electronics (1992), Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Homunculus for String Quartet (2007), and Jukka Tiensuu’s NOUS (2010). This is a rare opportunity to hear the special insights of one of the foremost Scandinavian composers of today, in an intimate and inviting setting.
Finnish composer and New York Philharmonic Composer-in-Residence Magnus Lindberg studied at the Sibelius Academy with Einojuhani Rautavaara and Paavo Heininen, and co-founded, with colleagues including Esa-Pekka Salonen and Kaija Saariaho the “Ears Open” Society, dedicated to the exploration of the European avant-garde. Formal organizational techniques such as serialism and musique concrète were important features of his early works. In the 1990s he became more concerned with harmonic structure, and a broad range of styles including minimalism, free jazz, and rock became evident in his work. Throughout the 1990s he became increasingly drawn towards large-scale forms, describing the orchestra as his favorite “instrument.”
Counter)induction is a composer/performer collective committed to the notion that contemporary music can and should be both accessible and challenging. c)i celebrates the diversity of contemporary music by presenting the best, most innovative new music to both new and established audiences.
An ASF Centennial Concert Series:
Per Tengstrand presents Musical Evenings
with Nordic Stars
Tuesday, January 24, 2012, 8 pm
Additional concerts in March 2012 TBA
Each $20 ($15 ASF Members) – Dinner & a Concert rates do not apply
Swedish pianist Per Tengstrand performs a series of concerts with distinguished guest musicians in honor of the ASF’s centennial year. The series highlights the repertoire of Scandinavian chamber music and its composers.
Portrait of a Composer: Tobias Broström
January 24, 2012
Tobias Broström (b. 1978) is one of Sweden’s rising stars in the music world. The evening includes the composer talking about his background and his work, as well as live performances of selected pieces. Born in Helsingborg, Broström studied percussion and composition at Malmö College of Music. Today his work is in high demand as he continually acquires new commissions. Recently, Broström composed solo concertos for Håkan Hardenberger, Karen Gomyo, and Per Tengstrand. In January 2012, his Double Concerto for Violin, Percussion, and Orchestra will be performed in Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall.
This series is made possible in part by a generous grant from The Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation.
Keyboard Conversations® with Pianist Jeffrey Siegel:
Concerts with Lively Commentary
Thursdays @ 8 pm, January 12, 2012
Each $15 ($10 ASF Members)
Internationally-acclaimed pianist Jeffrey Siegel returns to Scandinavia House for his fifth season at Victor Borge Hall. Beginning each evening with informal commentary on the music and its composers, Keyboard Conversations® offers a full performance of each work, and concludes with a brisk, upbeat question and answer session. The accessible, inviting format enriches audience understanding of classical music for the newcomer and the seasoned listener alike.
A Beethoven Bonanza!
Thursday, January 12, 2012
The many moods of genius! The light-hearted and humorous Rage over a Lost Penny, the delightful yet rarely heard Sonata in F major, Op. 54, the beloved Sonata No. 8, Pathétique, and Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109.
Sæunn Þorsteinsdóttir
Thursday, February 2, 7 pm
Free
In celebration of the recent release of her debut recording of the Suites for Cello by Benjamin Britten on Centaur Records, former ASF Fellow Sæunn Þorsteinsdóttir invites you to join her for a recital in Volvo Hall at Scandinavia House. Along with one of the suites by Benjamin Britten, she will also include a suite by J.S. Bach and a world premiere by Kendall Briggs. Just as the Britten suites were inspired by the Bach suites, Kendall Briggs was inspired by both to write a wonderful new addition to the cello repertoire, combining tried and true forms with his dramatic tonal language.
Praised by the New York Times as “a charismatic cellist,” Sæunn Þorsteinsdóttir (b. 1984, Reykjavík, Iceland) has appeared as recitalist and chamber musician across the U.S., Germany, Poland, Italy, France and her native Iceland and has performed concerti with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, the Silesian Philharmonic (Poland), and the Des Moines Symphony, among others. She has garnered numerous top prizes, including the Antonio Janigro International Cello Competition in Zagreb, Croatia and the 2008 Naumburg Competition in New York City. Þorsteinsdóttir was recently chosen as the recipient of a Career Grant from the Rachel Elizabeth Barton Foundation and nominated for the “Brightest Hope” of the 2010 Icelandic Music Awards.
An avid chamber musician, Þorsteinsdóttir has collaborated in performance with Itzhak Perlman, Mitsuko Uchida, and the Cavani Quartet in venues such as Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Currently, Þorsteinsdóttir is a member of Ensemble ACJW and a graduate of The Academy, a collaboration of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and The Weill Music Institute in partnership with the New York City Department of Education, performing chamber music at Carnegie Hall and bringing classical music to students in the New York City Public Schools.
An advocate of new music, Þorsteinsdóttir has premiered dozens of works, including most recently, commissioned works for cello by Daníel Bjarnason, Nicholas Csicsko, and Kendall Briggs. She performs new music frequently in venues in New York City such as The Stone and Le Poisson Rouge. Along with the masterpieces of the 18th, 19th and 20th century, Þorsteinsdóttir is constantly inspired by works composed in our time.
A certified Suzuki teacher, Þorsteinsdóttir received her pedagogy training under Tanya Lesinsky Carey (former President of the Suzuki Association of the Americas), her longtime teacher and mentor. She has served as teaching assistant to Mrs. Carey at Meadowmount School of Music, Richard Aaron at ENCORE School for Strings, as well as having coached chamber music groups at the Chamber Music Connection, Columbus and CIM's Summer Chamber Music Program. As a component of the work she does through Carnegie Hall, Þorsteinsdóttir works regularly at Elementary School P.S. 28 in Brooklyn.
In 2006, Þorsteinsdóttir received a Bachelor of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music with the highest honors for accomplishments in both cello and chamber music, the Ellis A. Þorsteinsdóttir Memorial Award in Cello and the Bennett Levine Memorial Award in Chamber Music. She continued her studies at The Juilliard School and completed a Master of Music in 2008. Her principal teachers include Richard Aaron, Tanya Carey, and Joel Krosnick.
Þorsteinsdóttir has performed in master classes for Zara Nelsova, Anner Bylsma, Bernard Greenhouse, and Steven Isserlis, and was a featured soloist on NPR’s From the Top and PBS’s SundayArts. She has been invited to numerous summer festivals including the Perlman Music Program Chamber Music Workshop, Kneisel Hall, as well as the Sarasota, and Marlboro Music Festivals. She recently toured with the “Musicians from Marlboro,” playing chamber music in the most important halls on the East Coast as well as a part of the Ravinia’s “Rising Stars” series.
Þorsteinsdóttir plays on a cello made in Milan, Italy circa 1800.
2011
Danish Counterpoints
The Talea Ensemble
Friday, January 21, 2011, 8 pm
$15 ($10 ASF Members)
Listeners will be transported to an arctic sound world as the Talea Ensemble presents Danish Counterpoint: Celebrating Danish Culture and Art through the Works of Bent Sørensen and Hans Abrahamsen. These celebrated composers, both descendants of Danish Innovator Per Nørgård, have a great deal in common aesthetically including shared ideas of counterpoint, canons and drawn-out melodies. Danish Counterpoint highlights those similarities while exploring the uniqueness in each composer’s voice.
The program begins with Sørensen’s sister works The Deserted Churchyards (1990) and Funeral Procession (1989-90). Though each work can be presented autonomously, Danish Counterpoint is a rare opportunity to hear them as a complementary pair. Both works together explore the threshold of sound in terms of audibility with intricate textures outlining harmonies, creating a blurred effect against a stark Scandinavian sound palette. After bringing listeners in closer to catch the detail within the sonic periphery of Sørensen’s works, the Talea Ensemble will present the US PREMIERE of Hans Abrahamsen’s magnum opus to date, Schnee (Snow) (2006). Schnee is an hour-long journey that explores the “questions” and “answers” of a musical phrase in an entirely canonic listening experience.
About the Ensemble:
Consisting of a core group of eight musicians (Tara Helen O’Connor, flutes; Rane Moore, clarinets; Erik Carlson, violin; Elizabeth Weisser, viola; Chris Gross, cello; Anthony Cheung, piano; Steve Beck, piano; and Alex Lipowski, percussion), the Talea Ensemble often expands or reduces its size as needed.
The Talea Ensemble has given many important premieres of new works by composers including Tristan Murail, Jason Eckardt, Pierluigi Billone, Jean-Luc Hervé, Stefano Gervasoni, Marco Stroppa, and Fabien Lévy amongst others. The Talea Ensemble was the guest ensemble for the 18-day Spectrum XXI Festival tour in Paris and London and has twice been invited as guest ensemble to the Nevada Encounters of New Music (NEON) as well as La Ciudad de las Ideas (Mexico) and the International Contemporary Music Festival of Lima, Peru. As an active collaborator of new music the Talea Ensemble has joined forces with Ensemble Cairn (Paris), Hyperion Ensemble (Romania), and the iO Quartet (New York).
Assuming an ongoing role in supporting and collaborating with student composers, the Talea Ensemble has served as ensemble-in-residence at Harvard University, Columbia University, and New York University. The Talea Ensemble has recorded works on the Living Artists Label and Gravina Musica. Recent projects include a tribute concert in memory of Fausto Romitelli, a festival of emerging Italian composers, and its monthly series at the arts-driven Roger Smith Hotel. A special highlight for the 2010-11 season includes a concert at Miller Theatre for Pierre Boulez’ 85th birthday with Mr. Boulez in attendance.
Co-presented in collaboration with the Consulate General of Denmark in New York.
Keyboard Conversations® with Pianist Jeffrey Siegel:
Concerts with Commentary
Thursday @ 8 pm, January 27, 2011
Individual tickets: $15 ($10 ASF members); Series pass: $35 ($20 ASF members)
Internationally-acclaimed pianist Jeffrey Siegel returns to Scandinavia House for his fourth season at Victor Borge Hall. Beginning each evening with informal commentary on the music and its composers, Keyboard Conversations® offers a full performance of each work, and concludes with a short, lively question and answer session. The accessible, inviting format enriches audience understanding of classical music for the newcomer and seasoned listener alike.
Romantic Fantasies
Thursday, January 27, 2011, 8 pm
Highlighting the passionate, poetic music of Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, and Wilhelm Stenhammar, the Swedish master whose music was inspired by them.
The Miracle of Mozart!
Thursday, April 21, 2011, 8 pm
Beloved works of this incomparable composer, as well as other Mozart masterpieces that will be welcome musical discoveries - all with intriguing stories!
Out of Scandinavia: New Indie Music from the Nordics
Ongoing, the first Thursday of each month (except for Monday, March 14, 2011), doors 7 pm/concert 7:30 pm
Concert for May 5, 2011 TBA
$10 ($8 ASF Members)
Out of Scandinavia is an on-going series of uniquely selected musical performances the first Thursday of each month, headlining a myriad of fresh Nordic musicians that features one-off and premiere performances. Through subtle, deft curating of disparate styles, Out of Scandinavia will satiate your craving for innovative and compelling new indie music from the Nordics.
Out of Scandinavia: New Indie Music from the Nordics is made possible in part by the Consulate General of Denmark, New York; the Consulate General of Finland, New York; the Consulate General of Sweden, New York; Iceland Naturally; Music Export Finland; Music Export Norway, and Export Music Sweden.
Double Bill: Helena Espvall & Pétur Ben
February 3
Helena Espvall
Born and raised in Sweden, and having played the guitar and cello in several rock bands (as well as performing in a silent movie orchestra and an Arabian Music ensemble), Helena Espvall moved to the U.S. in 2000. Besides performing with the renowned Philadelphia band Espers, Helena collaborates with many others in the psychedelic folk and free improvisation world. She has recorded with folk guitar legend Bert Jansch, toured with Vashti Bunyan, and Damon & Naomi, and released two albums on Drag City records consisting of Swedish folk songs and improvisations together with Tokyo musician Masaki Batoh.
Espvall has performed several times at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, twice at the High Zero Festival of improvised music in Baltimore, at the Improvised and Otherwise Festival in Brooklyn, at the Big Sur experimental festival in California and at Terrastock 2006 in Providence, Rhode Island, among others.
Listen to Helena Espvall on MySpace
Download mp3 files:
Uti vår hage (size: 6630 KB)
Jag vet en dejlig rosa (size: 3087 KB)
Seaspray & Nebulae (size: 8578 KB)
Pétur Ben
Born in Reykjavík in 1976, Pétur Ben has been playing and writing music since his teens. Although active in the Icelandic underground scene for years, Ben first became known for playing with Mugison, as well as arranging and writing Mugison's 2004 album, Mugimama is this Monkeymusic.
Ben graduated from the composition department at the Reykjavík Academy of Music in 2004, where he studied with Úlfar Ingi Haraldsson and Hródmar Ingi Sigurbjörnsson. The composition degree has come to good use for this indie rock artist. The music to Ragnar Bragason's Children/Börn (2006) and Parents/Foreldrar (2007) are his first film scores and he has been involved in several theatre productions. Most notable are his score for Strindberg's Dreamplay directed by Benedikt Erlingsson and his arrangement for Woyzeck a Vesturport production with original music by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. Ben has also made a name for himself for arranging music for others, including Mugison, Slowblow, and Telepathetics.
Special SxSW Showcase featuring Nive, FM Belfast, & Giana Factory
Monday, March 14
Nive
Nive Nielsen is an Inuit singer-songwriter from Nuuk, Greenland. She just finished her debut album nive sings! and self-released it on her label tuttu recordings.
Nive’s played more than 120 concerts in both Europe and the U.S. since she started playing live in mid-2009 (SxSW, Iceland Airwaves, Pop Montreal, Eurosonic, and Green Man, among others) and won various international awards.
nive sings! was recorded over the course of 2 years in Bristol (UK), Montreal (CAN), Tucson (AZ), San Francisco (CA), Ghent & Antwerp (BE) and in an attic in Nuuk, Greenland. The record was produced by John Parish and Nive with additional production by Jan de Vroede and Alain Auger.
