Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir beams in from Reykjavik to join Wise Music CEO and Creative Director Dave Holley and Gill Graham for this seventh episode of Composing Myself, for an illuminating conversation spanning her raison d’être and innate need to create music, the influence of Icelandic culture and geography on her compositions, the crucial importance of communication between composer and players, and the “magic in the dimensions” unique to an orchestra of 80-100 people. 

https://www.annathorvalds.com/

Anna Thorvaldsdottir (b. 1977) is an Icelandic composer whose "seemingly boundless textural imagination” (NY Times) and "striking” (Guardian) sound world has made her "one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary music” (NPR). "Never less than fascinating” (Gramophone), her music is composed as much by sounds and nuances as by harmonies and lyrical material, and tends to evoke "a sense of place and personality” (NY Times) through a distinctive "combination of power and intimacy” (Gramophone). It is written as an ecosystem of sounds, where materials continuously grow in and out of each other, often inspired in an important way by nature and its many qualities, in particular structural ones, like proportion and flow. Anna’s works have been nominated and awarded on many occasions - most notably, her "confident and distinctive handling of the orchestra” (Gramophone) has garnered her the prestigious Nordic Council Music Prize, the New York Philharmonic's Kravis Emerging Composer Award, and Lincoln Center’s Emerging Artist Award and Martin E. Segal Award.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.