Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.06.2010, Page 10

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10 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • 1 June 2010
Donald G. Gíslason
Conductor and composer Daníel Bjarnason is a typical Icelandic musi-
cian, which is to say a very un-
typical musician indeed. After
seeing him conduct Donizetti
at the Icelandic Opera, you
can see him equally at home
leading a chamber orchestra in
support of the popular music
group Hjaltalín at the Fríkirkja
in Reykjavík, recording with
Sigur Rós in London, or con-
ducting his own compositions
at the Iceland Airwaves music
festival.
Barely 30 years old, he has
established a major career for
himself in Iceland, both as a
conductor of the classical reper-
toire and a composer of modern-
ist works for chamber ensemble.
He is a founding member of the
Ísafold Chamber Orchestra and
is its principal conductor and
artistic director. The premiere
of his piano concerto last year
with the Icelandic Symphony
Orchestra and pianist Víkingur
Ólafsson was a major event of
the musical year in Iceland.
Most recently, he has joined
the wildly eclectic and interna-
tionally successful Bedroom
Community label headed by
Valgeir Sigurðsson and is look-
ing forward to recording more of
his own music, following the re-
lease of his first album on Bed-
room Community, Processions.
I caught up with Daníel
Bjarnason at the Íslenska Óper-
an on Ingólfsstræti in downtown
Reykavík just after the dress re-
hearsal for Donizetti’s L’Elisir
d’amore to talk about his life
and career in music.
How did you become a
conductor? Did you always
want to be one?
No, I wanted to be a pianist,
then I wanted to be a composer,
and then I started fiddling with
conducting and I asked this
conducting teacher to give me
private lessons at school.
So how old were you when
you started conducting?
I was about 19 or 20. Just
my own music, to start with and
then, little by little, conducting
a few amateur orchestras.
Was it because your first
compositions were orchestral,
rather than piano pieces?
Yeah, they were chamber
pieces, and pieces for small
chamber groups.
How did you pursue your
musical education?
I started studying the piano
when I was seven, and then I
took a little “teenager break”
from the piano (laughs).
To do what?
Just to be a teenager. I was
a lot into sports when I was
a kid.
But were you ever in a
band?
I wasn’t really the band
type. I used to play in a funk
band for a while, but …
What instrument did you
play?
I played the hammond or-
gan. They were called Die
Garfunkel, a good name for
a funk band – like Simon &
Garfunkel.
And where did you study
conducting?
In Germany, at the Musik-
hochschule in Freiberg. I stud-
ied with an American profes-
sor called Scott Sandmeier. I
decided when I finished my
composition studies here in Ice-
land that I didn’t want to study
more composition, that I just
wanted to compose, and hear
my music played. So I thought
that would be a good mix, to
study conducting and compose
on the side.
Conductors are generally
“alpha males.” They tend to
exude an aura of command
over people. Do you identify
with that or are you a more
negotiating, nicer, gentler
kind of conductor?
I’m definitely the second
type, I think. The authority
should come through respect
for your abilities and your abil-
ity to inspire people, instead
of frightening them into doing
things.
Is there a part of the rep-
ertoire that you are particu-
larly attracted to?
I do a lot of modern music,
just because I am a composer
and people will ask me a lot to
do new music. But I love doing
Mozart and I love the French
impressionists, as well as the
Russians from that period. And
opera, obviously. I love opera.
How long does it take you
to study up an opera?
A few months. For me it’s
much easier if it’s in German,
because I speak German, but
it takes me longer to learn op-
era in Italian, because I do sort
of speak it, but not fluently. So
it takes a few months but you
never really know a piece un-
til you’ve performed it at least
once.
Which operas have you
conducted?
I have conducted Mozart’s
The Abduction from the Sera-
glio and Così fan tutte, A Night
in Venice by Johann Strauss,
and, let’s see, Puccini’s Gi-
anni Schicchi and Suor Angel-
ica, also Ariadne auf Naxos by
Richard Strauss. And L’Enfant
et les sortilèges by Ravel, I
did that when I was in school.
And then Donizetti’s L’Elisir
d’amore for the Islenska Óper-
an here in Reykjavík.
What is the “classical
scene” like in Iceland? Is it
enough for a full-time career
here?
Oh yeah, definitely it is, if
you’re a player. There’s a sym-
phony orchestra and there are
lots of chamber ensembles. As
a conductor, I am very lucky
because there are not very
many Icelandic conductors, so
I get a lot of work here. But
I’m also lucky in that I don’t
need to have a full-time job as a
conductor. And I don’t want to,
even, because I am a composer,
so I need at least half of my
time freed up for composing.
Are you still a performing
pianist at all? Was that you
playing the harpsichord in
the recitatives for the Doni-
zetti that I heard at the Íslen-
ska Óperan?
Yes, I like to do that. It’s
more fun when the conductor
does that himself rather than to
have somebody else do it. It’s
more hands on, somehow.
Where do you want your
career to go?
Well, I’m very interested to
see what happens now with the
release of my album, Proces-
sions. I basically just want to
get my music more played, be
able to tour with my own mu-
sic, and evolve as a composer.
Your piano concerto was
a fairly high-profile event in
Iceland this year. Could you
tell me about that?
It was premiered in the Dark
Music Days, a music festival
held every winter featuring new
Icelandic music. I was conduct-
ing and pianist Víkingur Ólafs-
son was playing. It was a great
success and a great moment for
me, because it was a big piece,
half-an-hour, and also my debut
with the orchestra as a compos-
er-conductor. So it was a really
memorable event.
And where do you live
now?
I’m more in Iceland now,
but I try to go to New York as
often as I can. I have a lot of
friends there and I love New
York. I go there just to get in-
spiration. I think I’ll be based
in Iceland but I definitely see
myself having an international
career.
You are the latest artist to
join the Bedroom Commu-
nity label, which is not really
a classical music label, except
for the music of Nico Muhly.
What will your role be at
Bedroom Community?
The reason they signed me
is because of my music and
that’s the main focus. Every-
thing that happens besides that
is in a typical Bedroom Com-
munity style: collaboration
with whoever might be work-
ing there and I might come in
as an arranger or something.
It’s a fairly unusual type
of set-up there at Bedroom
Community, where everyone
contributes to everyone else’s
albums. Is that something
that you look forward to?
Absolutely. It’s a great thing
that they don’t sign people just
in one genre, in one style. They
sign people that they think
make good music that every-
body should hear, no matter
what it’s called.
Daníel Bjarnason’s album
Processions is available on the
Bedroom Community label. In
June he will be joining his col-
leagues in Bedroom Commu-
nity on their Whale Watching
Tour to Talinn (Estonia) and
Moscow.
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Daníel Bjarnason:
A Career on Fire