Download mp3 files:
Good for You (size: 3997 KB)
Pirate Song (feat. Howe Gelb, size: 3395 KB)
Room (size: 6413 KB)
Aqqusernit (size: 3945 KB)
FM Belfast
FM Belfast is a Reykjavík-based electro/electronica group that began as a duo in late 2005 when Árni Rúnar Hlöðversson (Plúseinn) and Lóa Hlín Hjálmtýsdóttir wrote a song as a present for their friends. The band was a studio project for some time until the 2006 Iceland Airwaves Festival when the band expanded into a full on live act.
The members now vary from 3 to 8 individuals, with the core of the band made up of Árni Rúnar Hlöðversson (Plúseinn, Hairdoctor, Motion Boys), Árni Vilhjálmsson (Motherfuckers in the house) and Lóa Hlín Hjálmtýsdóttir. When the stars are aligned correctly the band consists of Sveinbjorn Hermann Pálsson (Terrordisco), Örvar Þóreyjarson Smárason (múm, Borko, Skakkamanage), Björn Kristjánsson (múm, Borko, Skakkamanage), Birgitta Birgisdóttir, Eiríkur Orri (múm, Kira Kira, Benni Hemm Hemm).
In 2008 the band formed World Champion Records. Their first full-length record How to Make Friends was released in Iceland on World Champion Records in October 2008. It has sold over 4,000 copies in Iceland alone.
Listen to FM Belfast on MySpace
Giana Factory
Copenhagen-based Giana Factory consists of Louise Foo, Sofie Johanne and Lisbet Fritze. Since 2008 an old warehouse in the outskirts of Copenhagen has set the scene for the creation of this trio’s unique musical universe - a manipulation of easily accessible pop towards the darker recesses of electro and avant-garde.
They debuted in October 2008 at the popular Copenhagen club, Little Vega, which marked the start of an intense period for the Danish trio, whose current and seductive sound quickly caught the attention of the public eye. After a staggering series of concerts in the Nordic countries, including touring with Scottish band Glasvegas in 2009, Giana Factory has established themselves on the music scene. The growing interest culminated in the summer of 2009 when they played at multiple music festivals, including the Spot Festival (Aarhus), Start! Festival (Copenhagen), and Roskilde Festival.
The debut album Save the Youth was released in Denmark September 2010 on Music For Dreams. The album invites the listener to indulge in a unique universe of dreamy pop that moves on the darker side of electronica and avant-garde.
The album, produced by the girls themselves in cooperation with producer Tomas Barfod is a nuanced exploration of the unique musical vein they first presented on their critically acclaimed EP, Bloody Game, released last year.
Fuelled by an ambition to play with the contrasts between pop and melancholic electro-house, the organic and the mechanical, the classically acoustic and futurist, Giana Factory’s music is layered and eerily inviting. Led by dark and elusive vocals from Louise Foo, their atypical and almost hypnotic sound has already drawn attention.
Northern Reflection:
Finnish Kantele with Hedi Viisma
Monday, February 7, 8 pm
$15 ($10 ASF members)
Estonian-born, Finnish-based musician Hedi Viisma presents a concert performed on the kantele (a traditional plucked instrument of the zither family native to Finland, Estonia, and Karelia) that includes premiere performances of Alex Freeman’s Toccata, Matthew Whittall’s The Snow Watcher, and Sebastian Fagerlund’s Kohti, as well as her own arrangements of J.S. Bach, Isaac Albeniz, John Dowland, Claude Debussy, and John Cage.
Viisma began studies on the kantele at the age of seven. She earned a diploma in performance from the Georg Ots Conservatory in her native Tallinn, and a Master’s degree at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland, where she studied under Ritva Koistinen, Finland’s premier kantele pedagogue. A highly sought-after recitalist and guest lecturer, Viisma is currently based in Helsinki, pursing a doctoral degree at the Sibelius Academy, where she also coaches chamber music. Additionally, she holds the post of Lecturer at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theater.
From its roots as a six-string folk zither, the kantele has grown over the last half century into a full-fledged concert instrument, and Hedi Viisma has consistently been at the forefront of its technical and structural development through her commissions, transcriptions and work with instrument makers. Her kantele model, a five-octave, sixty-one-string chromatic kantele, debuted in 2010. Designed in collaboration with master craftsman Otto Koistinen of Rääkkylä, Finland, the instrument is set to become the concert standard for the chromatic kantele. Viisma has recorded music by Bach for the Finnish IMU label and has performed many new works for broadcast in Finland and Estonia. Her upcoming album Reflections, with cellist Seeli Toivio, will be released in 2011.
Skogensemble with ASF Fellows Ilari Kaila & Ellen Lindquist
Thursday, February 10, 8 pm
$15 ($10 ASF members)
Skogensemble, New York's Nordic new music ensemble, presents a concert of works by ASF Fellows Ilari Kaila and Ellen Lindquist, as well as world premieres by Henrik Strindberg and Ivo Nilsson, and US premieres by Malin Bång and Sebastian Fagerlund, featuring guest soloists Hedi Viisma (kantele) and Elisabeth Holmertz (soprano).
Skogensemble is an international ensemble of musicians dedicated to the performance of contemporary music by composers from Nordic countries and from composers with Norse heritage. Skogen, which has its roots in Icelandic and Old Norse, is a Scandinavian word meaning “the forest.”
Skogensemble grew out of a four-year collaborative opera project called drömseminarium, based on texts of Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer and music by American composer Ellen Lindquist. Throughout the development of the opera the synergy between the musicians grew, as did their desire to explore the music of the Nordic countries. Skogensemble performs repertoire ranging from large-scale multi-media work to the most intimate of chamber music pieces.
ASF fellow Ilari Kaila (b. 1978) began his composition studies in 1998, at the Sibelius Academy in his native Finland, and continued at Stony Brook University with support from The American-Scandinavian Foundation, where he just received his PhD. He has participated in master classes with Magnus Lindberg and Esa-Pekka Salonen, and studied Carnatic music on several trips to India since 2002. Kaila has written chamber music, vocal music, orchestral music, and works for stage. As a pianist, he has performed in premieres of his own and other young composers' works, and in several improvisation projects. He has received, most recently, a commission grant from the National Council for the Arts in Finland, special recognition prize in the Composer Competition of the 9th International Piano Festival in Espoo, a commission grant from the Wihuri Foundation, and the Seaside Institute's artist residency.
The music of ASF fellow Ellen Lindquist (b. 1970) is performed regularly throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe (Sweden, England, Scotland, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria), and has also been performed in South Korea, the Philippines, and South Africa. Discovery of unique sound-worlds through collaboration is central in much of Lindquist’s work; several of her pieces are collaborative projects involving dance, theater, poetry, and performance art.
Lindquist's work has been heard at venues such as Carnegie Hall, The United Nations, The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine (New York), The Västerås Konserhus (Sweden), and The Royal Northern College of Music (England). Past commissions range from solo and chamber pieces to choral and orchestral works. Recent grants to support Ellen’s work include fellowships from The American-Scandinavian Foundation and the American Swedish Institute (the Malmberg Scholarship), and development funding from The New York State Council on the Arts. She has been invited to multiple residencies at the Visby International Centre for Composers (Sweden), the Banff Centre for the Arts (Canada), and the International Ceramic Research Center (Denmark; a collaboration with ceramic artist Henny Linn Kjellberg to develop porcelain percussion instruments), and has served as composer-in-residence at Mälardalen University (Sweden). Lindquist has been invited to speak about her work live and in radio interviews in the US, Canada, Sweden, and Denmark.
Lindquist holds a BA in Composition and Piano Performance from Middlebury College and a MA and PhD in Composition from Stony Brook University. Her work is published by Marimba Productions, Inc., and Apple Mountain Music Press (ASCAP). Go Fish Music has released Thomas Burritt’s solo CD titled All Times Identical with his recording of her solo marimba work Scorned as Timber, Beloved of the Sky.
Listen to Ivo Nilsson discuss his new work Destinated Objects in this podcast for Skogensemble
The Complete Brahms Piano Quartets with the Dingstad Family Piano Quartet
Sunday, February 27, 2 pm
$15 ($10 ASF Members)
The three piano quartets by German composer Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) are undoubtedly some of the greatest chamber music pieces ever written. In this concert they will be performed by the Dingstad Family Piano Quartet from Oslo, Norway, featuring Tore Dingstad, a sought-after collaborative pianist and former Head of Artistic Administration at the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet; Elisabeth Dingstad, a violinist and newly appointed Concertmaster of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic; Jakob Dingstad, a violist and 1st year student at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, and Christopher Dingstad, a cellist based in New York.
ASF Centennial Concert:
A Special Evening with Leif Ove Andsnes
Wednesday, April 6, 7 pm
By invitation, please call for details
The celebrated Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes in conversation and performance for ASF Members hosted by WQXR morning host Jeff Spurgeon.
Described by Gramophone as a pianist of “jaw-dropping dexterity” and “immense musicality,” Andsnes will discuss his Norwegian roots and the influence of Scandinavian music in his development as an artist. He will also perform selections from his repertoire for a special members-only evening.
The Wall Street Journal has called Leif Ove Andsnes “one of the most gifted musicians of his generation,” while the New York Times has described him as “a pianist of magisterial elegance, power and insight.” With his commanding technique and searching interpretations, the celebrated Norwegian pianist has won worldwide acclaim. As well as giving recitals and playing concertos each season in the world’s leading concert halls and with the foremost orchestras, he is also an active recording artist and avid chamber musician who has joined select colleagues each summer at Norway’s Risør Festival of Chamber Music.
Among the many highlights of Leif Ove Andsnes’ 2010-11 season are two important residencies: as Pianist-in-Residence with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, he performs five diverse programs including chamber music, Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with conductor Bernard Haitink, and a solo recital. He will also appear as Artist-in-Residence with his hometown orchestra, the Bergen Philharmonic, where he will perform three programs. A European tour with the London Philharmonic and Vladimir Jurowski features performances of the Brahms Second in London, Spain and Germany. He brought his tenure as co-artistic director of the Risør Festival to a festive conclusion with a fall tour that included concerts in Brussels, London and New York’s Carnegie Hall.
As an exclusive EMI Classics artist, Andsnes has recorded more than 30 discs spanning repertoire from Bach to the present day. He has been nominated for seven Grammys and awarded many international prizes, including four Gramophone Awards. Last season, in addition to Pictures Reframed, he released Shadows of Silence, featuring a work of the same name by the Danish composer Bent Sørensen and French composer Marc-André Dalbavie’s Piano Concerto (Andsnes gave the world premieres of both works, at New York’s Carnegie Hall and London’s Proms respectively.) Other repertoire on the disc includes solo works by Kurtág, and Lutosławski’s Piano Concerto recorded live with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Franz Welser-Möst.
Andsnes has received Norway’s most distinguished honor, Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav. In 2007, he received the prestigious Peer Gynt Prize, awarded by members of parliament to honor prominent Norwegians for their achievements in politics, sports and culture. Andsnes has also received the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist Award and the Gilmore Artist Award. Saluting his many achievements, Vanity Fair named Andsnes one of the “Best of the Best” in 2005.
Andsnes was born in Karmøy, Norway in 1970, and studied at the Bergen Music Conservatory under the renowned Czech professor Jiři Hlinka. Over the past decade, he has also received invaluable advice from the Belgian piano teacher Jacques de Tiège, who like Hlinka, has greatly influenced his style and philosophy of playing. Andsnes cites Dinu Lipatti, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Sviatoslav Richter, and Géza Anda among the pianists who have most inspired him. Andsnes currently lives in Copenhagen and Bergen, and also spends much time at his mountain home in Norway’s western Hardanger area. He is a professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, a visiting professor at the Royal Music Conservatory of Copenhagen, and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.
An ASF Centennial Concert Series:
Spot on Royal Danish Academy of Music: A Centennial Tribute
Thursdays in March starting March 17, 8 pm
FREE
The Royal Danish Academy of Music is the oldest music academy in Denmark. It is a dynamic and vibrant artistic educational institution, centered on teaching, which counts among its principal tasks the aim of continuing to develop classical music and enhance its relevance on an ongoing basis, as a central part of contemporary musical and cultural life.
The Academy has a broad musical and stylistic span, ranging from period music to classical-romantic, as well as more recent and new contemporary music, including the compositional music of tomorrow.
Nightingale String Quartet
March 17
Carl Nielsen’s String Quartet Op. 13 in G-minor; Rued Langgaard’s String Quartet No. 3; and Franz Schubert’s String Quartet No. 14 in D-minor, D. 810, “Death and the Maiden.”
Inspired by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale about the little nightingale, the Nightingale String Quartet was founded in 2007 by violinists Gunvor Sihm and Josefine Dalsgaard, violist Marie Louise Broholt Jensen, and cellist Louisa Schwab. All four are currently studying their masters at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen with Professor Tim Frederiksen as their chamber music mentor and coach.
The quartet has won prizes at several national as well as international chamber music competitions, including the Danish Radio P2 talent prize 2010. In June 2008 the quartet won 1st prize at the Royal Danish Academy of Music’s scholarship chamber music competition. After having only played together for a year and a half, the quartet won 2nd prize at the Danish Radio’s chamber music competition in February 2009. In April 2010 the Nightingale String Quartet was awarded 2nd prize at the international chamber music competition Charles Hennen Concours in Holland. As a result of this prize the quartet was exclusively invited to take part in the summer course Orlando Festival in Holland along with only 3 other prize winning quartets. At the festival they received daily coaching from the legendary violinist Shmuel Ashkenasi and performed at several concerts around the area.
Besides from being taught by professor Tim Frederiksen, Nightingale String Quartet has also received instruction from members of the Alban Berg Quartet, the Vermeer Quartet, Quatour Danel, and the Danish String Quartet. They have taken part in Milan Vitek’s course in the Czech Republic, the Orlando Festival in Holland, and have had lessons with Lilia Schulz, György Kurtág, Vlad Bogdanas, Jensen Horn-Sin LAM and Roberto Díaz.
In the winter of 2010 Nightingale String Quartet will begin recording all of Rued Langgaard's string quartets for the Danish record label DACAPO.
Trio Ismena & Soprano Dénise Beck
March 24
Carl Nielsen’s Piano Trio No. 1 in G-major, Genrebillede, I Seraillets Have, and Æbleblomst op. 10, No. 1; Peter E. Lange-Müller’s Piano Trio Op. 53; selections from Peter A. Heise’s Dyveke’s Songs; and Dmitri Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No. 2 in E-minor, Op. 67.
