Today’s track premiere features the International Contemporary Ensemble led by Steven Schick performing Anna Thorvaldsdottir‘s Illumine. Scored for 3 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos, and 1 double bass, Illumine is one of the works featured on ICE’s upcoming album AEQUA, their second portrait album dedicated to Anna’s music.
Here’s what Anna had to say about Illumine:
The inspiration for Illumine is based on the notion of dawn and the relationship between light and darkness – in particular the ignition of the first beams of light and the subtle rhythms that appear through the pulsating dance of light emerging. Illumine was written for Ensemble Intercontemporain for their 40th anniversary celebration.
AEQUA is out on Sono Luminus Records this Friday, November 16th, and you can pre-order the album here.
About Anna Thorvaldsdottir
Anna Thorvaldsdottir frequently works with large sonic structures that tend to reveal the presence of a vast variety of sustained sound materials, reflecting her sense of imaginative listening to landscapes and nature. Her music tends to portray a flowing world of sounds with an enigmatic lyrical atmosphere.
Anna’s music is frequently performed internationally, and has been featured at major venues and music festivals such as Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival in NYC, the Composer Portraits Series at NYC’s Miller Theatre, the Leading International Composers series at the Phillips Collection in Washington DC, Big Ears Festival, the Kennedy Center, and more. Her works have been nominated and awarded on many occasions – most notably, Anna is the recipient of the prestigious Nordic Council Music Prize 2012 for her work Dreaming, the New York Philharmonic’s Kravis Emerging Composer Award in 2015, and Lincoln Center’s 2018 Emerging Artist Award and 2018 Martin E. Segal Award. In April 2018, Esa-Pekka Salonen lead the New York Philharmonic in the premiere of Anna’s work Metacosmos, which was commissioned by the orchestra. The work will receive its European premiere with the Berlin Philharmonic in January 2019, conducted by Alan Gilbert. Anna is currently Composer-in-Residence with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. She holds a PhD from the University of California in San Diego.
About the International Contemporary Ensemble
The International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) is an artist collective that is transforming the way music is created and experienced. As performer, curator, and educator, ICE explores how new music intersects with communities across the world. The ensemble’s 35 members are featured as soloists, chamber musicians, commissioners, and collaborators with the foremost musical artists of our time. Works by emerging composers have anchored ICE’s programming since its founding in 2001, and the group’s recordings and digital platforms highlight the many voices that weave music’s present.
A recipient of the American Music Center’s Trailblazer Award and the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, ICE was also named the 2014 Musical America Ensemble of the Year. The group currently serves as artists-in-residence at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ Mostly Mozart Festival. New initiatives include OpenICE, made possible with lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which offers free concerts and related programming wherever ICE performs, and enables a working process with composers to unfold in public settings. DigitICE, a free online library of over 350 streaming videos, catalogues the ensemble’s performances. ICE’s First Page program is a commissioning consortium that fosters close collaborations between performers, composers, and listeners as new music is developed. EntICE, a side-by-side education program, places ICE musicians within youth orchestras as they premiere new commissioned works together. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for ICE.