EAR-ly is a Nordic competition for young early-music ensembles from the Nordic countries. The competition is now open for applications.
The competition is organized by NORDEM (Nordic Early Music Federation) biannually. It is open to instrumental and/or vocal ensembles with from 2 to 12 members. All participants should be born 1977 or later.
The application deadline is February 27. 2012. Further information can be found here
An international festival+
Skálholt has been quite much on the news lately for various reasons which are not to be described here. But as a statement into this discussion, it is important to bring out positive things that are happening in Skálholt. Skálholt Summer Concerts festival has been held for a long time. It started as a private initiative based on the mission to communicate music of quality and to foster innovation in performance practice and musical creativity. The festival is a pioneer in early-music performance, it has been a leading factor in the development of church music and over 200 compositions have been premiered on the festival. Skálholt Summer Concerts has for almost 40 years brought out to the open countless examples of cultural treasures from the musical heritage.
Eyrarrós
The year 2011 has been a fruitful year and one of the high points is the reception of the price “Eyrarrósin” for outstanding cultural practice outside the Reykjavik area. The patron of the price is Dorrit Moussaief, the wife of the president of Iceland and she presented it in Bessastaðir in February this year.
International Schubert publication
Some important chamber ensembles are in a regular collaboration with Skálholt Summer Concerts. Hljómeyki, Skálholt Bach Consort, Nordic Affect and Skálholt String Quartet are a few of them. The last one of these groups works currently on complete recordings of the Schubert repertoire for string quartet and quintet for the first time with period instruments. The publisher is Musica Omnia in Boston. The quartet will tour the east coast of USA next year to follow up this publication.
NORDEM
Skálholt Summer Concerts recently entered the Nordic Early Music Federation (NORDEM). The annual meeting was held in Reykjavik in October and the artistic director attended the meeting together with directors of the Drottningholm Opera, Stockholm Early Music Festival and such institutions. This collaboration will without a doubt be encouraging and inspiring, but it will also give the festival an even more leading role, both nationally and internationally.
EAR-ly
NORDEM organizes an annual competition for young early music ensembles. As members the artistic director of Skálholt Summer Concerts will take a seat in the jury of the comptition. It was agreed at the meeting to hold the final of the EAR-ly competition in Skálholt in 2012, which will be an event for Icelandic music lovers to look forward to.
At 1pm Jón Bjarnason, organist at Skálholt, will give a short lecture recital in the church. from 1 – 2.30pm children can go on horseback. At 2 there will be a lecture (in Icelandic) about the concert programs of the day. From 3-6 there will be an instrument making workshop for children.
The first concert program of the Skálholt Bach Consort at 3pm will contain two violin concertos by J.S.Bach. The E major concerto and the double concerto in D minor. Soloists are Peter Spissky and Elfa Rún Kristinsdóttir. The characters of the dance by Rebel and the Don Quichotte Suite by Telemann will also be performed.
Italian late baroque will be the theme of the concert at 5pm. The program contains the overture to Olimpiade by Vivaldi, Concerto grosso in D minor, “Follia”, by Geminiani, concerto for piccolo cello in A major by Tartini and Concerto grosso op. 6 no. 10 by Händel. Soloist in Tartini””s concerto will be Sigurður Halldórsson.
Italian late baroque will be the theme of the Skálholt Bach Consort concert tonight. The program contains the overture to Olimpiade by Vivaldi, Concerto grosso in D minor, “Follia”, by Geminiani, cello concerto in A major by Tartini and Concerto grosso op. 6 no. 10 by Händel.
Yesterday the Quartet gave a memorable performance of Icelandic music. Today the Icelandic Saxophone Quartet will perform pieces by Pierne, Bozza, Dubois, Pärt and Nyman.
Thursday 14. July at Skálholt Summer Concerts French percussionist Lucie Antunes will perform solo pieces by Vinko Globokar, Michel Chapon and Karlheinz Stockhausen. She will also premiere a new piece, “Ensemble” by recident composer, Elin Gunnlaugsdóttir, where she will be joined by Sigurdur Halldorsson on cello. Improvisation will also play an important role in the concert.
Here you can se a video of her performance:
There has never been more reason to share rides. Let alone the absence of public transport on most local routes, oil prices are at great heights these days. When you are planning a trip to Skálholt Summer Concerts with a vacant seat it is a good idea to register on samferda.is and seek passengers. Or if you need a ride, to seek someone that might be going to Skálholt on certain date and time.
The renowned harpsichordist Jacques Ogg will give a solo concert on the opening day of Skálholt Summer Concerts, July 2nd.
Jacques Ogg will play pieces by Froberger, Frescobaldi, Weckmann, Muffat and Forqueray, spanning a 100 years of the harpsichord”s Golden Age, from 1650 to 1750. The concert will be on Saturday July 2nd. at 5 pm and will be repeated on Sunday July 3rd at 3 pm.
JACQUES OGG is a performer on both harpsichord and fortepiano; he teaches at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague; he conducts and he makes recordings, either solo or with friends and colleagues.
He was born in Maastricht (the Netherlands) and studied harpsichord in the city of his birth with Anneke Uittenbosch. In 1970 he went to study with Gustav Leonhardt at the Amsterdam Conservatory from which he graduated in 1974.
Jacques Ogg’s current activities include soloconcerts on harpsichord or on fortepiano, concerts with flautist Wilbert Hazelzet as a duo as well as a trio-formation with Jaap ter Linden. He has been a member of the Orchestra of the 18th Century and has performed regularly with Concerto Palatino. He is frequently invited for masterclasses, for instance in Curitiba (Brazil), Vancouver (Canada), Buenos Aires (Argentina), in Mateus (Portugal), Salamanca (Spain) as well as in Cracow (Poland), Prague and Budapest. He was invited as a juror in competitions such as “Bach Wettbewerb” (Leipzig), “Prague Spring” and “Jurow Competition (USA).
Jacques Ogg is artistic director of the Lyra Baroque Orchestra in Minneapolis/Saint Paul (Minnesota, VS).
The price is granted annually at Bessastadir, the presidental recidency, for an outstanding cultural project outside the capital area of Iceland. The patron of the price is Mrs Dorrit Moussaief, the president”s wife. This award is founded by Reykjavik Arts Festival, the Icelandic Regional Development Institute and Air Iceland.
Sumartónleikar í Skálholtskirkju eru eitt af þremur menningarverkefnum sem tilnefnd eru í ár til Eyrarrósarinnar. Tilkynnt verður að Bessastöðum 13. febrúar nk. hvert þeirra hlýtur viðurkenninguna.
Eyrarrósin er veitt árlega fyrir eitt afburða menningarverkefni á landsbyggðinni, starfssvæði Byggðastofnunar. Þrjú verkefni eru valin úr hópi umsækjenda og þau kynnt sérstaklega, en eitt þeirra hlýtur Eyrarrósina; fjárstyrk að upphæð kr. 1.5 milljón og verðlaunagrip eftir Steinunni Þórarinsdóttur til eignar.
Eyrarrósin er samstarfsverkefni Listahátíðar í Reykjavík, Byggðastofnunar og Flugfélags Íslands.
Markmið með Eyrarrósinni er að stuðla að fagmennsku og færni við skipulagningu menningarlífs og listviðburða á landsbyggðinni, auka kynningarmöguleika einstakra sveitarfélaga og landshluta og skapa sóknarfæri á sviði menningartengdrar ferðaþjónustu.
Dorrit Moussaieff forsetafrú er verndari Eyrarrósarinnar og var viðurkenningin afhent í fyrsta sinn í ársbyrjun 2005 á Bessastöðum.