Formed in 2004 at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, Trio Ismena has established itself as one of the most exciting and promising young chamber ensembles on the Danish music scene. Having won 1st prize in the Danish Radio Chamber Music Competition 2009 and 3rd prize in the Trondheim International Piano Trio Competition 2007, the trio now looks forward to a season with concerts in major halls in Denmark and tours to China, Spain, Germany, and the United States.
Professor Tim Frederiksen was their mentor at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. They also received instruction from the Tokyo, Jerusalem, and Vermeer Quartets, as well as Gerhard Schulz of the Alban Berg Quartet. Subsequently they have performed at the most important Danish music festivals and music societies as well as at festivals in the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Latvia, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands.
The trio is also interested in playing contemporary music, which has resulted in several collaborations with composers, most notably with the Danish composer Ib Nørholm. In the future they plan to collaborate with several American composers as well.
Since 2009 Trio Ismena has been a part of the chamber music class at the Escuela Superior de Musica de Camara, Reina Sofia in Madrid where the professors include Menahem Pressler of the Beaux Art Trio and Professor Ralf Gothoni.
Dénise Beck graduated from the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna in 2010 with the highest grade. From 2008-2010 she studied in the soloistclass at the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen with Professor Kirsten Buhl Møller. She also received lessons with Professor Julie Kaufmann in Berlin and Michael Eliassen from Philadelphia.
Beck has performed in opera houses and on stages around the world, including Salzburger Landestheater, Volksoper Wien, Royal Opera Copenhagen, Oper Klosterneuburg Vienna, Konzerthaus Wien, Musikverein Wien, Wigmore Hall London, Operacity Shinjuku-Tokyo, Bunkan Kaikan Tokyo, and Teatro Nacional de Brasilia.
Apart from her opera career, Dénise Beck is a renowned concert and oratorio soloist. She has performed in Copenhagen, Vienna, Innsbruck (at the Tiroler Festspiele), Montepulciano, Italy, Düsseldorf, Germany, Zell am See (at the New-Year Concerts), Hanoi, Bangkok (in honor of his Majesty the Kings´Anniversary in 2006), Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Brasilia. In 2010 she went on tour in Japan with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.
Dénise Beck has worked with various renowned conductors and stage directors such as Ira Levin, Kazufumi Yamashita, Giancarlo Andretta, Nicholas Milton, David Levi, Johannes Wildner, Enrico Calesso, baroque specialist Ingomar Rainer, Reto Nickler, Didier von Orlowsky, Thomas Barthol, Johannes Pölzgutter, and Anna Bernreithner.
In 2004 she won the first Prize in the Young Singers competition in Denmark and in 2010 she won 2nd Prize in the Richard Tauber competition in London.
Nielsen Winds
March 31
Samuel Barber’s Summer Music for Woodwind Quintet, Op. 31; Jørgen Jersild’s At spille i skoven – Serenade for Woodwind Quintet; and Carl Nielsen’s Woodwind Quintet Op. 43.
Nielsen Winds has its roots in the Royal Danish Academy of Music’s select ensemble, Rosenørns Ensemblet, led by Prof. Max Artved, put together with the most talented strings and wind students, as well as occasionally pianists, percussionist and other instrumentalists, of the Academy.
The idea behind the ensemble is to give advanced students the possibility to play some of the great pieces of the musical literature, both chamber music pieces and pieces for a larger ensemble. The repertoire of Rosenørns Ensemblet consists among other pieces of R. Strauss: Serenades, Dvořák: Serenade, Schumann: Piano Quartet and Quintet, Mozart: Gran Partita, Debussy: Sonata for flute, viola and harp. Lately the ensemble performed Messiaen: Piano concerto “Oiseaux Exotiques” and Mahler: Kindertotenlieder.
Out of Scandinavia: New Indie Music from the Nordics
Ongoing, the first Thursday of each month (except for Monday, March 14, 2011), doors 7 pm/concert 7:30 pm
$10 ($8 ASF Members)
Out of Scandinavia is an on-going series of uniquely selected musical performances the first Thursday of each month, headlining a myriad of fresh Nordic musicians that features one-off and premiere performances. Through subtle, deft curating of disparate styles, Out of Scandinavia will satiate your craving for innovative and compelling new indie music from the Nordics.
Out of Scandinavia: New Indie Music from the Nordics is made possible in part by the Consulate General of Denmark, New York; the Consulate General of Finland, New York; the Consulate General of Sweden, New York; Iceland Naturally; Music Export Finland; Music Export Norway, and Export Music Sweden.
Double Bill: Philco Fiction & Dinosauruxia
April 7
Acoustic sounds meet home-grown electronic beats, strong synths, and bold melodies from these two promising and dynamic acts.
Philco Fiction
Started by Norwegians Turid Alida Solberg and Bjarne Christian B. B. Gustavsen in 2003, Philco Fiction has now grown to include Andreas Lønmo Knudsrød, Christian Skaugen, and Ruben Larssen. From the beginning the band has focused on creating their own musical world, one that is rooted in their strong, but playful compositions and keen interest on the visual aspects of performing. An aural mashup of Björk and Edith Piaf, the heart of Philco Fiction’s music is found in a mix of acoustic and electronic sounds. Their use of alternative instrumentation and a self-declared lack of respect for any one musical genre make Philco Fiction a highly dynamic and unpredictable ensemble.
With their first album, Give Us to the Lions, released in August 2010 (Brilliance Records), the band will tour Norway, Europe, and China through the following year.
Listen to Philco Fiction on MySpace
Dinosauruxia
One of Finland’s most promising new indie bands, the experimental electro-pop duo Dinosauruxia is a comprised of the two 19-year olds Emilia Lagk and Sanna Lehto. The girls are equal measures sweet and hauntingly mysterious, with a sound reminiscent of CocoRosie, Bat for Lashes, and Björk. Their unique sound consists of painstakingly crafted home-grown electronic and electro-acoustic beats, strong synths, and bold melodies sung with brooding intensity.
Dinosauruxia has previously released a split 7” on the label Moron Says What and a debut single Safe on Misf*tsounds.
Double Bill: Hafdís Huld & The Migrant
May 5
A rich blend of psychedelic folk and dreamy, disjointed pop with songs full of vivid imagery, carefully crafted lyrics, and catchy hooks from Icelandic songstress Hafdís Huld and Danish one-man act The Migrant.
Hafdís Huld
Hafdís Huld is an Icelandic siren with a growing reputation for being one of the most entertaining performers to ever grace a stage or an interviewer’s couch. Huld is a former member of Gus Gus and erstwhile collaborator with electro-outfit FC Kahuna and Tricky.
Huld’s critically-acclaimed debut solo album Dirty Paper Cup (2006) won Best Pop Album at the 2007 Icelandic Music Awards and featured songs co-written with Jim Abbiss (Arctic Monkeys), Pascal Gabriel, Boo Hewerdine (Natalie Imbruglia, Eddi Reader), and Chris Corner (Sneaker Pimps). The album received considerable acclaim from the world’s music press and brought her to the attention of national radio in the U.K.
Her second album, Synchronized Swimmers was released in 2010 and explores bigger sounds and has a live, organic feel. Co-produced by French Grammy award-winning producers Calum MacColl and Alisdair Wright, the album gave Huld three Icelandic number one singles and raised her profile worldwide.
Huld is a favorite festival act, with appearances including Glastonbury, The Secret garden Festival, The Big Chill, Camden Crawl, and JaJaJa in the U.K., Hultsfred in Sweden, By:Larm in Norway, Airwaves in Iceland, Spot Festival in Denmark, Les Femmes S’en Melent and Europavox in France, The Midnight Sun Festival in the Czech Republic. She has supported major pop acts such as Paolo Nutini and Mika, and played music industry conferences In The City in Manchester and SxSW in the U.S.
Listen to Hafdís Huld on MySpace
Download mp3 files:
Synchronized Swimmers (size: 7794 KB)
Action Man (size: 9023 KB)
The Migrant
Danish act The Migrant (musician Bjarke Bendtsen) invites one on a journey into the underworld of beautiful pop songs and psychedelic folk. Released in fall 2010 and warmly received, Travels in Lowland (fall 2010) is The Migrant’s first album. Since the album’s release, The Migrant has played more than 50 concerts in the U.S. and Northern Europe.
Having released two critically-acclaimed albums with his old band The Elephants in 2007 and 2009, Bendtsen decided to break with the band to travel and play his songs in more folky, stripped down versions.
On a visit back to Denmark last summer, Bendtsen recorded Travels in Lowland with some of his Danish friends in a summerhouse by the coast. The prelude to this session had been a number of free-spirited concerts where the different musicians joined in on Bendtsen’s new songs. The free-form vibe from those concerts made it all the way to the record where Bendtsen’s vocals are backed by an exciting mix of nostalgic guitar, violin, drums, and kitchenware. Later in 2010, after the winter snow had covered the entire country, Bendtsen isolated himself in the same summerhouse to mix the album.
Only half of Bendtsen’s new songs, however, were recorded during the Danish session. He therefore happily accepted an invitation by The Theater Fire’s horn and piano-player James Talambas to record in his Texas studio. The album appearing from that session, Amerika, is expected to be released sometime in 2011.
After the tours this past fall Bendtsen has settled for a while in Copenhagen, dedicating the winter months to more song-writing. He has scheduled recording The Migrant’s third album for this spring, once again in Texas.
Copenhagen Girls’ Choir
Monday, April 18, 6 pm
Free
Led by Claus Vestergaard Jensen, the Copenhagen Girls’ Choir is proud to present a concert of both religious and non-religious music including Rheinberger’s Mass in G-minor, modern Danish sacred choral music, Danish folk songs, and newly composed pieces with texts by Ursula Andkjær-Olsen, Hans Christian Andersen, and T.S. Eliot.
The Copenhagen Girls' Choir rates among the best of its kind in Denmark and has its home at the Sankt Annæ Gymnasium, the Copenhagen Municipal Choir School. The Copenhagen Girls’ Choir was founded in 1973 and is under the patronage of HRH Princess Benedikte, and is resident choir at the Helligaandskirken in central Copenhagen (Church of the Holy Spirit). The connection between court, church, and school is a centuries old tradition in Denmark and a tradition, which The Copenhagen Girls’ Choir proudly maintains.
The Choir seeks to have a balance between more challenging and more direct music in its programs. In this way the concerts appeal to both regular and new audiences. The repertoire is broad with special focus on new music and popular music. Many composers of stature have felt persuaded to write for the choir, among them Knut Nystedt, Ib Nørholm, Leif Kayser Maj-Britt Kramer, Bo Holten, and Michael Bojesen. The Choir also performs music by the important composers such as Fauré, Poulenc, Brahms, Schubert, and Rheinberger.
The Copenhagen Girls' Choir is characterized by its homogeneous sound, partly resulting from the fact that the girls are of the same age, partly a result of the careful voice-training received at the Sankt Annæ Gymnasium. The Copenhagen Girls' Choir consists of all the girls from grade 6 through 9 at the Sankt Annæ Gymnasium, nearly 130 altogether.
The Copenhagen Girls’ Choir has recorded several CDs and toured all over the world, most recently in the U.S., Canada, and China, with the aim of spreading knowledge of Danish and Scandinavian choral music. Touring the East Coast this April, the Choir consists of 36 girls ages 15-16, and will visit Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Princeton, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., and New York City.
An ASF Centennial Concert Series:
Per Tengstrand presents Musical Evenings with Nordic Stars
Tuesday, May 3, 8 pm
An additional concert will be held Fall 2011
Each $15 ($10 ASF members)
Pianist Per Tengstrand, one of Sweden’s leading musicians and winner of many international awards (Long-Thibaud, Cleveland, and Geneva competitions), is the artistic director of a series of concerts with distinguished guest musicians in honor of the ASF’s centennial year. Beginning this spring, the series highlights the repertoire of Scandinavian chamber music and its composers and performers.
Grieg, Alfvén and the Scandinavian Joie de Vivre
May 3
In this opening concert, Tengstrand is joined by acclaimed musicians pianist Shan-shan Sun, violinist David Coucheron, and the Choral of the Swedish Church to perform Hugo Alfvén’s Swedish Rhapsody for Piano Four Hands, Edvard Grieg’s Violin Sonata and songs for choir, and choral works by Jean Sibelius and Einojuhani Rautavaara.
This series is made possible in part by a generous grant from The Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation.
Out of Scandinavia: New Indie Music from the Nordics
Ongoing, the first Thursday of each month – June 2, 2011, July 7
(No concert in August or September 2011, series resumes in October 2011), doors 7 pm/concert 7:30 pm
$10 ($8 ASF Members)
Out of Scandinavia is an on-going series of uniquely selected musical performances the first Thursday of each month, headlining a myriad of fresh Nordic musicians that features one-off and premiere performances. Through subtle, deft curating of disparate styles, Out of Scandinavia will satiate your craving for innovative and compelling new indie music from the Nordics.
Out of Scandinavia: New Indie Music from the Nordics is made possible in part by the Consulate General of Denmark, New York; the Consulate General of Finland, New York; the Consulate General of Sweden, New York; Iceland Naturally; Music Export Finland; Music Export Norway, and Export Music Sweden.
Elise Vatsvaag
June 2
On dreary days when everything seems blasé, Elise Vatsvaag’s endearing voice and playful lyrics are a pick-me-up. The small-framed Norwegian singer-songwriter has been compared to Ingrid Michaelson, Katie Melua and Colbie Caillat for her style and songwriting prowess, but her unique charm is the result of her innocent outlook on life and youthful zest.
In 2009 Elise signed with the Norwegian management company Great Moments, and since then she has grown to be among one of the most interesting up-and-coming artists in the west coast area of Norway, playing over 50 gigs in Norway throughout 2010.
