Nominations for the Icelandic Music Awards are just in - UMBRA is nominated for Album of the Year 2019 for LLIBRE VERMELL !
We will be premiering composer Kristín Þóra Haraldsdóttir’s brand theatrical composition, Bloodhoof, at the annual festival of contemporary and new music, Dark Music Days, in Reykjavík. Bloodhoof is based on the poem Blóðhófnir by Icelandic poet Gerður Kristný. Blóðhófnir is a contemporary version of an Old Norse tale, Skírnismál, seen in the light of abduction and abuse of giantess Gerður Gymisdóttir. Umbra will be performing with top notch Icelandic musicians, including the composer herself, with stunning visuals.
We finished recording the entire piece in 2019 and Bloodhoof will be released on Innova Recordings very very soon!
We are so happy to announce the release of our award winning Christmas album SÓLHVÖRF (Solstitium) on high quality vinyl! Only a few precious copies manufactured, available at local stores and directly from our publisher, Dimma.
After a few months of mixing and editing, our new album is finally out! Our publisher Dimma just released our third album, entitled LLIBRE VERMELL: Maríusöngvar frá miðöldum (LLIBRE VERMELL: Medieval Marian Chants). The album is the performing ensemble’s rendition of songs from the 14th century Red Book from Montserrat, including tunes from Nordic manuscripts dating from the 15th and 16th centuries. The album is available in Icelandic music stores and now also available on Spotify. We are beyond grateful for the entire team that helped us make this album come to life; all pretty amazing musicians and professionals in their own right;
Marina Albero psalterium (check out her newest triple-album A Life Soundtrack!), Þórdís Gerður Jónsdóttir cello, Kristofer Rodriguez Svönuson percussion (check out his new release Primo), Eggert Pálsson percussion, Cantores Islandiae and last but not least, all made possible by our recording producer Ragnheiður Jónsdóttir.
Artwork and design (amazing): Ingibjörg Birgisdóttir
Its already July and we are still relishing over our last concert exactly a month ago at the Festival of Sacred Arts 2019 in Hallgrímskirkja, where we performed the songs from the Llibre Vermell manuscript along with some scandinavian tunes from the same period. We are so thankful for the warm reception and feedback we have received since the performance and we couldn’t be happier with our guest musicians; Eggert, Kristó, Þórdís, the beautiful male vocal ensemble Cantores islandiae and our new sister-in-music, musical power-house Marina Albero, whom we can’t wait to collaborate with again sometime in the future. We recorded the concert material in the days following the concert with our favourite recording engineer and tonmeister Ragnheiður Jónsdóttir, and we expect to release an album in the fall.
We will be performing quite a bit this summer, both in the Icelandic countryside and in the capital area. So far the lineup is looking good:
July 6th - Siglufjörður Folk Music Festival
July 7th - Hólar in Hjaltadalur
July 12th - Hafnarborg Songfest
August 15th - Stykkishólmur Church
September 19th - Vinaminni Akranes
In the fall we have a few more concerts lined up, some final recording sessions awaiting us for Kristín Þóra Haraldsdóttir’s Blóðhófnir (Bloodhoof), also expected to release in the fall, and lastly we’ll be working on some new exciting material for the spring concert session in 2020.