Øjeblikket og evigheden: music and poetry
19:00
Dorthe Højland Group + Einar Már Guðmundsson
Icelandic Author and Danish Composer in Musical Collaboration
Ry, Denmark-based saxophonist Dorthe Højland and Iceland’s renowned storyteller Einar Már Guðmundsson have embarked on a unique joint musical venture entitled: “The Moment & Eternity.”
In brief, this venture is a meeting of music and poetry, a Danish saxophonist and an Icelandic poet, who are mutually fascinated by each other’s forms of expression.
Einar Már Guðmundsson is among Iceland’s most renowned contemporary authors and poets. He has received numerous awards, including the Nordic Council Literature Prize, the Karen Blixen Medal, and the Swedish Academy Nordic Prize, and he has previously collaborated with musicians in various contexts.
Composer Dorthe Højland has her MFA from the Royal Academy of Music in Aalborg. Her primary instrument is the saxophone, and she is the chief architect behind the Dorthe Højland Group, which plays original Nordic jazz with an emphasis on the lyrical, melodic, and atmospheric. The group consists of Dorthe Højland on saxophone, Jacob Højland on piano, Thomas Sejthen on double bass, and Henrik Nielsen on drums.
Recent Dorthe Højlund Group projects include “Nordic Stories”, a collaboration with Swedish photographer Fredrik Holm, whose lens captured spectacular images of Icelandic nature which served as inspiration for the group’s compositions and contributed as a visual mood creator for their concerts.
Now, a new collaboration is underway—this time with Einar Már Guðmundsson’s poems from the collection “Til rette vedkommende” (To Whom It May Concern) set to music.
The foundation for this collaboration was laid when Einar Már Guðmundsson met the Dorthe Højland Group for the first time during the Nordic Culture Week in Rödding in the fall of 2021. Guðmundsson and the group hit it off immediately, and Dorthe Højland has been composing music that fleshes out the experience of the various worlds and meanings of the poems since that fateful meeting. “Til rette vedkommende” is a lyrical and highly praised poetry collection that explores beginnings and endings, love, the seasons, nature, and the universe.
Dorthe Højland Group will be playing a series of concerts around Iceland in August/ September 2024 together with Einar Már Guðmundsson. All tour dates can be seen on this webpage here: https://www.dorthehojland.dk/ojeblikketogevigheden
The tour has been made possible by support from: Clara Lachmanns Stiftelse, JazzDanmark, the Danish Art Foundation, the Danish-Icelandic Fund, Letterstedtska Föreningen, and the Fund for Danish/Icelandic Cooperation.
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Einar Már Guðmundsson, photo: Hreinn Gudlaugsson
Cover photo: Per Bille
Contact info:
Dorthe Højland
+45 2670 7510
dorthehojland@me.com
www.dorthehojland.dk