Skúli Sverrisson with Davíð Þór Jónsson
July 7
Over the past two decades, bass guitarist-composer Skúli Sverrisson has worked with a veritable who’s who of the experimental music scene, from free jazz legends (Wadada Leo Smith, Derek Bailey) to music icons (Lou Reed, Jon Hassel, David Sylvian, Arto Lindsey) and composers (Ryuichi Sakamoto, Jóhann Jóhannsson, and Hildur Guðnadóttir). Sverrisson is also known for his work as an artistic director for Ólöf Arnalds (Innundir Skinni, Við og Við), recordings with Blonde Redhead and as a musical director for legendary performance artist Laurie Anderson. He has released a series of duo albums in collaboration with artists such as Anthony Burr, Óskar Guðjónsson, and Hilmar Jensson. He has been a member of many influential groups including Pachora, Alas No Axis, The Allan Holdworth Group, and The Ben Monder Group.
In 2005 Sverrisson also founded Seria, an ongoing ensemble featuring Amedeo Pace (Blonde Redhead), Ólöf Arnalds, Davíð Þór Jónsson, Anthony Burr, Eyvind Kang, and Hildur Guðnadóttir, and released Seria in 2006 and Seria ll in 2010.
He has appeared on over 100 recordings and has performed around the world with a wide range of artists.
Sverrisson has been awarded 5 Icelandic Music Awards, including Icelandic Album of the Year for Seria in 2006 and was nominated for the Nordic Council Music Prize 2011.
Davíð Þór Jónsson is one of the most inventive musicians, pianists, and performers to come out of Icelandic music scene. He has collaborated with a whole spectrum of artists, from obscure troubadours in the countryside to stadium bands. He has made music for art installations, theater, and film. His main goal in music is to never lose his childlike enthusiasm and free spirit. Jónsson was nominated for “Performer of the Year 2009” by the Iceland Music Awards.
Voluptuous Panic – Music from the North
Aventa Ensemble
Monday, June 6, 8 pm
$15 ($10 ASF Members)
Canada’s Aventa Ensemble (Bill Linwood, Artistic Director/Conductor) wraps up an exciting 2010/11 season on a high note with an awaited performance at Scandinavia House. Linwood and his 16-piece ensemble have concocted a delicious musical menu, which mixes works by Canadian and Scandinavian composers, including the U.S. premiere of Einstein's Dreams - May 14, 1905 by Jordan Nobles (CDN), Voluptuous Panic by Paul Frehner (CDN), and KafKapriccio by celebrated Danish composer Poul Ruders. Moreover, Danish harp virtuoso Maria Sørensen joins Aventa in the US premiere of Per Nørgård’s …gennem torne… (…through thorns…), - one of Denmark’s most esteemed composers.
The June 6 performance in New York marks the end of Aventa’s 2011 Spring Tour, which includes concerts in Sweden (Malmö Academy of Music in Malmö - May 29); Denmark (Athelas New Music Festival in Copenhagen - May 30 and June 3) and Germany (A•DEvantgarde-Festival in Munich -June 1).
Hailed as “a superb contemporary-music ensemble” (Globe and Mail), Aventa is amongst Canada’s finest musical ambassadors. With a reputation for superb performance and ambitious programming, Aventa has established itself as one of the country’s leading contemporary music ensembles. The group is comprised of musicians who are passionate about new music and its place in our culture. Pushing the boundaries through diverse projects, collaboration and cultural exchange, Aventa challenges the preconceptions of new music. Founded in 2003, Aventa regularly commissions both Canadian and international new works and has presented over 80 premieres both in Canada and on tour. Upcoming activity for the 2011/12 season includes a composer workshop with British composer Michael Finnissy, a new commission from Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and the world premiere of Gavin Bryars’ opera Marilyn - Anyone can see I love you, based on the life of actress Marilyn Monroe and featuring Faroese vocalist Eivør Pálsdóttir in the title role.
Preview Concert: Bard Music Festival 2011
Sibelius and His World
featuring the Daedalus Quartet, Pianist Anna Polonsky, & Soprano Lucy Dhegrae
Thursday, June 16, Pre-concert talk @ 8 pm by Robert Martin, co-artistic director of the Bard Music Festival & director of the Bard College Conservatory of Music
$15 ($10 ASF Members)
The 22nd Bard Music Festival will focus on the life and times of the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, whose startling, intense compositions evoke a range of powerful and unique associations—an imaginary sonic vision of mythic tales, Nordic landscape, and the haunting sounds of a midsummer night.
The Bard Music Festival was founded in 1990 to promote new ways of understanding and presenting the history of music to a contemporary audience. Each year, a single composer is chosen as the main subject. The festival explores his biography, considers his influences and the consequences of his achievement, and examines all aspects of the musical culture surrounding the time and place of his life.
The Daedalus Quartet (violinists Min-Young Kim and Ara Gregorian; violist Jessica Thompson; and cellist Raman Ramakrishnan) has established itself as a leader among the new generation of string ensembles. The ensemble has performed in many leading venues, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Library of Congress, the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., and Boston’s Gardner Museum. Abroad the ensemble has been heard at the Musikverein in Vienna, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Cité de la Musique in Paris, among others. The Quartet has won plaudits for its adventurous exploration of contemporary music, most notably the compositions of Elliott Carter, George Perle, György Kurtág, György Ligeti, and David Horne. The group has collaborated with some of the world’s finest instrumentalists, including Marc-André Hamelin, Simone Dinnerstein, Awadagin Pratt, Joyce Yang, Benjamin Hochman, Paquito D’Rivera, Alexander Fiterstein, Roger Tapping, and Donald Weilerstein. Honors include Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award and Chamber Music America’s Guarneri String Quartet Award.
Anna Polonsky made her solo piano debut at the age of seven at the Special Central Music School in Moscow, Russia. She emigrated to the United States in 1990, and attended high school at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. She received her Bachelor of Music diploma from The Curtis Institute of Music, where she worked with the renowned pianist Peter Serkin, and continued her studies with Jerome Lowenthal, earning her Master's Degree from the Juilliard School. Polonsky was a recipient of a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship in 2003. With the violist Michael Tree and clarinetist Anthony McGill, she is a member of the newly formed Schumann Trio. In addition to performing, she serves on the piano faculty of Vassar College. She is a Steinway Artist.
Ms. Polonsky has appeared with the Moscow Virtuosi, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, the Memphis Symphony, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble, and many others. Ms. Polonsky has collaborated with the Guarneri, Orion, and Shanghai Quartets, and with such musicians as Mitsuko Uchida, David Shifrin, Richard Goode, Ida and Ani Kavafian, Cho-Liang Lin, Arnold Steinhardt, Anton Kuerti, Gary Hoffman, and Fred Sherry. She has given concerts in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Vienna Konzerthaus, Alice Tully Hall, and Carnegie Hall's Stern, Weill, and Zankel Halls, and has toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. A frequent guest at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, she was a member of the Chamber Music Society Two during 2002-2004. In 2006 she took a part in the European Broadcasting Union's project to record and broadcast all of Mozart's keyboard sonatas, and in the spring of 2007 she performed a solo recital at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium to inaugurate the Emerson Quartet's Perspectives Series.
Soprano Lucy Dhegrae is a graduate student in the Bard College Conservatory Vocal Arts Program where she works with Edith Bers, Kayo Iwama, and Dawn Upshaw. She is a lover of new music and has premiered new works at the Morgan Library in New York City as has worked with new music ensembles Contemporaneous and Da Capo Chamber Players. She is the founder of the Prism Project, a collective of artists from all different media who collaborate to create installations mixing poetry, music, dance, photography, theater, visual art, and film. A graduate of the University of Michigan, she also studied with soprano Sylvia Greenberg in Vienna, Austria. She is married to composer Shawn Jaeger.
Nordic Midsummer Celebration
With the Jonas Kullhammar Quartet & Kuára
Monday, June 20, Doors 6:30 pm/Concert 7 pm
$15 ($12 ASF Members)
Midsummer, also known as the summer solstice, is the longest day of the year, but Scandinavians know it as “the day that never ends.” It is also a day of non-stop celebration extolling the Sun’s path around the earth. Join us for our annual Nordic Midsummer Celebration, featuring music from the Jonas Kullhammar Quartet and Kuára.
Jonas Kullhammar Quartet was founded in Stockholm in 1998 and has since released 5 records and toured around the world.
Comprised of Swedes Jonas Kullhammar, saxophone, Jonas Holgersson, drums, Torbjörn Gulz, piano, and Torbjörn Zetterberg, bass, the band has been considered one of Sweden’s best jazz groups, and also won the award for Swedish Jazz Group of the Year 2002.
Kuára is comprised of drummer Markku Ounaskari and pianist Samuli Mikkonen, both fixtures on the jazz scene of their native Finland, along with Norwegian trumpeter/vocalist Per Jørgensen. The unique musical project concentrates on open-form playing and spontaneous improvising and finds its inspiration rooted in Russian psalms and Fenno-Ugrian folk songs from Udmurtia, Vepsä, and Karelia.
Melodies unfurl slowly, and textures are carefully explored in the open improvisations and soundscapes shaped out of the songs: this sacred and secular music is the soil from which new sounds and ideas arise. A contemplative atmosphere prevails; themes and solo lines are counterbalanced with silences.
Nordic Summer Jam
Thursdays (except for July 7) starting June 30 through July 28, Doors 6:30 pm/Concert 7 pm
$10 ($8 ASF Members)
Experience an unforgettable taste of Scandinavian artists in concert in Volvo Hall while enjoying our outdoor garden terrace this summer. An alternative to the usual midtown “happy hour,” Nordic Summer Jam presents an eclectic selection of musicians and repertoires.
In the Country
June 30
In The Country is a piano trio consisting of piano player Morten Qvenild, bass player Roger Arntzen, and drummer Pål Hausken.
Morten Qvenild is probably best known for being the orchestra in Susanna and the Magical Orchestra but has plenty more to show for. He has been a member of both Shining and Jaga Jazzist and is since long a member of Solveig Slettahjells Slow Motion Orchestra. In 2003 he formed In the Country with Ballrogg- and Chrome Hill-bass player Roger Arntzen and Christer Knutsen-drummer Pål Hausken at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. Since then they have been selected best young jazz artists in Norway, played concerts in Europe and USA and released two albums on the prestigious Rune Grammofon label (This was the Pace of My Heartbeat, 2004, and Losing Stones, Collecting Bones, 2006) to much critical acclaim. Downbeat called their debut album “one of the finest and most arresting albums to come out of Europe” that year, and All About Jazz placed In the Country's latest album Whiteout (2009) on their Best of 2009-list.
Anders Holst
July 14
Contemporary singer and songwriter Anders Holst creates distinguished and captivating music that shows roots in jazz, soul, and European pop music. Holst was born and raised in Sweden but is currently based in New York City. Writing his first song when he was ten years old, music has always been a passion for this talented Swede. But a desire to walk in his father’s footsteps made him suppress his dreams, and venture into the world of business instead. Holst moved to the United States as co-chairman of the Ross Institute. But feeling like something was missing, he decided to give up his prosperous career in strategic management counseling, and start a singing one instead at the age of 52.
In 2005, while living in New York, Holst released a smooth jazz-infused EP, Five, recorded in Sweden and Los Angeles. His second album, Romantika, came out in January 2009 and received excellent reviews from Billboard, Radio and Records, and Jazziz, among others. Romantika boasts the sound of styles varied as Alan Parsons, Seal, Sting, and Chicago. The album was recorded in Stockholm and produced and arranged by Alar Suurna, Jerker Eklund, Mats Byström, and Holst. In 2010, Holst was nominated for the American Smooth Jazz Awards in the category of “International Male Vocalist of the Year.”
In June of this year, Holst released his latest album, Soho Suite. The album has been heralded by Billboard Magazine, AOL Music, Napster, and more.
Emma Larsson
July 21
Finland-residing Swede Emma Larsson is a jazz singer and composer who delivers vivid, self-penned jazz tunes with a rich, warm voice. Inspired by instrumental jazz, she creates original instrumental music that could be described as a mixture of jazz, soul, and pop.
As a young Scandinavian, Larsson has a strong interest in form and aesthetics; the stretch of her interests and influences is global, but her viewpoint is strongly individual. The make-up of her current quintet reflects this with Benito Gonzalez on piano, Finns Jonathan Rautio on saxophone and Jukkis Uuotila on drums, and Swede Christian Spering on bass.
After finishing her first degree at the Piteå College of Music with a major in jazz and pop vocals, Larsson moved to Finland in 2003. Here she recorded her first album, Irie Butterflies, while studying for her master degree in jazz studies at the prestigious Sibelius Academy.
Recorded with her quintet in Helsinki, Larsson’s latest album, Let It Go, raises the stakes of her game. Her voice shows a degree of control not common in contemporary singers. Naturally talented, Larsson has also extended the range and control of both her singing and compositions; Larsson shows that she belongs in the modern jazz idiom, with roots in the early ‘50s.
Karen Bach NY Trio, feat. Ian Froman and Evan Gregor
July 28
This music is Nordic, the sound of Scandinavia, full of intensity and edgy interaction, free improvisation and recognizable melodies, all of which are Danish musician Karen Bach's original compositions, accompanied by Canadian born, New York-based drummer Ian Froman and American bass player Evan Gregor.
The musical relationship between Bach and Froman has developed ever since the two studied together back in 2001. Over the years, they have become professional equals as they continue to develop new music.
After a tour of Scandinavia in 2008 and a sold-out performance at Cornelia Street Café in New York in 2009, Bach and Froman will again meet on stage in New York City, this time joined by bass player Evan Gregor.
An ASF Centennial Concert Series:
Per Tengstrand presents Musical Evenings with Nordic Stars
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Additional concerts in March 2012 TBA
Each $20 ($15 ASF Members) – Dinner & a Concert rates do not apply
Swedish pianist Per Tengstrand performs a series of concerts with distinguished guest musicians in honor of the ASF’s centennial year. The series highlights the repertoire of Scandinavian chamber music and its composers.
Wilhelm Stenhammar & His Influences: Beethoven & Brahms
October 6, 2011
Sweden’s great composer Wilhelm Stenhammar (1871-1927) is underplayed, but not underappreciated as he steadily gains popularity in concert halls across the globe. David Chan, concertmaster of the Metropolitan Orchestra, and Per Tengstrand will perform music by Stenhammar, as well as his greatest musical influences, Ludwig van Beethoven and Johannes Brahms.
