Event info

Winner of the Nordic Council Music Prize 2019.

Along with a group of renowned musicians, composer Gyða Valtýsdóttir performs a unique concert in the Norðurljós recital hall in Harpa.

The ancient and the new become intertwined as Gyða's fascinating arrangements of the music of such composers as visionary nun Hildegard von Bingen and French mystic Olivier Messiaen meet the astounding sonic worlds of musicians like Skúli Sverrisson, Daníel Bjarnason, Kjartan Sveinsson and Ólöf Arnalds, who have all contributed to Gyða Valtýsdóttir's new album, Epicycle II.

The title Epicycle refers to Ptolemy's cosmology and the world Gyða's music can certainly be compared to an expansive solar system, fraught with emotion. She is one of the founding members of múm and has worked across disciplines with a large number of artists, performed around the world and composed film scores. In 2019, Gyða was awarded the esteemed Nordic Council Music Prize. As the jury put it, she is “a particularly distinctive performer with a fascinating, earthy presence in live performance – a presence that is fragile and subtle, yet powerful and temperamental.”