MoreConcerts

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.

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Photo Courtesy of ensemble mise-en

THU – 2-10-2011 – 8:00 PM
$15 ($10 ASF Members)