Holiday Concert: Future Stars
with Swedish Soprano Malin Byström
December 11, 2011
In this special holiday performance, featuring soprano Malin Byström of the Metropolitan Opera’s 2011 production of Faust, established and young, up-and-coming musicians from the Juilliard School perform traditional Scandinavian Christmas music as well as works by Edvard Grieg, Robert Schumann, and Franz Schubert among others.
This series is made possible in part by a generous grant from The Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation.
New Estonian and American Music
Ensemble U:
Monday, October 10, 7 pm
Free admission
Ensemble U: was founded in 2002 and quickly established itself as Estonia’s leading contemporary music group. U:, which is known for commissioning new music from Estonian and foreign composers, will perform works by Estonian and American composers written exclusively for the group, including world premieres by Bryan Christian and Eugene Birman as well as works from Tatjana Kozlova, Helena Tulve, Märt-Matis Lill, and Benjamin Broening. Bryan Christian's piece “Walk“ (2011) was commissioned by the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University.
Ensemble U: is a group of six outstanding young musicians dedicated to contemporary music. Since its founding U: has been performing in numerous contemporary music festivals like Days of New Music in Pärnu and Days of Estonian Music, the NYYD festival (in 2005 in collaboration with Tristan Murail), Days of St. John Church in Tartu, Time of Music (Viitasaari, Finland), Baltoscandal (Rakvere, Estonia), festival Meridian (Bucharest, Romania), Gaida Festival (Vilnius, Lithuania) and Sounds New Festival (Canterbury, UK). The ensemble works without a conductor, and its members are talented young musicians, many of whom have been supplementing themselves on modern music abroad.
U: has been the first in Estonia to perform many masterworks of the present day’s most noted composers such as Boulez, Stockhausen, Murail, Donatoni, Sciarrino, Romitelli, Xenakis, Grisey, etc. In addition, U: focuses significantly on performing experimental and improvisational music, actively working to broaden the idea of different types of scores as sources of music (e.g., graphical scores, video, text, etc.). In the field of musical theatre, U: has worked together several times with Mart Kangro, one of the most internationally-renowned conceptual dance theatre artists in Estonia. Their latest collaboration with Kangro, Harmony, premiered in October 2009 at the international contemporary music festival NYYD 2009.
U: has been responsible for commissioning new music from Estonian and foreign composers. For example, Helena Tulve, Toivo Tulev, Mari Vihmand, Tatjana Kozlova, Märt-Matis Lill, Tauno Aints, Andres Lõo (Estonia), Roméo Monteiro (France), Antti Auvinen, Kimmo Kuitunen (Finland), and Benjamin Broening (USA) have all written pieces for ensemble U:. In 2009, ensemble U: released their album U: (UCD 001), consisting of selected works by Estonian composers dedicated to U:. International presentation of the CD took place as a virtual concert in the Estonian Virtual Embassy in Second Life. In September 2009, ensemble U: was honored with the music award of the Estonian Cultural Endowment for the 2008 concert season and their CD U:. The ensemble's second CD Protuberances (UCD 002), including music by Tatjana Kozlova, Antti Auvinen, Jarkko Hartikainen, Kimmo Kuitunen, and Benjamin Broening was released just two years later, in the spring of 2011.
Supported by the Estonian Consulate General in New York City, the Estonian Ministry of Culture, the Estonian Authors’ Society, and Music Export Estonia.
Keyboard Conversations® with Pianist Jeffrey Siegel:
Concerts with Lively Commentary
Thursdays @ 8 pm, November 10, 2011, January 12, March 8, & April 12, 2012
Individual tickets: $15 ($10 ASF Members); Series pass: $50 ($30 ASF Members)
Internationally-acclaimed pianist Jeffrey Siegel returns to Scandinavia House for his fifth season at Victor Borge Hall. Beginning each evening with informal commentary on the music and its composers, Keyboard Conversations® offers a full performance of each work, and concludes with a brisk, upbeat question and answer session. The accessible, inviting format enriches audience understanding of classical music for the newcomer and the seasoned listener alike.
Anniversary Celebration!
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Enduring and beloved masterpieces written 100 years ago, including the colorful and exotic Preludes by Debussy, poetic short pieces by Sibelius, the enchanting Noble and Sentimental Waltzes by Ravel, and Stravinsky's Petrouchka, in the composer's stunning transcription for solo piano.
Romantic Sounds from the Past
Linda Hedlund
Monday, November 21, 8 pm
$15 ($10 ASF Members)
Finnish violinist Linda Hedlund presents a concert that includes performances of Beethoven’s Trio in E-flat major, Op. 3 for violin, viola, and cello, César Franck’s Sonata for violin and piano in A-major, Jean Sibelius’ Mazurka, Op. 81, No. 1 and Romance, Op. 78, No. 2, Armas Järnefelt’s Bereceuse, and Oskar Merikanto’s Valse Lente. Ms. Hedlund will be accompanied by pianist and composer Andy Feldbau and The Abedian String Trio.
Linda Hedlund began playing the violin at the age of five. She received a scholarship to study at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow with Sergei Kravtchenko (1995-1996) and continued her studies at the University for Music and performing Arts in Vienna with Rainer Küchl. She also studied in Berlin (Hochschule der Künste) with Uwe-Martin Haiberg (2001) and has participated at master classes with Mi-Kyung Lee, Endre Wolf, Mikhail Kopelman (Borodin Quartet), Günther Pichler (Alban Berg Quartet), Nachum Erlich, Yair Kless, and Schlomo Mintz. She also studied chamber music in Vienna with Johannes Meissl (Artis Quartet) for several years. Hedlund graduated from Vienna’s University of Music and performing Arts in 2002 (Master of Arts) and holds a Doctor of Music degree from the Sibelius Academy (Finland), where she also has been working as university assistant.
Hedlund has performed successfully as soloist and chamber musician at many prestigious festivals including the Helsinki Festival (Finland), Musica Nova (Helsinki), Grafenegg Festival (Austria), Honart Festival (Konzerthaus Wien). In this season she will perform in the U.S. in Weill Recital Hall, New York and Preston Bradley Hall, Chicago.
In June 2008 the Finnish company Fuga released her debut album with the sonatas by Franck, Saint-Saëns, and Debussy performed together with German pianist professor Oliver Kern. Other recordings include works for violin and guitar released by Classic Concert Music Group, Austria 2011. In addition to her career as a performing artist, Hedlund will also continue her academic career, this season at University of Hawai’i (2011) as visiting scholar in chamber music coaching.
Young rising star pianist and composer Andy Feldbau has been an active figure in the music world, performing concertos as orchestral soloist among others with the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony, The Israeli Sinfonietta, and with the Ashdod Symphony. He has given solo recitals at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Los Angeles’ Ford Theatre, London's Steinway Hall, The Juilliard School's Paul Hall, Tel Aviv Museum, and Jerusalem Theatre, as well as playing live broadcasts on WQXR in New York and on Israel Radio.
Mr. Feldbau has composed many pieces for piano, most of which he has performed and recorded. He has also created pieces for choir and piano, various solo instruments, chamber music, orchestrations, and numerous solo piano virtuoso arrangements for Broadway and Disney songs.
Mr. Feldbau recently received his Master’s degree from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Mr. Julian Martin, and currently studies with Mrs. Pavlina Dokovska. In 2008 he received his Bachelor's degree from the Buchman-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University as a student of Prof. Emanuel Krasovsky. Mr. Feldbau is a native of Israel and presently resides in New York.
The Abedian String Trio was founded in Vienna and had it first performance at the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York, 2008/March. Linda Hedlund (violin), Taha Abedian (violist), and Matthias Gredler (cello) are outstanding international artists who perform as soloists and chamber musicians around the globe. The trio interprets works by classical and contemporary composers and will make its Carnegie Hall debut November 22, 2011, in Weill Recital hall, presented by AIM (Artists International Management NYC)..
Past Concerts 2010
APAP 2010 - Northern Realms Music Showcase
Monday, January 11, 2010
First set: 2-5 pm
Second set: 7-11 pm
FREE but reservations are required: 212.847.9740
event_reservation@amscan.org
Some of the most exciting and talented folk music performers from around the world descend upon New York this January for the annual Association of Performing Arts Presenters conference. Scandinavia House will host some of the best artists from the Northern regions in Victor Borge Hall as an APAP highlight, featuring performers from Norway, Sweden, Scotland, Ireland and Quebec.
Niklas Sivelöv
2:00-2:20 pm & 7:00-7:20 pm
Leading Scandinavian pianist. An improviser and composer, he has been called the Renoir of the piano. Multiple award winner: Le Diapason D’or, the Independent Music Award, Vox populi. Exclusive Hamburg Steinway Artist and recently selected as the first Swedish pianist ever in their Hall of Fame.
http://www.niklassivelov.com
http://www.myspace.com/sivelov
the peärls before swïne experience
2:30-2:50 pm & 7:30-7:50 pm
Truly a remarkable and unforgettable Contemporary Classical ensemble. They perform pithy, 5-minute works written directly for them by some of the most important living composers from Sweden and abroad. Their relaxed and direct performances transform new music concerts into eminently enjoyable and accessible events.
http://www.swinepearl.com
Le Vent du Nord
3:00-3:20 pm & 8:00-8:20 pm
One of Québec’s finest traditional ensembles combining bouncing, rhythmic fiddle styles, unique tunes, spirited step dancing and ancient songs of Québec’s rich musical heritage. First recording received a JUNO (Canadian Grammy) and second awarded a FELIX Award for Traditional Album. Multiple instruments including hurdy-gurdy.
http://www.leventdunord.com
http://www.myspace.com/leventdunord
Sofia Jannok
3:30-3:50 pm & 8:30-8:50 pm
Passion and contrast define Sofia’s music. The passion and warmth in her clear, powerful voice artfully express the contrast between her indigenous Sami background and her creative cosmopolitanism. Sofia draws inspiration from wide open spaces, people, and the pulse and colours of the city.
http://www.sofiajannok.com
http://www.myspace.com/sofiajannok
Nuala Kennedy
4:00-4:20 pm & 9:00-9:20 pm
A mix of traditional Scottish and Irish songs sung with clarity and passion and a highly interactive live performance. This singer-flautist performs with esteemed musical collaborators, in a naturally expressive, spontaneous and engaging way. Nuala just released her second solo album, ‘Tune In’, on Compass Records.
http://www.nualakennedy.com
http://www.myspace.com/nualakennedy
Mats Öberg & Jonas Knutsson
4:30-4:50 pm & 9:30-9:50 pm
Traditional Swedish music combined with Contemporary Jazz and World. Öberg is an acclaimed, exceptionally versatile, keyboard genius possessing knock-out powers of expression. Knutsson is a bright saxophone star, equally at home in Jazz, folk and improvisation. Friends since childhood, their musical connections run deep.
http://tinyurl.com/yjmds2n
The Nordic Fiddler’s Bloc
5:00-5:20 pm & 10:00-10:20 pm
Three of the top young fiddlers to emerge on the respective folk music scenes of Sweden, Norway and Shetland Islands. First meeting through informal “sessions”, they developed a deep admiration for each other’s playing and traditions and were inspired to collaborate. The result surpassed expectations…
http://www.myspace.com/thenordicfiddlersbloc
Presented with support by Délégation générale du Québec, Honorary Consulate of Sweden, New York, On Queue Performing Artists , Scottish Arts Council, and Rikskonserter / Concerts Sweden.
A Musical Visit from Scandinavia: Copenhagen Chamber Ensemble
Tuesday, January 12, 2010, 7 pm
$15 ($10 ASF members)
Reflecting a refined combination of tradition and versatility, the Copenhagen Chamber Ensemble specializes in chamber, traditional, and new music. The group’s members come from diverse musical backgrounds and hold numerous solo positions in leading Danish professional orchestras such as The Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Founded in 1978, the ensemble will perform works by Swedish composer Lillebror Söderlundh and Danish composers Erik Norby and John von Daler. Mixing old and new, classical baroque pieces by Vivaldi, Bach, Telemann, and Handel will be presented along with the contemporary pieces.
A Musical Visit from Scandinavia is co-presented with the Danish American Society.
New York Scandia Symphony
Thursday, February 11, 8 pm
$15 ($10 ASF Members; FREE to students with a valid ID)
Dorrit Matson, Music Director and Conductor, leads the New York Scandia Symphony in a CONCERTO PROGRAM featuring three soloists: Bjarke Mogensen, accordionist in the US premiere of Concerto Piccolo for Accordion Solo and Strings by Anders Koppel. Lisa Hansen, flutist, in the Baroque Concerto for Flute and Strings by Johan Helmich Roman; and Frank Foerster, violist, in his own Suite of Scandinavian Folk Melodies for Viola and String Orchestra. Norwegian composer Johan Svendsen will be featured on this program, as well as Danish composer Poul Schierbeck , who will be celebrated with a US premiere of his composition I Danmark er jeg fodt and Largo for String Orchestra.
For over twenty years New York Scandia Symphony has delighted New York City listeners with its warm and vibrant tone, a lovely clarity of expressive detail as well as interesting and exciting programs. It has a valuable mission to present imaginative and creative multicultural programs of music by classical, romantic and contemporary Scandinavian composers, introducing previously unknown and seldom performed compositions to American audiences. With up to 90% of its repertoire presented as US premieres, the orchestra revives and preserves the works of significant classical composers that might not otherwise have been brought to the attention of the American public.
Sponsored by The Royal Danish Academy of Music.
NYNDK
The Hunting of the Snark CD Release
Saturday, February 20, 7:30 pm
$15 ($10 ASF Members; FREE to students with a valid ID)
Transatlantic jazz collective NYNDK returns to the scene with The Hunting of the Snark – an album that sets (mostly) modern 20th century classical composers’ works to post-modern jazz music. As such, listeners are treated to engaging versions of Charles Ives’ The Cage, 1,2,3, and Remembrance, Edvard Grieg’s Adagio (from Piano Concerto in A Minor), a Per Norgard serial composition – Voyage Into the Golden Screen and several others, including the title track by Arne Nordheim and pieces composed by members of the group and named after each of the composers whose work has been utilized. Guest drummer Tony Moreno also makes an appearance with the collective.
