Thursday 16 February 2017, 7.30pm
Great double bill of Icelandic vocalist and classically trained multi-instrumentalist, Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir - formerly of múm - and musical polymath, Ilan Volkov.
Kristín Anna (Kría Brekkan) is an Icelandic musician and artist.
At Cafe Oto she will be performing her own songs for piano and voice.
Kristín Anna was a member of the band múm 1998 - 2006. As Kría Brekkan she used to perform one woman shows and put out off-the radar releases between 2006 - 2015.
Last year Kristín Anna released a double LP of improvised vocal performances done in a week long residency in the desert of California titled Howl. Howl came out on Bel-Air Glamour Records, a young sub-label to London ́s Vinyl Factory curated by visual artist Ragnar Kjartansson and Ingibjörg Sigurrjónsdóttir.
A frequent collaborator of Ragnar, she stars in his famed video installation “The Visitors” playing accordion, guitar and singing. She acts or plays in many of his other pieces as well as occasionally writing and performing music with him.
Kristín Anna co-wrote and performed the music for Kjartansson’s stage art piece “Forever Love” with her twin sister Gyða Valtýsdóttir and the Dessner twin brothers of The National. They performed few of the songs from piece in the Barbican Theater last summer at a Bel-Air Glamour Soirée that coincided with Kjartansson ́s retrospective at the Barbican Art Center. She also performed few of her own songs on a grand piano and sang to raving reviews.
Later this year they will come out as a double album titled "I Must Be The Devil".
Ilan Volkov, began his career as Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa, and was Chief Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra from 2003-2009. Since then he has been the orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor.
He is a frequent guest conductor with orchestras around the world, including BBC Scottish, and his recordings have won critical acclaim as well as prestigious awards. Volkov is very active in the new music scene and has premiered many contemporary orchestral works, including compositions by Jonathan Harvey, Hans Abrahamsen, Unsuk Chin, Mark-Anthony Turnage and others. Ilan Volkov also works regularly with leading ensembles in modern music such as Ensemble Modern and Musik Fabrik. Volkov has curated various new music events in Israel over the last six years including Hafarot Seder and Hapzura. He has also collaborated with Iancu Dumitrescu, AMM, John Butcher, John Oswald, Zeena Parkins and John Zorn to mention a few. Volkov is a member of the improvisation trio Mines, an ensemble consisting of two violins and drums.
