Event info

HARPA INTERNATIONAL MUSIC ACADEMY
Festival Gala Concert

Harpa International Music Academy (HIMA), an annual seminar and festival, concludes with a special festival gala concert. This year two music festivals celebrate together their culminating event, HIMA and New Music For Strings (NMFS), which now runs its second year in Reykjavík.

Part I: “A Celebration of Strings”
In the first half of the concert the HIMA String Orchestra performs four works. The orchestra consists of students and tutors from the senior division and is led by the exceptional violinist, Eugene Drucker from the renowned Emerson String Quartet. The program celebrates a variety of works, some are new, some Icelandic and some are among the great masterpieces composed for string orchestra.

Program
Áskell Másson: Epilogue
Elgar: Introduction and Allegro op. 47
David Allen Cutright: Tableau nr. 2, úr Three Tableaux 
Shostakovich: Chamber Symphony for String Orchestra op. 110a

Part II: "A Walk in the Gallery"
The second part of the concert is presented by NMFS as a kind of "music exhibition" wherein the audience is free to roam around. The music pieces will be performed in succession as in a typical concert, but each will be played in its own location. The soundscape and the appearance of the performers in each piece will come together to present its distinct world. By collectively discovering these exotic scenes, soundscapes, and narratives, the audience is invited to appreciate the beauty of new experiences and an increased sense of perspective.

Included will be the world premiere of a new work by Þráinn Hjálmarsson for seven string players and soprano voice. Among other works performed will be those by widely acclaimed artists such as Chinese-American Pulitzer finalist Chen Yi, violinist-composer Mari Kimura, and composer David Bruce.

This concert is the culmination of two collaborating festivals, HIMA and NMFS. In August 2019, these internationally-recognized music festivals bring together a shared eleven years of successful education and performance programs. This expands the levels of study for students and the variation in events for audiences in a city of increasing cultural significance. By combining HIMA’s strong focus on primary-to-college-level study and performance with NMFS’s equally strong focus on graduate-to-professional-levels, Reykjavík is offered a comprehensive summer music program of world-class caliber.

More information can be found at www.musicacademy.is and www.newmusicforstrings.org