Does the use of these composers’ work really fit in with modern jazz? The answer is a resounding yes, as the arrangement of these works are mind-bending, multi-layered and offer an introduction into some interesting compositions while also engaging the senses in the present. The Hunting of the Snark is yet another revolutionary recording from NYNDK that takes chances, and cements their status as some of the most innovative jazz artists working today.
NYNDK brings together musicians from New York (NY), Norway (N), and Denmark (DK), uniting three places that have significant roles in jazz history. Established in 2003, its founding members are Danish pianist Søren Møller, Norwegian saxophonist Ole Mathisen, and New York trombonist Chris Washburne. Their decision to form this collaborative was inspired by their own experiences of the truly international nature of jazz. Jazz has become a global phenomenon and NYNDK embodies this development, bringing to the mix a combination of refined Scandinavian cool with aggressive New York heat, spiced with a progressive post-modern sensibility.
Presented in conjunction with the Consulate General of Denmark, New York and the Danish Arts Agency’s DaNY Arts.
The Music of Schumann & Gade
Presented by Mannes College: The New School for Music
Thursday, March 25, 7 pm
FREE, no tickets or reservations required; seating is first-come first-served
This concert is a special presentation by the Mannes College Piano and Voice Departments, exploring the music of Robert Schumann and Niels Gade, featuring such pieces as Schumann’s Arabesque in C major for piano, op. 18 and Gade’s Violin Sonata. Since 1999, Mannes College of Music has presented a series of year-long music festivals, each with a different unifying theme featuring gifted young artists, distinguished faculty, and renowned guests.
Nordic Sounds, Latin Flavor
Friday, April 23, 7:00 pm
$15 ($10 ASF Members; FREE to students with a valid ID)
Swedish guitarist Celia Linde is acclaimed for her personal style, her captivating temperament and for her wide range of musical interpretations. Linde will perform her unique variations of music from Swedish folk tunes, contemporary Latin American and Spanish music, to her own classical compositions. Touring frequently throughout Europe, the U.S., Canada, Finland, Scandinavia, Russia, and Turkey, she is often the featured artist on National Swedish Radio-Television and has also been profiled on the BBC, Denmark’s Radio, Turkish Radio-Television (TRT) and New York’s WNYC and other international radio stations.
Out of Scandinavia: New Indie Music from the Nordics
April 1, May 6, June 3, July 1 & August 5, all sets begin @ 7 pm
$10 ($8 ASF Members)
Scandinavian music is having a moment. Sigur Rós, Björk, Fever Ray, Lykke Li, Peter, Bjorn and John, The Raveonettes, Mew, Annie, Sondre Lerche. These are just a sampling of the current Nordic heavyweights on the indie charts, but the next wave of Nordic bands is upon us. Renowned in their homelands and on the cusp of breaking through in the U.S. these fervent musicians will undoubtedly join the chart-topping ranks of their established peers. They may have disparate styles, but what connects them is a love of sound, an artistry of live performance, and above all, a devotion to invading your listening space.
Out of Scandinavia: New Indie Music from the Nordics is a uniquely selected series of musical performances the first Thursday of the month from April through August, headlining a myriad of fresh Nordic musicians that features one-off and premiere performances. Through subtle and deft curating of distinctly different styles of music, Out of Scandinavia: New Indie Music from the Nordics will satiate your craving for innovative and compelling new indie rock from the Nordics.
Out of Scandinavia: New Indie Music from the Nordics is made possible in part by the Consulate General of Denmark, New York; the Consulate General of Finland, New York; the Honorary Consulate General of Sweden, New York; Iceland Naturally; Music Export Finland; Music Export Norway, and Export Music Sweden.
Hanne Hukkelberg
Thursday, April 1, 7 pm
Norwegian singer-songwriter Hanne Hukkelberg started singing and playing instruments as a child in her home town of Kongsberg, Norway at the age of 3 and later played in various jazz, pop and rock groups as well as a doom metal band. A graduate of the Norwegian Academy of Music, she has gained a reputation as a powerful live performer.
Blood from a Stone is Hukkelberg’s third album. In part inspired by her past as a member of various rock and metal bands (especially their live incarnations) and in part by her 80 indie/rock albums, Hanne acknowledges that the likes of Sonic Youth, Cocteau Twins, Pixies, Einstüerzende Neubauten and P.J. Harvey have all exerted an influence over her new songs, while one can also detect traces of Siouxsie & The Banshees at their most oblique and many other new wave/post punk outfits.
Samuli Putro
Thursday, May 6, 7 pm
$10 ($8 ASF Members)
Samuli Putro, the longtime front-man of the Finnish rock band Zen Café, with whom he experienced years of chart-topping success, is a singer/songwriter who made his blockbuster solo album debut in 2009.
Born on August 21, 1970, in Helsinki, he co-founded Zen Café in 1992. The band includes Kari Nylander (bass) and Pete Parkkonen (drums), in addition to Putro (vocals, guitar). Zen Café made their album debut in 1997 with Romuna. Subsequent albums include Idiootti (1998), Ua Ua (1999), and Helvetisti Järkeä (2001). Zen Café then hit number one with each of their next three albums, Helvetisti Järkeä (2001), Vuokralainen (2002), and Jättiläinen (2003); moreover, these albums include the Top Ten hit singles Aamuisin, Piha Ilman Sadettajaa, and Tavallaan Jokainen On Surullinen. The latter-day albums Laiska, Tyhmä Ja Saamaton (2005) and Stop (2006) were similarly successful, hitting number two and one, respectively.
Well known for his longtime frontman status in Zen Café, Putro made his blockbuster solo album debut in 2009 with Elämä On Juhla. Yet another in a long line of chart-topping albums for Putro, Elämä On Juhla includes the singles Elämä On Juhla, Älä Huuda Mulle, and Mitäpä Jos.
Huntsville
July 1
Norwegian band Huntsville delves into an adventurous crossbreed of rock, drones, country, jazz and electro-acoustic improvisation featuring Ivar Grydeland (guitars, banjo, and pedal steel guitar), Tonny Kluften (electric bass, double bass, bass pedals) and Ingar Zach (percussion, tabla machine, sarangi box, sruti box, drone commander).
After their debut For The Middle Class (Rune Grammofon, 2006) Boston Weekly wrote, “armed with a banjo, a double bass, a pedal steel, a bizarre tabla machine, shruti boxes and a fondness for freeing folk from its folk songs — from Santa Fe to Bombay.”
Huntsville’s unexpected sounds and textures, allied with echoes of traditional genres in a radical new conceptual language have been described as abstract drone Americana and yoga country. Rock-A-Rolla (UK) wrote, “…they alternate between brief Americana-esque instrumentals and lengthier excursions into fast, fluid motion, attaining trance-velocity like some rare amalgam of Miles Davis, Steve Reich and early Tortoise.”
On their second album, the double release Eco, arches & eras (Rune Grammofon, 2008), they dig even deeper into their striking and original sound world – this time with riffing electric guitars, hard-hitting drums and their secret weapon: a drone commander. During the making of Eco, arches & eras, Norwegian singer Sidsel Endresen joined in on one track, while guitarist Nels Cline and drummer Glenn Kotche (both of Wilco) visited Huntsville on an hour-long track captured live in 2007.
Jaerv & Thinguma*jigSaw
Tuesday, April 13, 7 pm
$15 ($10 ASF Members)
Jaerv on myspace
Thinguma*jigSaw on myspace
Scandinavian folk music today isn’t what it once was. With urbanization and modern innovations such as TV, radio, records, and CDs, traditional music faded in the 20th century. The folk music scene has reemerged and today is revitalized and diverse, splitting roughly into two areas: acoustic and electric, with experimentation of varying degrees happening at both ends of the spectrum. Occasionally avant-garde, but consistently accessible, one can still hear the traditional Nordic folk styles woven into the richly-textured musical tapestries of these innovative musicians.
Jaerv is a Swedish quintet, playing extroverted, vigorous, and heartfelt folk music with influences from both jazz and pop music. Together, the five members have created a homogeneous, vivid sound that has, over a short period of time, established the group on the folk music scene as well as in many other forums. Rooted in several different musical traditions, Jaerv offers a varied stage performance where vocal, five-voiced tunes blend in with energetic dances and free improvisations. Their concerts have been broadcast, both on Swedish national radio and abroad and the band has toured extensively over the last three years.
Thinguma*jigSaw is a Norwegian duo playing what they call “splatter-folk” on banjo, musical saw, flute, melodica, and vocals. Their music is influenced by British folk, Appalachian ballads, art/cult/horror-films, and the literary musings of Samuel Beckett, Edgar Allan Poe and James Joyce. Thinguma*jigSaw has existed for two years, released their album (awakeinwhitechapel) on the Irish cred-label Deserted Village, and has toured extensively in Europe and the U.S., doing gigs together with the Tiger Lillies, Meg Baird, Samara Lubelski and Castanets, among others. Thinguma*jigSaw has rapidly become a highly beloved live-phenomenon, stunning audiences wherever they play: Time Out London ranked them as one of 2008’s live highlights, next to Bon Iver, and New York Post described their live-performance as “deeply unsettling, yet strangely comforting.”
Keyboard Conversations® with Pianist Jeffrey Siegel: Concerts with Commentary
Internationally-acclaimed pianist Jeffrey Siegel returns to Scandinavia House for his third season at Victor Borge Hall. Beginning each evening with commentary on the music and its composers, Keyboard Conversations offers a full performance of each of the works, and ends with a short and lively question and answer session. The accessible and inviting performance format enriches audience understanding of classical music, for both the newcomer and seasoned listener alike. Each concert is followed by a reception.
Musical Pictures
Thursday, April 15, 2010, 7:30 pm
This concert features picturesque music inspired by visual stimuli: Rachmaninoff's festive Etude Tableaux in E Flat, Opus 33, Debussy's colorful Fireworks, the beloved Rustles of Spring by the Norwegian composer Christian Sinding, the evocative May Night by Finland's Selim Palmgren, and the famous and fascinating Pictures at an Exhibition by the Russian master Modeste Mussorgsky. A “Getting Behind the Pictures” discussion will make listening to this popular work even more rewarding.
Three Great “Bs” – Bach, Beethoven & …Barber!
Thursday, November 18, 2010, 8 pm
Featuring Bach’s rhapsodic, romantic Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, Beethoven’s stormy Appassionata, and the lyrical, dramatic works of American composer Samuel Barber, whose 100th birthday is celebrated in 2010.
An ASF Centennial Concert Series:
Per Tengstrand presents Musical Evenings with Nordic Stars
Tuesday, May 3 & Thursday, May 19, 8 pm
Each $15 ($10 ASF members)
Pianist Per Tengstrand, one of Sweden’s leading musicians and winner of many international awards (Long-Thibaud, Cleveland, and Geneva competitions), is the artistic director of a series of concerts with distinguished guest musicians in honor of the ASF’s centennial year. Beginning this spring, the series highlights the repertoire of Scandinavian chamber music and its composers and performers.
Grieg, Alfvén and the Scandinavian Joie de Vivre
May 3
In this opening concert, Tengstrand is joined by acclaimed musicians pianist Shan-shan Sun, violinist David Coucheron, and the Choral of the Swedish Church to perform Hugo Alfvén’s Swedish Rhapsody for Piano Four Hands, Edvard Grieg’s Violin Sonata and songs for choir, and choral works by Jean Sibelius and Einojuhani Rautavaara.
A Tribute to Esa-Pekka Salonen
May 19
When Esa-Pekka Salonen asked Per Tengstrand to perform his piano work Dichotomie at the Salonen-festival in Stockholm, it was in a program that the Finnish composer and conductor had put together to show his influences and favorite works. This evening, a tribute to the Finnish master, will use exactly the same repertoire! It is, needless to say, a beautifully composed program, with some of Salonen’s best works as well as music by Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. A unique opportunity to get closer to one of the master musicians of our time.
This series is made possible in part by a generous grant from The Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation.
The Scandia String Quartet
Thursday, May 13, 8 pm
$15 ($10 ASF Members; FREE to students with a valid ID)
Founded in 2005 and the initiative of the four principal string players of the New York Scandia Symphony, the Scandia String Quartet will perform a vibrant selection of quartets by Grieg, Sibelius, Weyse, Nielsen, and Langgaard. Since its inception, the quartet has been the solid foundation of the Scandinavian Music Festival held in Fort Tryon Park in northern Manhattan in June. Like the Scandia Symphony, the Scandia String Quartet is dedicated to performing and recording music of the Scandinavian countries and composers, introducing previously unknown and seldom performed compositions to American audiences.
The quartet has undertaken several premieres of works by living composers from Scandinavia and of music relating to Scandinavia. The Scandia String Quartet has appeared at a number of concerts and events and has collaborated with soloists and composers of Scandinavian descent, as well as with other members of the New York Scandia Symphony.
ADDED CONCERT!
The Iceland String Quartet
Friday, May 14, 8 pm
$15 ($10 ASF Members; FREE to students with a valid ID)
The principles of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Sigrún Eðvaldsdóttir, Sif Tulinius, Helga Þórarinsdóttir, and Bryndís Halla Gylfadóttir are all central players in Reykjavík's lively music scene. The quartet makes its first appearance at Scandinavia House this May to perform a string quartet by Johannes Brahms, Antonín Dvořák's American quartet, a new piece by Icelandic composer Þorður Magnússon, as well as a selection of Icelandic songs.
Nordic Midsummer Celebration
with CALLmeKAT, Samuel Hällkvist & Sæunn Þorsteinsdóttir
Monday, June 21, Doors 6:30 pm/Concert 7 pm
$15 ($12 ASF Members)
Midsummer, also known as the summer solstice, is the longest day of the year, but Scandinavians know it as “the day that never ends.” It is also a day of non-stop celebration extolling the Sun’s path around the earth. Join us for our annual Nordic Midsummer Celebration, featuring music from Copenhagen-based musician CALLmeKAT, Swedish guitarist Samuel Hällkvist, and Icelandic cellist and former ASF Fellow Sæunn Þorsteinsdóttir.
