Phonemes – Concert series at Hafnarborg

Hafnarfjörður Centre of Culture and Fine Art, Iceland

Four concerts in the concert series Phonemes are planned in 2014. The first two concerts are to be held in Spring 2014, the latter two in Fall 2014. Started in April 2013 the series sets out to showcase music by various contemporary composers from the 20th and 21st centuries with a focus on small line-ups for chamber music. Light is shed upon aspects of contemporary music and the artistic research of composers within the abstract world of the poetry of sounds. The name of the series references the basic unit in language phonology, the phoneme, which can be combined and re-arranged with other phonemes to form meaningful units such as words or morphemes. Each concert is a combination of various phonemes that may or may not bring a meaning to the audience. Supported by the EvS Music Foundation the concerts will be held in the large exhibition hall of the Art Museum, Hafnarborg. For the first concert Borgar Magnason, double bassist and Páll Ivan from Eiðar will hold an “open” discussion about the interpretation of music and notation, presenting music by James Tenney, Cornelius Cardew, Borgar Magnason, Matthew Shlomowitz and others. For the second concert flautist Áshildur Haraldsdóttir and pianist Helga Bryndís Magnúsdóttir will explore the concept of ‘phonemes’ presenting new short compositions in collaboration with composition students from the Academy of Arts. At the September concert the Siggi String Quartet intends to present works dealing with the identity of the quartet itself – playing music by Naomi Pinnock, Giacinto Scelsi and others. The halldorophone concert in November is a concert dedicated to new instruments in Iceland such as the electro-acoustic halldorophone that uses feedback in the shape of a cello. 

March 9, 2014 
Hafnarfjörður Centre of Culture and Fine Art, Iceland 

Further Information:
www.hafnarborg.is