For flute, Bb clarinet, piano, violin and cello. Music by Helgi Rafn Ingvarsson. Commissioned by the Elektra Ensemble and premiered 19 May 2019 in Harpa Reykavík, Iceland. The composition was funded by the Iceland Artists’ Salaries.

The members of Elektra Ensemble are Ástríður Alda Sigurðardóttir piano, Emilía Rós Sigfúsdóttir flute, Helga Björg Arnardóttir clarinet, Helga Þóra Björgvinsdóttir violin og Margrét Árnadóttir cello.

This recording of ELEKTRA was released on Elektra Ensemble’s album with the same name in 2019. It is available on Spotify.

Composer Ed Hughes, commenting on ELEKTRA by Ingvarsson on 17th May 2022:

“Hi Helgi. It was great to meet you! I’m very much enjoying this composition! It’s very engaging and really keeps the attention. It has a wonderful and quirky energy. Also I really like the gradual unfolding of the orchestration and the musical ideas. The entry of the violin as a precursor to a new strand soon after 3’ is well judged. There is a real sense of a composition with a driving energy and a sense of itself and its purpose. Bravo!”

Premiered by Elektra Ensemble in Kaldalón Hall, Harpa, Reykjavik. January 2012. As part of Dark Music Days new music festival.

The work’s first materials were oriental rhythms. I wanted to explore the possibilities of translating them over to a tonal environment and instruments, like the cello for instance. Overall I think I had about 16 cycles, all with different functions, allocating at least 2-3 for each instrument. One cycle was called "timbre", another “rest”, another “note values”, to name just three. I then moved these cycles at different tempos which made them overlap with one another in ever different ways from bar to bar or section to section. After having accumulated some material that way I found myself braking my "rule of cycles" again and again to satisfy my aesthetic needs with form.

The members of Elektra Ensemble are Ástríður Alda Sigurðardóttir piano, Emilía Rós Sigfúsdóttir flute, Helga Björg Arnardóttir clarinet, Helga Þóra Björgvinsdóttir violin og Margrét Árnadóttir cello.

Premiered 2014 at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. Later performed and recorded live in 2016 in Kaldalón Hall, Harpa, Reykjavík, Iceland.

Also available on Spotify.

Music by Helgi R. Ingvarsson.

Penelope (or Penelopeia) is the wife of the king of Ithaca, Odysseus (Ulysses in Roman mythology). She waits twenty years for the final return of her husband from the Trojan war, during which she has a hard time snubbing marriage proposals from 108 odious suitors. She has devised tricks to delay her suitors, one of which is to pretend to be weaving a burial shroud for Odysseus's elderly father Laertes and claiming that she will choose a suitor when she has finished. Every night for three years, she undoes part of the shroud.

Performed live by the Chroma Ensemble at Guildhall, School of Music and Drama, London, 5th of July, 2012 (www.chromaensemble.co.uk)

Premiered at Dartington International Summer School, England, by the Composer’s Ensemble in august 2012.

Premiered by ALDAorchestra and poet Gerður Kristný 9 September 2019 at Wilton’s Music Hall London. Commissioned and curated by Poet in the City. The musical work DRÁPA is based on text from epic poetry by the same name by Gerður Kristný, inspired by the horrific and traumatic stories of victims and their violent perpetrators. The work seeks to commemorate all women who have suffered abuse at the hands of those closest to them.

“Drápa” is traditionally a long Old Norse poem with refrains. Gerður Kristný’s book Drápa was released in 2014 and is written in the style of the old Drápas of Iceland. Inspired by the horrific and traumatic stories of victims and their violent perpetrators, the work seeks to commemorate all women who have suffered abuse at the hands of those closest to them. It is brought to life through chilling live readings and an accompanying new musical work by Helgi Rafn Ingvarsson and performed by members of the British-Icelandic group ALDAorchestra.

The work can be performed in Icelandic, English, Danish, Norwegian, and Finnish. New translations keep being added. The work was premiered in Wilton’s Music Hall, London UK in September 2019 and received a second performance in Mon island, Denmark in October same year. Performances in Iceland due to happen in 2020/21.

Short music sample: https://soundcloud.com/helgirafn/excerpt-from-drapa

Duration 30-40 minutes.

A revised version of the 2012 quintet Penelopeia, for Reykjavík Chamber Orchestra (Kammersveit Reykjavíkur). Premiere 2 February 2019 as part of the Dark Music Days festival “Grand Finale” concert in Harpa, Reykjavík.

Commissioned by Kópavogur Youth Concert Band in Iceland, for their 50th anniversary concert on 5 March 2017 in Eldborg, Harpa, Reykjavík . The composition was sponsored by Tónskáldasjóður RÚV (the Icelandic national broadcaster's composer's fund). Soloist was Jóhann Nardeau, conductor was Össur Geirsson.

Commissioned by ALDAorchestra for their debut concert Icelandic Winter, 6 December 2016, Brighton. Sponsored by Arts Council England, and Rannís research fund Iceland.

Glacier's Elegy is a thoughtful 40 minute long music-installation, performed several times in one sitting in a dark space. Glacier's Elegy is a farewell, the final farewell. The Glacier steps forward and addresses humankind for the last time and uses references from several works of Icelandic literature from the 12th century to present day to communicate her goodbye. The aim is not to preach, but to gently awaken in the audience an awareness of climate change. The work was premiered in the summer of 2019 by the composer and flautist Helen Whitaker and has been performed numerous times since then.

Audio and video excerpts: http://helgiingvarsson.com/news/2020/9/17/glaciers-elegy-in-north-iceland-videos