AION
For orchestra
Duration 38 minutes
Written for the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, co-commissioned by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.
AION is a symphony-scale orchestral work in three movements, written in 2018. The movements are titled Morphosis, Transcension and Entropia.
The piece was premiered at the Point Music Festival with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. See here for more information about the event.
About the work
AIŌN is a large orchestral work in three movements, titled Morphosis, Transcension and Entropia.
AIŌN is inspired by the abstract metaphor of being able to move freely in time, of being able to explore time as a space that you inhabit rather than experiencing it as a one-directional journey through a single dimension. Disorienting at first, you realize that time extends in all directions simultaneously and that whenever you feel like it, you can access any moment, even simultaneously. As you learn to control the journey, you find that the experience becomes different by taking different perspectives - you can see every moment at once, focus on just some of them, or go there to experience them. You are constantly zooming in and out, both in dimension and perspective. Some moments you want to visit more than others, noticing as you revisit the same moment, how your perception of it changes. This metaphor is connected to a number of broader background ideas in relation to the work: How we relate to our lives, to the ecosystem, and to our place in the broader scheme of things, and how at any given moment we are connected both to the past and to the future, not just of our own lives but across - and beyond - generations.
As with my music generally, the inspiration behind AIŌN is not something I am trying to describe through the music or what the music is “about”, as such – it is a way to intuitively approach and work with the core energy, structure, atmosphere and material of the piece.
Selected press
“It is intense, surprising, and beautiful. AION takes you to another place. … AION is among the best art I have experienced … it is enchanting. Almost like standing in the middle of magnificent nature and being completely overwhelmed by how it all hangs together. How every small detail plays its part in creating the incredibly strong whole.” - Anki Gerhardsen, Nordlys (Norway)
“[AION] has the same archaic brutality as Stravinsky's Rite of Spring” - Sofia Nyblom, Dagens Nyheter (Sweden)
“Otherwordly... The chords were dissonant yet full of atmosphere, dark and enticing. They conjured a world of magic and spiritualism... a bacchanalia of natural forces that defies description ... remarkable choreography and remarkable music” - Jonas Sen, Frettabladid (Iceland)
“electrifying ... there was much to think about here” - David Nice, The Arts Desk (UK)
“like a force of nature” - Johanna Paulsson, Dagens Nyheter (Sweden)
“an abstract work … that managed to move and make everyone think” - Luis Gago, El País (Spain)
***
AION with choreography:
AION can be performed as a choreographed symphonic stage work, where the orchestra, dancers and visuals share the stage with choreography by Erna Omarsdottir. The music of AION is 47 minutes in duration in the version with choreography, and the event is approximately 50 minutes in duration. There are specific score and parts for the version of AION with choreography.
Credit list for the version with choreography:
Artistic directors: Anna Thorvaldsdottir and Erna Ómarsdóttir
Music: Anna Thorvaldsdottir
Choreography: Erna Ómarsdóttir
Conductor: Anna-Maria Helsing
Assistant choreographer: Lovísa Ósk Gunnardsóttir
Video: Pierre-Alain Giraud and Valdimar Jóhannsson
Lights: Valdimar Jóhannsson
Costumes: Agnieszka Baranowska
Dancers: Charmene Pang, Elín Signý Weywadt Ragnarsdóttir, Erna Gunnarsdóttir, Félix Urbina Alejandre, Inga Huld Hákonardóttir, Shota Inoue, Tilly Sordat and Una Björg Bjarnadóttir.
The choreography is created in collaboration with the dancers of Iceland Dance Company.