Nordic Vola’s “Sagas and Seascapes” digital concert will premiere at Orkney International Science Festival on 3rd September at 9pm. The concert celebrates the islands’ cultural and genetic connections with the Norse World as part of Scotland’s Year of Coasts and Waters and includes world premieres by Irish composer Linda Buckley and Faroese composer Eli Tausen á Lava. The concert also includes specially commissioned artworks by Orla Stevens.
Linda Buckley’s “Aud”, supported by the PRS Foundation Women Make Music Fund, traces the journey of the eponymous heroine as told in the Icelandic Sagas from Caithness and Orkney to North-West Iceland, whilst Eli Tausen á Lava’s “Søgnin um Kópakonuna í 10 Myndum” (The Legend of the Sealwoman in 10 Pictures) draws on legends common across the North Atlantic region of a female selkie capable of transforming into a human being.
The programme celebrates Nordic Viola’s continuing partnership with Orkney International Science Festival and includes Orkney resident Gemma McGregor’s “Carry His Relics”, inspired by the St, Magnus Way, and Lillie Harris’ “Elsewhen”, composed for the St Magnus Festival Composers’ Course in 2017, which muses on the ancient monuments of Orkney and their meaning for us today.
The retelling of old stories in contemporary settings is an apt metaphor for the way in which Nordic Viola has sought to find new ways to present music online without being bound by the four walls of a traditional concert hall. Founder Katherine Wren said that “following last year’s successful programme for OISF, which included interviews with the composers as well as footage of the landscapes that inspired the music, we have sought to further develop the creative, visual element of the concert by bringing landscape artist Orla Stevens onto the project to work alongside video producer Craig Sinclair.”
Orla and Craig travelled to Orkney with three of the composers as they explored the locations that inspired the music and reflected on their experience of being in the landscape and imagining the past worlds of the Norsemen and the prehistoric peoples of Orkney. Orla’s paintings will be incorporated into the video performance.
Since 2016, Nordic Viola has maintained particularly strong connections with the Faroe Islands. The ensemble is grateful to the Spanish/Danish Aura Duo for generously allowing them to premiere “Søgnin um Kópakonuna í 10 Myndum” for flute and clarinet which was commissioned for the Faroese Sumartónar Music Festival in 2020 and has twice been postponed due to Covid. Faroese composer and pianist Eli Tausen á Lava has quickly developed a unique and recognizable artistic voice, and in 2019 he won Best New Artist at the Faroese Music Awards of 2019, marking the first time a classical composer had received the award. The programme also includes “Wogen” (Waves) by Faroese composer Kári Bæk for solo viola.
The Faroese connection is continued with the inclusion of “Korona-Trot” by Anni Helena Lamhauge, the winner of Nordic Viola’s recent “Seastories Competition” which was supported by the William Syson Foundation.
Katherine, a viola player with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, founded Nordic Viola in 2016. They have twice been shortlisted in the New Music Scotland Awards “Making it Happen” category for promoting contemporary music and its relationship to traditional music from the North Atlantic region and for working with musicians from Scotland, the Faroes, Iceland and Greenland.
Katherine said: “This has been Nordic Viola’s most ambitious project to date, and it has been a fascinating process for me to explore in depth how the musicians and artist have interpreted these ancient stories in a modern, pan-Nordic context, taking the landscape of Orkney and beyond as inspiration.”
Orkney composer, Gemma McGregor said: “It was a magical experience to visit the historic Orkney sites for filming with Katherine Wren, Linda Buckley, Orla Stevens and Lillie Harris. We compared our music and the historic tales that had inspired it. It was good to imagine the journeys of the pilgrims from Birsay and the awe-inspiring journey that they made, carrying St Magnus’ relics to Kirkwall.”
Composer Linda Buckley said: “The story of Aud the Deep-Minded has been immensely inspiring to me, this strong Viking woman who showed great courage throughout her life, through her travels from Norway to Scotland and north to Iceland. My own musical interests seep into this work, from the droning of the hardanger fiddle in Norwegian folk music, to the restless energy of Scottish and Irish dance tunes, to field recordings of wind and ice made in rural Iceland.”
Composer Lillie Harris said: “I wrote ‘Elsewhen’ before I’d visited Orkney in person, based on documentary footage and online research. Once I was there, I was amazed in a whole new way by what it felt like to be in these places. There’s a continuum of human culture leaving its marks on the landscape, and clear signs of people having been inspired by the landscape itself, which is very special.
Getting the opportunity to visit again with Katherine and the other creators as part of Nordic Viola’s Sagas and Seascapes project was magical, and brought a whole new level of appreciation of all the stories shared between us and particularly from Gemma McGregor. We had all been drawn to Orkney, its history and its people – like many before us, and many yet to come.”
Artist Orla Stevens said, “Being part of the Sagas and Seascapes project has been a really inspiring opportunity and has offered the space to further explore the influence of history, music and sound within my painting practice. For this series of work, I sought to reference the composers thoughts, ideas and inspiration, whilst including my own interpretation of Orkney and the pieces of music as I feel and hear them.”
Nordic Viola’s video is produced by Craig Sinclair in conjunction with OISF and is supported by Creative Scotland and Event Scotland for the Year of Coasts and Waters 2021. Linda Buckley is supported by PRS Foundation’s Women Make Music. Further details about the concert can be found at https://oisf.org/fest-event/sagas-and-seascapes/ The concert is part of a full programme of events from 2-8 September from Orkney International Science Festival which includes workshops, performances, talks and walks around Orkney. The full programme can be found at www.oisf.org.
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