Elsku Borga mín

The world première of Gemæltan took place on 29. September 2022 at Harpa/Elborg concert hall in Reykjavík, performed by Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Eva Ollikainen. Gemæltan is currently nominated for the Icelandic Music Awards 2023 - Composition of the Year (Classical/Contemporary)

Programme note by Andri Snær Magnason: "We are living the most rapid change of Earth’s forces that a single generation has experienced. Glaciers, that before moved at geological speed of centuries and millennia, are now vanishing in a lifetime of a single human being. Nature has left geological speed and moves at human speed. [...]"

More about Gemæltan: https://www.universaledition.com/gemaeltan-vaka-veronique-ues100341-000

Gemæltan, 2020(excerpt)

Veronique Vaka, born in 1986, is a composer based in Iceland. She studied classical cello performance at Vincent-d’Indy, continued her studies in electro acoustic composition at the University of Montreal and completed a Master's degree in music composition from the Iceland University of the Arts. Her orchestral work Lendh has been nominated for The Icelandic Music Awards 2020 - Composition of the year, and for the Nordic Council Music Prize 2020.

"Lendh, an extraordinary canvas with an umbilical connection to the landscape of the place. […] emerging into a luminous, subtle, carefully formed and exquisitely detailed piece that floats as one ever-transforming entity, pulsating with micro-pressures and glistening details, unfolding organically with spectral-level colour-matching. Pedal notes on lur-like brass are pulled gently and microtonally out of line - the world seen at its most precarious and extreme. Lendh is a marvel.” -Gramophone Editor’s Choice

Veronique Vaka works have been performed by: The Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Sinfóníuhljómsveit Áhugamanna's Orchestra, Ensemble Paramirabo, Duo Harpverk, Ensemble Synaesthesis, Ensemble Adapter, Elektra Ensemble, Caput Ensemble, The Reykjavík Chamber Orchestra, Feima, Siggi String Quartet, Ensemble Dasein, Nordic Affect, Opus XX Orchestra, Feima, Sarah Parkin -soprano, Michael Taylor -countertenor, Una Sveinbjarnardóttir, Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir, Þórunn Ósk Marinósdóttir and Halla Steinunn Stefánsdóttir. Veronique Vaka composed a Violin Concerto, Sceadu (2019), a Cello Concerto, Gemæltan (2020) and a Viola Concerto, Vanescere (2021). Her works have been performed during Tertulia Chamber Music (2023), Chamber Music Festival on Valentia Island (2022), Myrkir Músíkdagar/ Dark Music Days (2018-19-20-22), Tónlistarhátíð Rásar 1 (2020), Kammermúsíkklúbburinn (2020), and Sumartónleikar í Skálholti (2018). 

Among upcoming projects are INMOST, an orchestral work written for the Finnish conductor Eva Ollikainen, and NEIGE ÉTERNELLE, a series of five pieces for solo violoncello written for Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir.

Gemæltan, 2020(excerpt)

Veronique Vaka

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