The Danish String Quartet will give the world premiere of Rituals by Anna Thorvaldsdottir at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen on March 19. The 21-minute piece is formed of 11 sections, which the Icelandic composer describes as a series of individual rituals which together form a larger ritual.
Reviewing her 2019 quartet Enigma, BBC Music Magazine wrote ‘…Thorvaldsdottir's mesmerising score emphasises the scope and scale of sound, exploring the seemingly unlimited timbres of a string quartet’.
Rituals was commissioned by the Danish String Quartet with the support of Carnegie Hall, Cal Performances, Vancouver Recital Society, UC Santa Barbara Arts & Lectures, Washington Performing Arts, Flagey and Muziekgebouw aan't IJ. After the world premiere, the Danish String Quartet will tour the piece around North America in April with performances in Europe following throughout 2023.
Read more about Rituals and view performances
Performance highlights (March/April)
Among the performances of Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s music taking place in the coming months are the Finnish premiere of ARCHORA by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Eva Ollikainen (March 17), the Dutch premiere of METACOSMOS by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Santtu-Matias Rouvali (March 22-24) and the Australian premiere of her string quartet Enigma at the National Academy of Music in Melbourne (April 21). The Iceland Symphony Orchestra will perform METACOSMOS in their seven-date tour of the UK, including performances in London, Birmingham and Edinburgh (April 20-28).