CALLmeKAT
Copenhagen-based musician CALLmeKat (Katrine Ottosen) is known for her distinctly Scandinavian sound: melancholic, dreamy pop. Written, performed, recorded and produced by Ottosen herself, the warmly-received I’m In A Polaroid – Where Are You EP (2008) combined sounds from sampler keyboards, home-brewed percussion, vinyl samples, birds, Dictaphone and vocal recordings, mixed and mastered by Icelandic producer Valgeir Sigurðsson (Björk, Múm, Sigur Rós). In November 2008 Ottosen released her full-length debut Fall Down on her own label Pixiebooth, in collaboration with Playground Music.
In 2009 CALLmeKAT played numerous critically-acclaimed shows, received an Underground Music Award for “Best Alternative Act,” and was granted one of the Danish Art Council’s prestigious grants for young, talented artists with international ambition and potential.
Based in New York since early 2010, she is collaborating with Joe Magistro (Prophet Omega) on her international debut When Owls Are Out, which will consist of reworked and remixed material from Fall Down. She also made an appearance at the 2010 SxSW Festival, where she was featured live on NPR’s All Things Considered. As of late she has appeared on both Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton’s (NPR) “Who We Liked-list” from this year’s SxSW with the words “Outstanding voice, delicate music” and “Just mesmerizing.”
Samuel Hällkvist
Samuel Hällkvist is a Swedish guitar player living in Copenhagen, Denmark. With hints of jazz, country, metal, and noise Hällkvist’s music is an expression of a boundless world. A world where extremely different genres, geographic variety and, above all, the unexpected meet without restrictions and are conveyed with sincerity, passion and brilliant technique.
Born in the province of Dalarna, in the village of Gustafs, Hällkvist grew up with hard rock and metal influences; however a chance encounter with a jazz record changed his life. He started playing the guitar and was admitted to the jazz program at Skurup’s folk high-school, and eventually completed his studies at the Malmö Academy of Music.
In 2010 Hällkvist was appointed Jazz in Sweden-artist 2010, a prestigious award that Caprice Records and Concerts Sweden have given annually since 1972, comprising an album release, a launch, and a tour in Sweden and abroad during 2010. Today, Hällkvist lives in Copenhagen and plays with bands such as Television Pickup, Rhododendron String Band and 15,5, while focusing on the new group Samuel Hällkvist Center and the launch of their first album.
Sæunn Þorsteinsdóttir
Praised as “charismatic” in The New York Times, Icelandic cellist and former ASF Fellow Sæunn Þorsteinsdóttir has appeared as a recitalist and chamber musician across the U.S., Germany, France, Poland, Italy and her native Iceland. Þorsteinsdóttir has garnered numerous top prizes, including most recently the Zara Nelsova Prize in the 2008 Naumburg International Violoncello Competition in New York.
An avid chamber musician, Þorsteinsdóttir has collaborated in performance with Itzhak Perlman, Kim Kashkashian, the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players and the Cavani String Quartet in venues such as Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her collaborative performances have been also been featured on WQXR New York as well as Icelandic National Radio. Also an advocate of new music Þorsteinsdóttir has premiered dozen of works and frequently performs at venues in New York such as The Stone and Le Poisson Rouge. Along with the masterpieces of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, Þorsteinsdóttir is constantly inspired by contemporary works.
Þorsteinsdóttir received a Bachelor of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music with the highest honors of accomplishments in both cello and chamber music. She continued studies at The Juilliard School, completing a Master of Music degree in 2008. A native of Reykjavík, Iceland, Þorsteinsdóttir now lives in New York City. She plays on a cello made in Milan, Italy circa 1790.
Out of Scandinavia: New Indie Music from the Nordics
The first Thursday of the month July & August @ 7 pm
$10 ($8 ASF Members)
Out of Scandinavia is an on-going uniquely selected series of musical performances the first Thursday of each month, headlining a myriad of fresh Nordic musicians that features one-off and premiere performances. Through subtle and deft curating of disparate styles of music, Out of Scandinavia will satiate your craving for innovative and compelling new indie music from the Nordics.
Out of Scandinavia: New Indie Music from the Nordics is made possible in part by the Consulate General of Denmark, New York; the Consulate General of Finland, New York; the Honorary Consulate General of Sweden, New York; Iceland Naturally; Music Export Finland; Music Export Norway, and Export Music Sweden.
Huntsville
July 1
Norwegian band Huntsville delves into an adventurous crossbreed of rock, drones, country, jazz and electro-acoustic improvisation featuring Ivar Grydeland (guitars, banjo, and pedal steel guitar), Tonny Kluften (electric bass, double bass, bass pedals) and Ingar Zach (percussion, tabla machine, sarangi box, sruti box, drone commander).
After their debut For The Middle Class (Rune Grammofon, 2006) Boston Weekly wrote, “armed with a banjo, a double bass, a pedal steel, a bizarre tabla machine, shruti boxes and a fondness for freeing folk from its folk songs — from Santa Fe to Bombay.”
Huntsville’s unexpected sounds and textures, allied with echoes of traditional genres in a radical new conceptual language have been described as abstract drone Americana and yoga country. Rock-A-Rolla (UK) wrote, “…they alternate between brief Americana-esque instrumentals and lengthier excursions into fast, fluid motion, attaining trance-velocity like some rare amalgam of Miles Davis, Steve Reich and early Tortoise.”
On their second album, the double release Eco, arches & eras (Rune Grammofon, 2008), they dig even deeper into their striking and original sound world – this time with riffing electric guitars, hard-hitting drums and their secret weapon: a drone commander. During the making of Eco, arches & eras, Norwegian singer Sidsel Endresen joined in on one track, while guitarist Nels Cline and drummer Glenn Kotche (both of Wilco) visited Huntsville on an hour-long track captured live in 2007.
Nordic Summer Jam
Thursdays in July (starting July 8), Doors 6:30 pm/Concert 7 pm
$10 ($8 ASF Members)
Experience an unforgettable taste of Scandinavian artists in concert in Volvo Hall while enjoying our outdoor garden terrace this summer. A favored alternative to the usual midtown “happy hour,” Nordic Summer Jam presents an eclectic selection of musicians and repertoires accompanied by refreshments by Smörgås Chef Restaurant @ Scandinavia House.
Double Bill:
Tom Hayes
Nick and Casey
July 8
Born and raised in Ireland, Tom Hayes has been making music since before he could talk. At the age of five he found an old guitar at home and wouldn't put it down. By the age of twelve was working as a professional guitarist for acclaimed Irish bands. He spent the next eight years touring at home and throughout Europe. Soon he began work on his own music, evoking the lyrical and musical styles of Joni Mitchell and Nick Drake. Trained in an ancient Irish style of A Capella singing known as Sean-Nos, Tom mixed together a blend of the contemporary and traditional, finding a unique sound, with its roots in rock and soul, as well as folk.
After living in London for some time, Tom moved to New York in 2005. He soon found a welcome home within the city's music scene, cultivating a dedicated following. In recent months he has collaborated with prolific artists and platinum-selling writers such as Boots Ottestad, Ryan Star, and Wynter Gordon. Tom has also begun work on his debut record set for release this fall. His unique voice and style have won him the praise of numerous press and musical greats such as Jimmy Webb. In a recent review, the New York Examiner had this to say: “With succulent melodies played under perforating lyrics and a voice that is almost a ghost of musicians past, Hayes produces a smooth tone in the vein of vintage soul. Raw talent as such cannot be hidden for long.”
Nick and Casey are singer/songwriters Casey Spindler and Nicholas Webber. Their recent work includes: scoring the Leaky Tent short film Goldstar, Ohio (Bill Irwin, Mercedes Ruehl, Michael Stuhlbarg and Alison Pill); licensing their song Man Of Obstacles to the upcoming CinemaLab/Mega/IFC film Falling Awake; and appearing on Fox Network's Fearless Music.
Nick and Casey recently finished their first, full length, studio album, Can't Reason Through Love, with Grammy-winning engineer and producer Chris Shaw (Bob Dylan: Love and Theft, Modern Times; Lou Reed; Wilco; Jeff Buckley). The release is scheduled for fall of 2010.
They are currently backed by bassist Tim Luntzel (Bright Eyes, Rosanne Cash) and drummer Dan Rieser (Norah Jones, Marcy Playground).
Nick and Casey are based in Brooklyn and can be seen at The Living Room every third Sunday of the Month at 9 pm for the year of 2010.
Benedicte Maurseth
July 15
Norwegian Benedicte Maurseth performs both as a Hardanger fiddler and traditional vocalist. The old tunes from Hardanger form an important part of her repertoire. These are often lyrical and complex, and many of them have been preserved in their original form. She evokes a deep, warm tone in these fiddles by using gut strings and a baroque bow.
Maurseth holds a degree from the Ole Bull Academy. She learned to play the Hardanger fiddle mainly from master fiddler Knut Hamre, but also studied with Stein Versto and Leif Rygg. In the past few years she has also studied with baroque musicians such as Bjarte Eike and Peter Spissky. Maurseth collaborates with a number of musicians who work in various genres, especially at the point of intersection of folk and baroque music, as well as with more improvised music and new music.
In 2006 she and Hamre released the album Rosa i botnen, which could be said to have introduced the concept of “early fiddle tunes.” Because she has used the old style of fiddling, the earliest tunes have regained a dimension that had gone missing long ago. In 2007 Maurseth received the Young Folk Musician of the Year award, INTRO-Folk (Concerts Norway's competition for launching new talent).
Amalie Bruun
July 22
Amalie Bruun is a 24 year-old Danish award-winning singer/songwriter. Singing on the streets of Berlin, Barcelona and Paris, Bruun also worked as a professional songwriter in Sweden - the “pop capital” of Scandinavia - providing material for the Swedish winner of Idols.
Presently a resident New Yorker, Bruun works on her career as a solo-artist and her talent has by no means been kept under wraps: MTV U.S. are eager to blog about her, the debut-EP Housecat spawned much interest among U.S. major labels and she recently played live on the Fox TV show Fearless Music. She has rapidly become part of the higher echelons of the New York music scene and her songs have been licensed for TV shows, commercials and movies.
The music of Bruun is somewhat akin to the chilly, dramatic pop songs of Tori Amos, but with an urban attitude and a ragged coolness that is reminiscent of smoke-filled alleyways, run-down rock clubs and of 60s icons like Nico and Francoise Hardy. She plays the glockenspiel, guitar and piano with clear, yet forceful vocals, unmistakable ear for catchy melodies and adventurous take on style and arrangement, playing everything from chair to coffee beans.
The brand-new single Branches was just released through the young Copenhagen-based indie pop label EasyTiger.
Naja Rosa Koppel
July 29
A child of music, Danish songstress Naja Rosa Koppel was born into a family of many songs and stories. Her mother and father, Annisette and Thomas Koppel, lead members and founders of the legendary Danish rock group The Savage Rose took her on the road before she was even born. Growing up in the south harbor of Copenhagen, Koppel was singing and writing songs from an early age and went on to sing background vocals in her parents’ group for almost a decade. As a part of The Savage Rose she also landed two of her own compositions on their 2008 Danish Music Award-nominated release, Universal Daughter and wrapped a European tour with the band in the fall of 2008.
In 2009 Koppel finished her debut album, NAJA ROSA, with all songs written and composed by her, in a little analog Copenhagen studio. The record was mixed by renowned producer Bryce Goggin (Pavement, Nada Surf, Apples in Stereo) at his Trout Studio in Brooklyn.
The sound may be reminiscent of beatnik rock and blues from the 50s through the 70s, but there is also a great depth to the album’s sound. Similar to the moodiness of a Tarantino soundtrack, Koppel’s vocals are deep, soulful and pure. Full of life and often with a wink of humor, her strong, melodic songs can take you from a rocking Saturday night to a bluesy Sunday afternoon.
Out of Scandinavia: New Indie Music from the Nordics
Ongoing, the first Thursday of each month, doors 7 pm/concert 7:30 pm
$10 ($8 ASF Members)
Out of Scandinavia is an on-going series of uniquely selected musical performances the first Thursday of each month, headlining a myriad of fresh Nordic musicians that features one-off and premiere performances. Through subtle, deft curating of disparate styles, Out of Scandinavia will satiate your craving for innovative and compelling new indie music from the Nordics.
Out of Scandinavia: New Indie Music from the Nordics is made possible in part by the Consulate General of Denmark, New York; the Consulate General of Finland, New York; the Consulate General of Sweden, New York; Iceland Naturally; Music Export Finland; Music Export Norway, and Export Music Sweden.
Double Bill:
Hannah Schneider; Songs for Wendy
October 7
Hannah Schneider
Copenhagen-based artist Hannah Schneider grew up in a family of classical musicians, and naturally started to play both the piano and the violin at age five. Her love of piano soon turned into a great fascination with small synths and keyboards, and inspired Hannah to start composing at the age of 13. Since then she has written songs, gone to the music conservatory in Copenhagen, and performed in various groups all over Europe.
In 2009 she was signed to Mermaid Records/Sony BMG, and her self-titled debut album came out in September 2009. It was well received both by the radio stations and the press, who called Hannah “a rarely skilled pop songwriter, who manages to put herself at stake” and predicted her international success.
Hannah has co-written songs with many internationally acclaimed songwriters, such as Jeff Cohen (Teitur, Macy Gray), Itaal Shuur (Jewel, Maxwell) and Kim Richey, with whom she wrote the song The Absence of Your Company that was featured on Grey’s Anatomy.
Inspired by the great number of current Scandinavian artists like Lykke Li and El Perro del Mar, Hannah Schneider creates melancholic and playful pop, crafted with a love for the singer/songwriter tradition and a fascination with electronic sounds and samples.
Listen to Hannah Schneider on MySpace
Songs for Wendy
Song for Wendy is the latest collaborative project between Danish singer/songwriter Mads Mouritz and Icelandic singer Dísa. Beneath the undemonstrative title one finds a number of interpretations of poems from the anthology Poem for the Day collected by the very popular lyricist Wendy Cope. The lyrics, which revolve around love and are from the 18th to the 20th centuries, are turned into stripped and romantic duets by Mouritz and Dísa.
During the intermission, we screened a world premiere of sorts of Efterkids - a musical collaboration between Denmark's Efterklang and the Special Music School here in New York City. Thank you to Thomas Husmer (the drummer from Efterklang) who personally introduced the project and presented two shorts music videos. Visit www.Efterkids.com to learn more.
