Despite it’s cold climate and small population, Iceland is emerging as a hot center for new and experimental music. Several graduate students and alumni from UCSD's Department of Music, in La Jolla, are natives of Iceland, and many return there to present concerts in the country’s capital of Reykjavik—population 120,000.
“Cultural life is very important here and the number of musical events taking place every week is very high, especially considering the size of the city,” says composer Ulfar Haraldsson, an Icelandic native who earned his Ph.D. in composition at UCSD in 2000, and is now a member of the music faculty at the Iceland Academy of the Arts.
Flutist Berglind Tomasdottir, who is working toward her masters in performance at UCSD in La Jolla, says that contemporary music in Iceland suffers from being an isolated academic art form, as it does almost everywhere. She adds, “But we have indie pop megastars like Björk and Sigur Rós whose diverse, exploratory music has an impact on the whole music scene.” Tomasdottir’s dissertation reflects her fascination with her country’s music. “I’m exploring Iceland’s national identity as it is presented in the music of Björk and Sigur Rós,” she says. Tomasdottir’s fellow Icelander Anna Thorvaldsdottir completed her Ph.D. in composition at UCSD last fall. “We are still at an early stage in shaping the history of Icelandic music,” she says. She is already making her mark in Reykjavik, where her piece “Aeriality” was commissioned by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and premiered there last November.
UCSD La Jolla composer and music faculty member Rand Steiger has mentored several generations of Icelandic composers, including Haraldsson and, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Haukur Thomasson and Hilmar Thordarson. He says, “Sometimes it seems as if I’ve taught a significant portion of the entire population of Reykjavik.”
University of California San Diego is a cultural center for arts and music. The thriving artistic community in La Jolla allows for a nurturing environment for artists of all kinds. The growth of contemporary music and arts in the area brings people from all over the world to study and learn. The learn more about contemporary, and local, art in Southern California visit Thumbprint Gallery on Kline Street, in La Jolla. The La Jolla art gallery is open Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 12-4pm.
“Cultural life is very important here and the number of musical events taking place every week is very high, especially considering the size of the city,” says composer Ulfar Haraldsson, an Icelandic native who earned his Ph.D. in composition at UCSD in 2000, and is now a member of the music faculty at the Iceland Academy of the Arts.
Flutist Berglind Tomasdottir, who is working toward her masters in performance at UCSD in La Jolla, says that contemporary music in Iceland suffers from being an isolated academic art form, as it does almost everywhere. She adds, “But we have indie pop megastars like Björk and Sigur Rós whose diverse, exploratory music has an impact on the whole music scene.” Tomasdottir’s dissertation reflects her fascination with her country’s music. “I’m exploring Iceland’s national identity as it is presented in the music of Björk and Sigur Rós,” she says. Tomasdottir’s fellow Icelander Anna Thorvaldsdottir completed her Ph.D. in composition at UCSD last fall. “We are still at an early stage in shaping the history of Icelandic music,” she says. She is already making her mark in Reykjavik, where her piece “Aeriality” was commissioned by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and premiered there last November.
UCSD La Jolla composer and music faculty member Rand Steiger has mentored several generations of Icelandic composers, including Haraldsson and, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Haukur Thomasson and Hilmar Thordarson. He says, “Sometimes it seems as if I’ve taught a significant portion of the entire population of Reykjavik.”
University of California San Diego is a cultural center for arts and music. The thriving artistic community in La Jolla allows for a nurturing environment for artists of all kinds. The growth of contemporary music and arts in the area brings people from all over the world to study and learn. The learn more about contemporary, and local, art in Southern California visit Thumbprint Gallery on Kline Street, in La Jolla. The La Jolla art gallery is open Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 12-4pm.
Source: http://ucsdmag.ucsd.edu/magazine/vol9no2/waves/article9.htm
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