The Icelandic premiere of Outi Tarkiainen’s Songs of the Ice is finally here!
February 18, 2021 the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra and conductor Eva Ollikainen will be performing the long awaited Icelandic premiere of Songs of the Ice, at the Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavik.
The orchestral work premiered in Helsinki, Finland on October 2, 2020 with a reduced orchestration, performed by Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and conductor Hannu Lintu.
The fabric of Tarkiainen’s work is the echoing, long-resonating, existential poetry of vast masses.
The clear timbres, nature harmonies, spurts and reflections create a floating body of sound.
In the final seconds the glittering crystals give way to a bullroarer impression:
the wind sweeps over them, not…The end is gripping.
Susanna Välimäki, Helsingin Sanomat (4 October 2020)
And March 18, 2021 is the world premiere of The Ring of Fire and Love with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Sakari Oramo. An unmissable livestream event on Konserthuset Play.
The Ring of Fire is a volcanic belt that surrounds the Pacific Ocean and in which most of the world’s earthquakes occur. It is also the term referring to the bright ring of sunlight around the moon at the height of a solar eclipse, when the moon covers only the central part of the sun. Yet, the same expression is also used to describe what a woman feels when, as she gives birth, the baby’s head passes through her pelvis. That moment is the most dangerous in the baby’s life, its little skull being subjected to enormous pressure, preparing it for life in a way unlike any other.The Ring of Fire and Love is a work for orchestra about this earth-shattering, creative, cataclysmic moment they travel through together. – Outi Tarkiainen
Discover what drives composer Outi Tarkiainen in this interview.