Join us on May 9 at Scandinavia House with Faroese composer and pianist and ASF Fellow Eli Tausen á Lava as he performs selected works from his solo piano albums Impressions (2020) and In a Field (2022), as well as new works from an upcoming album! Presented in Fog Swept Islands: Faroe Islands Culture Days, an ongoing celebration this spring at Scandinavia House, Eli Tausen á Lava will be joined on stage by his partner, composer/saxophonist Jake Miles.
ABOUT THE MUSICIANS
Eli Tausen á Lava (b. 1997) brings audiences into a musical world where time flows differently — seconds seem endless, while the minutes pass in the blink of an eye. His music is simple and characterized by a minimalistic approach that strips unnecessary elements down to the core. His debut album Impressions, a musical responses to the suspended state of the world during the COVID-19 pandemic, was released in 2020, and has been compared to a “gently flowing stream gradually revealing its beauty” by Marcin Kozicki of Stacja Islandia. His second solo album, In a Field, was released in 2022, and contains powerful pianistic melodies mixed with soothing electronic atmospheres telling a broad range of stories from Eli Tausen á Lava’s life. The album earned favorable reviews, with GAFFA’s Jesper Nøddeskov proclaiming: “In a Field does something special. It’s intellectually stimulating, but it doesn’t stop there… In a Field is a physical experience that, quietly, goes straight to your core.” Eli Tausen á Lava will graduate in May with a master’s degree in music theory and composition from New York University this May, where he has honed his ability to arrange sound and silence with Bang on a Can co-founders Michael Gordon and Julia Wolfe.
Jake Miles (b. 1997) is a California-born composer and performer currently living in New York City. He has served as a fellow of the Los Angeles-based Impulse New Music Festival, as well as composer-in-residence for the Anaheim United Methodist Church Choir. As a saxophonist, he has performed with the award-winning RAJE quartet, and has been featured as a soloist with the Chapman University and California State University, Fullerton orchestras. He is a member of the NYC-based group kon.trip, which he founded alongside percussionist Leah Michael Whalen and bassist Adrienne Schoenfeld. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in music composition from NYU, where he studies with Julia Wolfe and Michael Gordon of Bang on a Can.
Photo by Edwina Hay