HELGI R. INGVARSSON COMPOSER CONDUCTOR NEWS
Newsletter Issue #1 August 2015
Helgi R. Ingvarsson Composer Conductor News
RECENT HIGHLIGHTS
UPCOMING
Évariste Opera´s success by
Helgi R. Ingvarsson
My new chamber opera ÉVARISTE received its world premiere last July 12th at the beautiful Courtauld Gallery in Somerset House, London. We had a full house and the performance was received with roaring applause. Our best thanks to the Courtauld Gallery and especially to Dr. Charlotte de Mille for a great collaboration. Listen to 2 fragments from said premiere, along with a short synopsis, by clicking HERE
and move like dancers, and, together [with] a small ensemble, produce a highly dramatic opera that grabs the audience’s attention with touching music that captures the intensity and tragedy taking place on stage." -Mary Grace Nguyen at LDNcard.com More reviews, audio and info on the
official ÉVARISTE website.
Téte-á-Téte Opera Festival
We then moved over to the Téte festival where we performed ÉVARISTE for two nights, July 30th and 31st, in the new Regent Theatre (see big header picture above). The turnout was great, thanks to everyone who came.
Our first official review is in:
"Évariste, composed by Helgi R. Ingvarsson, is a re-enactment of the life of French mathematics genius Évariste Galois. It depicts his struggles with love interest Stéphanie and his failed examination at the Polytechnique institute. Choral scholar Jonathan Hyde gives a heart-breaking performance as the vulnerable and obsessive Évariste with soaring mezzosoprano Freya Jacklin as the selfish Stéphanie. Three examiners [ Callie Swarbrick, Claire Bournez and Christian Valle] sing operatically
Future plans
´Castle in Air´ /´Loftkastali´ album cover by Jón K. Kristinsson
06.09.15: ´Castle in Air´
On September 6th I will conduct a 7 piece ensemble in an hour long programme showcasing my works for strings written through 2012-2014. The venue is the new and glorious Harpa Concert hall in Reykjavík, Iceland. I felt honored to receive the support of the SUT and RH Concert Fund and the STEF Recording Fund to make the concert a reality and to offer me the chance to then transform the live concert recording into my first album as a composer.
I am absolutely over the moon and so very proud of my great ÉVARISTE-TEAM. We are very keen to secure additional performance opportunities but nothing has been confirmed yet. We have hopes for France, where Évariste Galois is quite well known, and we are looking into venues and seeing if we could translate the piece to French (no promises). Bringing the show to Iceland would also be a lot of fun. More on that later. Harpa Concert Hall, Reykjavík, Iceland.