Double Bill:
Feldberg; Christine Owman
December 2
Feldberg
Icelandic duo Feldberg was formed in January 2009 by Eberg (Einar Tönsberg) and Rósa Birgitta Ísfeld. Featuring the bluesy, soulful sound of Ísfeld’s vocals, Feldberg creates music that is a combination of electronic, acoustic, folk and percussion elements, while maintaining a pop sensibility. The award-winning track Dreamin’ from their album Don’t be a Stranger (Cod Music, 2009) is featured on the much-coveted 2010 Kitsune Maison Compilation 9 Set.
Christine Owman
After the release of her first album Open Doors (Revolving Records, 2003) Christine Owman – half-Swedish and half-Danish – started experimenting with sounds, noise, instruments, effect pedals and different ways to record. The flaws and restrictions she encountered in that process became the strength of her sound and a contrast to the flawless, super-produced, and compressed MP3s of today.
Inspired by visual art, documentaries, and films Christine Owman also makes movie projections for all of her songs: “...They are another perspective of my music. And the contrasts they make express another side of me.”
She is known for her captivating and unconventional performances and music that is a dichotomous blend of dreamy folk and raw distortion, reverb, bass and noise expressed through clever, uninhibited lyrics. With comparisons to Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Kate Bush, PJ Harvey, Björk, Portishead, and Air, Owman is a young woman eager to express herself without the limitations of conventional boundaries.
Listen to Christine Owman on MySpace
Double Bill:
Snorri Helgason; Lau Nau
January 6, 2011
Snorri Helgason
Leading Icelandic singer-songwriter Snorri Helgason’s songs are a fusion of soulful folk, energetic chorus-pop, somber ballads and glam-funk. Confessional, sincere and well-crafted, his music is performed with intensity and powers all of his own.
Helgason has been on the Icelandic indie-pop scene for years through his band Sprengjuhöllin. Sprengjuhöllin released two critically and commercially acclaimed albums, topping many year-end lists, winning Helgason an Icelandic Music Award for Best Song in early 2008, and reaching platinum and gold status respectively.
When Sprengjuhöllin went on hiatus in early 2009, Helgason decided to record a solo album that focused on the folk and soul music influences at the center of his musical tastes. Entitled I’m Gonna Put My Name on Your Door (Borgin/Kimi Records, 2009), his solo debut album was released last fall to raving reviews and critical acclaim.
Listen to Snorri Helgason on MySpace
Lau Nau
Lau Nau is a free-spirited Finnish artist. Since the release of her celebrated debut full length Kuutarha (Locust Music, 2005), Lau Nau has enjoyed considerable recognition for her intimate and playful blend of ethnic tinged folk songs with curious and intuitive sounds conjured from familiar and exotic sound sources.
In their 8.0 review, Pitchfork praised Lau Nau’s unique combination of edginess and warmth on Kuutarha: “(Lau Nau) manages to take a million-and-one risks while keeping things subtle, understated, aesthetically intriguing and emotionally resonant.” Stop Smiling magazine praised the album for its “natural beauty, isolation and mystery” and the Chicago Reader called the album “diverse and exotic, with a dying-campfire vibe” echoing a generally held sentiment among critics and fans alike that with Kuutarha, Lau Nau had tapped into something uniquely foreign yet emotionally rich, vital and rewarding.
In May 2008, Lau Nau’s long-awaited follow up, Nukkuu, saw its release on Locust. A part of a continuum of sorts, Nukkuu travels the outer pathways of sound similar to those heard on Kuutarha. The beauty, mystery and daring of her debut are traits that run through the main veins of Nukkuu but there is an almost unavoidable sense of contentedness amidst the tide of musical abstraction that brings the listener one step closer to her interior sound world.
As a live performer, Lau Nau has enjoyed opportunities to perform in a wide array of venues from small informal spots like Massachusetts’s Montague Bookmill and Westers Gallery on Kemiö Island, Finland to larger spaces like Stockholm’s Kulturhuset and New York’s Anthology Film Archives. In recent years, her rare and special live shows have earned her a special place among a legion of fans. This was further cemented when a Lau Nau performance during her 2005 North American tour was counted among The Wire magazine’s “60 Concerts That Shook the World” in its February 2007 issue.
Lau Nau has been an active presence in the Finnish underground for the last decade playing in groups like Kiila, Hertta Lussu Ässä, Päivänsäde, Avarus and the Anaksimandros, organizing concerts, publishing a magazine, and running a handful of small labels starting with POK and, more recently, the Peippo label.
Listen to Lau Nau on MySpace
Keyboard Conversations® with Pianist Jeffrey Siegel:
Concerts with Commentary
Thursdays @ 8 pm, November 18, January 27, 2011 & April 21, 2011
Individual tickets: $15 ($10 ASF members); Series pass: $35 ($20 ASF members)
Internationally-acclaimed pianist Jeffrey Siegel returns to Scandinavia House for his fourth season at Victor Borge Hall. Beginning each evening with informal commentary on the music and its composers, Keyboard Conversations® offers a full performance of each work, and concludes with a short, lively question and answer session. The accessible, inviting format enriches audience understanding of classical music for the newcomer and seasoned listener alike.
Three Great “Bs” – Bach, Beethoven & …Barber!
Thursday, November 18, 8 pm
Featuring Bach’s rhapsodic, romantic Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, Beethoven’s stormy Appassionata, and the lyrical, dramatic works of American composer Samuel Barber, whose 100th birthday is celebrated in 2010.
Annual Holiday Concert featuring the Scandia Brass Quintet
Sunday, December 12, 4 pm
$15 ($10 ASF Members)
Join Scandinavia House in a special concert that celebrates the magic of the holidays in Scandinavia, featuring classical Nordic Christmas music and American holiday favorites.
The Scandia Brass Quintet will perform traditional Christmas music representing all five Nordic countries including selections by Finnish composers Jean Sibelius, P.J. Hannikainen, and Armas Marsaalo, Danish Christmas carols arranged for brass by Danish composer and professor Jan Maegaard, and traditional Norwegian and Swedish holiday dance music that captures the spirit of the holidays with Per Horberg’s Julpolska.
The quintet will also play from their traditional holiday repertoire, featuring David Uber’s Christmas Carol Suite, Arcangelo Corelli’s Christmas Concerto, and Leroy Anderson’s Sleigh Ride, among other popular selections.
The Scandia Brass Quintet is comprised of the principal brass players of the New York Scandia Symphony. Like the Scandia Symphony, the quintet specializes in the performance of Scandinavian, Classical, Romantic, and Contemporary music. Alex Holton and James Ross, trumpets, are both members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Peter Reit, French horn, is the principle in the Broadway musical Phantom of the Opera and also plays in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Timothy Albright, trombone, also performs with the Orchestra of Saint Luke’s, and Morris Kainuma, tuba, regularly performs with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
Past Concerts 2009
Summer Jazz 2009
As the Manhattan skyline slips into magic hour, sip a sumptuous cocktail while enjoying an intimate concert held on Scandinavia House’s garden terrace. A favored alternative to the usual midtown “happy hour,” Jazz House presents an eclectic selection of Nordic ensembles and repertoires accompanied by refreshments from Smörgås Chef’s terrace cocktail bar.
Schedule:
July 9, 2009 - TESLA (Sweden)
Tesla is a trio of three highly acclaimed Swedish instrumentalists: Staffan Svensson, trumpet, Owe Almgren, bass and Ebba Westerberg, percussion. Ebba Westerberg draws on a mixture of Scandinavian folk melodies, African rhythms, as well as contemporary music. The collectively improvised work takes the music in many directions, feeling both intimate and groovy.
http://www.myspace.com/ebbawesterbergtesla
July 16, 2009 - Jostein Gulbrandsen (Norway)
Jostein Gulbrandsen grew up in Norway and started playing the guitar at the age of nine. His first CD as a band leader was released to critical acclaim in both Norway and the U.S. Using a mixture of electric, acoustic and fretless guitars, his music melds both American elements of jazz and reflects his Nordic roots.
http://www.myspace.com/josteing
July 23, 2009 - Björn Thoroddsen (Iceland)
Recently awarded the Icelandic Music Award for Jazz Performer of The Year in 2003, Björn Thoroddsen adds layers of enrichment to his compositions with his innovative guitar playing. His new melodic arrangements cover a wide range of sounds and moods, from haunting to playful.
http://www.bjornthoroddsen.is/
July 30, 2009 - Tine Bruhn (Denmark)
Jazz vocalist Tine Bruhn moved to New York City in 2001 after having graduated from Berklee College of Music. In NYC she has made quite an impression with steady concerts at Zinc Bar - one of the city's major jazz gems - and with the recent release of her debut CD “Entranced”. She performs jazz with R&B elements and the brilliant rhythm section consists of Daniela Schächter (piano), Oleg Osenkov (bass) and EJ Strickland (drums).
http://www.tinebruhn.com/live/
Biogen
Friday, October 9, 2009
The concert was preceded by the screening of Electronica Reykjavík/Rafmögnuð Reykjavík.
Pushing the limits of expression and identifying with specific (at times obscure or experimental) musical genres, Biogen has been a defining influence on the Icelandic electronic music scene since the early 1990s, first as a member of hardcore breakbeat outfit Ajax and later as Biogen and Babel. Biogen was a founding member of the Thule record label and has produced remixes for Múm and Sigur Rós.
http://www.myspace.com/biogenmusic
Scandinavia Rocks: A Family Concert with Adam Heldring and The River Phoenix
Friday, October 23, 4 pm
FREE. All ages.
Scandinavian music acts unite in exclusive acoustic family concert at Scandinavia House. The River Phoenix from Bornholm, Denmark and Adam Heldring from Eskilstuna, Sweden connected and found that they both were dreaming of going to New York in the end of October for the annual CMJ Music Marathon.
The two acts want to cross the Scandinavian boundaries between Sweden and Denmark as well as the different music genres and bring this package to a new audience – the kids of New York. Combining forces and overlapping each other musically, they strip the music down to soft, acoustic sets to be performed for families and children of all ages.
For more information and free music downloads:
Adam Heldring - Needed To Break Down [mp3 for free posting]
http://www.saturdayenterprise.com/secret/mp3/adam_heldring-needed_to_break_down.mp3
Web: www.adamheldring.com
Myspace: www.myspace.com/adamheldring
Official CMJ show: Oct 20, 9:30pm, Googie’s Lounge
The River Phoenix - 5 Wheel Drive [mp3 for free posting]
http://www.fanatic.se/saturday/the_river_phoenix-wheel_drive.mp3
Web: www.theriverphoenix.dk
Myspace: www.myspace.com/theriverphoenixband
Official CMJ show: Oct 23, 10pm, Wicked Willy’s
Keyboard Conversations® with Pianist Jeffrey Siegel: Concerts with Commentary
Internationally-acclaimed pianist Jeffrey Siegel returns to Scandinavia House for his third season at Victor Borge Hall. Beginning each evening with commentary on the music and its composers, Keyboard Conversations offers a full performance of each of the works, and ends with a short and lively question and answer session. The accessible and inviting performance format enriches audience understanding of classical music, for both the newcomer and seasoned listener alike. Each concert is followed by a reception.
Chopin for Lovers
Thursday, November 12, 7:30 pm
This season the musical world will be celebrating the 200th birthday of Frédéric Chopin, one of the most romantic figures in music history. Chopin wrote almost exclusively for the solo piano and Mr. Siegel will discuss and perform some of Chopin's most beloved compositions, each inspired by a different woman in the composer's life. The program will include the vivacious Waltz in E Flat, the poetic Larghetto from the Second Piano Concerto, four of the dynamic Preludes from Opus 28, the Minute and Farewell waltzes, and the tempestuous Scherzo No. 3. Bring a significant other and enrich your lives with some of the most inspired romantic music ever written.
Northern Lights
Thursday, January 21, 2010, 7:30 pm
This concert brings you music from composers of the far North. Siegel performs Johannes Brahms’ fiery Allegro Maestoso from his early Piano Sonata No. 3, as well as the brooding and reflective Intermezzi, which was written toward the end of the composer's life. The piano music of Sibelius is little known and rarely played – the Finnish composer’s charming Snapdragon and the passionate Romance will be welcome musical discoveries. The Danish master Carl Nielsen wrote magnificent short pieces for the piano, such as the Spinning Top, as well as the charming Humoreske Bagatelles. To conclude there will be the Evening in the Mountains, Summer Evening, and the glorious, rousing Norwegian Dances of Edvard Grieg.
Hammerfall!
A Concert of New Danish Music and Stockhausen’s Kontakte
Friday, November 20, 7 pm
$15 ($10 ASF members)
This concert presents the music of Danish composer Niels Rønsholdt, a leading voice in the new generation of Scandinavian composers, performed by violinist Ethan Wood, saxophonist Zach Herchen, pianist Stephen Drury and percussionist Mathias Reumert. In Rønsholdt‘s works live musicians, electronics, video, and elements of theatre are mixed in a highly original and sometimes explosive cocktail. In addition to the works of Rønsholdt, percussionist Mathias Reumert and Stephen Drury perform Karlheinz Stockhausen’s masterpiece for piano, percussion, and 4-channel tape, Kontakte.
Sponsored by the Danish Arts Agency’s DaNY Arts.
A Family Lucia
Saturday, December 5, 1 pm
$10 ($8 ASF members), ages 5+
Get into the holiday spirit with the classic tale of light, hope, and inspiration at Scandinavia House’s annual Family Lucia program. Swedish singer Eva Engman tells the story of Lucia, the third-century saint. On the dark days of the year Lucia is portrayed in a white robe with a crown of candles symbolizing the light that will return after the long, dark Nordic winter. Children and adults alike will enjoy Saint Lucia’s story and the magical music performed by the children’s choir.
Annual Holiday Concert
Featuring ensemble with members from The Scandinavian Chamber Orchestra of New York
Sunday, December 13, 4 pm
$25 ($15 ASF members)
The Scandinavian Chamber Orchestra of New York returned to Scandinavia House for its annual holiday concert. Led by its founders Per Tengstrand and Magnus Martensson, SCO performed classical works along with traditional Scandinavian Christmas music in a special concert that celebrated the magic of the holidays in Scandinavia.