Skogensemble

Skogensemble, New York’s Nordic new music ensemble, presents a concert of works by ASF Fellows Ilari Kaila and Ellen Lindquist, as well as world premieres by Henrik Strindberg and Ivo Nilsson, and US premieres by Malin Bång and Sebastian Fagerlund, featuring guest soloists Hedi Viisma (kantele) and Elisabeth Holmertz (soprano).
Skogensemble is an international ensemble of musicians dedicated to the performance of contemporary music by composers from Nordic countries and from composers with Norse heritage. Skogen, which has its roots in Icelandic and Old Norse, is a Scandinavian word meaning “the forest.”

Skogensemble grew out of a four-year collaborative opera project called drömseminarium, based on texts of Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer and music by American composer Ellen Lindquist. Throughout the development of the opera the synergy between the musicians grew, as did their desire to explore the music of the Nordic countries. Skogensemble performs repertoire ranging from large-scale multi-media work to the most intimate of chamber music pieces.

ASF fellow Ilari Kaila (b. 1978) began his composition studies in 1998, at the Sibelius Academy in his native Finland, and continued at Stony Brook University with support from The American-Scandinavian Foundation, where he just received his PhD. He has participated in master classes with Magnus Lindberg and Esa-Pekka Salonen, and studied Carnatic music on several trips to India since 2002. Kaila has written chamber music, vocal music, orchestral music, and works for stage. As a pianist, he has performed in premieres of his own and other young composers’ works, and in several improvisation projects. He has received, most recently, a commission grant from the National Council for the Arts in Finland, special recognition prize in the Composer Competition of the 9th International Piano Festival in Espoo, a commission grant from the Wihuri Foundation, and the Seaside Institute’s artist residency.