THEM

THEM explores toxic masculinity and how it affects everyone in society. THEM focuses on how toxic masculinity imprisons our experience of gender and narrows our horizons. It observes how toxic masculinity shapes gender roles and makes people behave against their morals or better knowledge. THEM brings light on taboos connected to masculinity and demands respect for feminine qualities.

VELKOMIN HEIM

Velkomin heim (e. Welcome Home) tells the astounding tale of Vala Rún and her journey when moving from Thailand to Iceland. Born on a rice field in the mid 20th century, Vala travelled through life alone after losing her mother at 6 years old and never knowing her father. In 2019, Vala's daughter, being the first woman of Asian descent to graduate as an actress in Iceland, premiered the story of her mother's life at the National Theatre of Iceland. The show was chosen to tour to 60 schools in Iceland.

BLOOM: A Sequence of Gatherings

BLOOM is a theatrical vocal performance for nine voices created by Immix Vocal Ensemble for NKK NXT, a talent development programme by the Nederlands Kamerkoorj.

I composed 6 knee plays for their performance (see example in video) inspired by a close creative collaboration with the group. The text I wrote for the compositions was deconstructed from material provided to me by them and every knee play was my personal reference to how I experienced their characters and collective conscience.

CREDITS

Music: Ragnheiður Erla Björnsdóttir, Se Enkhbayar, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Erik Bergman, Ruben Grevelink, Jobbe Hoebink & Jesse van der Wel, ⁠James MacMillan en William Byrd

Direction: Stijn Dijkema
Camera: Charlie Feld
Sounds: Sander van der Werff
Lights: Mart Hielema

Concept, singing and acting: Phoebe Kirrage, Julie Hasfjord, Ariel Sin Yu Lee, Emma Nelson, Merel Wentink, Jesse van der Wel, Jobbe Hoebink, Ruben Grevelink, Sebastiaan Ammerlaan

BRUM

BRUM is an interactive theatre performance in a forest where the audience embarks in small groups on a sound walk. The trees are the storytellers and they reveal surprising tales of how they communicate, survive and thrive together as a community.

The piece was created by the theatre group Trigger Warning and was presented in the Icelandic forest Heiðmörk in 2021 and 2022. Together with the performance, the group has held workshops for children about ecomusicology and how to compose with graphic scores and field recordings.

THE BIRD CLIFF

Fuglabjargið (e. The Bird Cliff) is a visual and poetic opera for children, where the birds who inhabit the small island of “Skrúður” in the East of Iceland are observed through the passage of the seasons. A year in their life is told by three singers and live music played on bassoon, percussion, harp, saxophone and flute, as we watch how the seasons unfold with the passing of time.

HEUREKA

Heureka is a site specific composition with live visuals from a planetarium in five parts written for English horn, percussions and five vocalists (SSABB).

The piece explores astrophysics in an artistic research. It is deeply influenced by English horn player Ewa Lovrenović, deriving from her passion for astrophysics, to her character and story telling. The compositional focus lies to find a balance between the experimental and the traditional, both with the instrumentalist's technique and the text that was created through Erla's methods of deconstructing text.

NÚ ANGAR OG SUÐAR

Nú angar og suðar í Skálholti er upplifunarleikhús fyrir fjölskyldur þar sem norska tréblásturstríóið Taffelpikene og leikkonan Ingunn Lára Kristjánsdóttir segja frá hinni litríku Sólsekvíu sem heimsækir Skálholt í leit að ís með ömmu sinni um hásumar. Skyndilega fyllist Skálholtskirkja af lífi er ýmsir litlir gestir ryðjast forvitnir inn í kirkju til að tala við og skoða Sólsekvíu. Sýningin dregur innblástur sinn úr náttúru og umhverfi Skálholts og er hluti af norræna verkefninu Nytt i nord! þar sem norræn tónskáld semja fyrir börn. Tónlist er eftir Ásbjörgu Jónsdóttur, Birgit Djupedal og Ragnheiði Erlu Björnsdóttur. Texti er eftir Ragnheiði Erlu Björnsdóttur.