Scandinavia House

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.

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.

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/

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.