Fólk fær andlit - People get Faces (2016)
(for string orchestra)

The choral version of Fólk fær andlit, released as a Deutsche Grammophon recording, was written in response to the mistreatment and deportations of refugees in Iceland in 2015.

Composer note
In December 2015 we followed a series of events that touched most of us there: Albanian children with terminal illnesses were deported from Iceland along with their families who had been denied residence permits. It was deeply distressing to watch the series of events unfold; how people divided into two separate oppositions, for or against — people.

— Hildur Guðnadóttir

Arranger note
This work may be performed as a large chamber ensemble with a minimum of 11 strings (4 violins, 3 violas, 3 violoncellos, 1 contrabass) or with a full string orchestra. The “Cantus Ensemble” consists of a string trio (violin, viola, violoncello) which may be doubled to reach optimal balance with the rest of the orchestra.

Originally composed for voices, there were only two words/phrases repeated throughout the composition: The Cantus Ensemble repeated the Icelandic word miskun (English translation: mercy) while the remainder of the ensemble repeated different iterations and embellishments of the phrase Fyrirgefið okkur fyrir which translates as “forgive us for.”

— Peter Stanley Martin