Tacet: Extrinsic

In her latest project Tacet: Extrinsic, Hildur Elísa experiments with the concept of silence as both sound and pause, collaborating with a string quartet to create a concert experience that challenges conventional listening. By integrating carefully timed interventions of silence within the musical flow, the performance invites the audience to reconsider the boundaries between sound and silence, presence and absence, highlighting the expressive power of quiet moments as an integral part of the musical narrative. For Sequences Hildur collaborated with Elja, a young Icelandic classical ensemble formed in 2017, known for their lively and fresh interpretations.

Hildur Elísa Jónsdóttir (1993) is an artist, musician, and composer. She finds inspiration in the mundanity of everyday life and often employs durational performance and repetition to lend a new light to her subjects. Her works thrive in interdisciplinary spaces and claim exhibition spaces as their own, using both exhibitions and others’ works as scenography. Theatrical yet resisting the black box, they rupture exhibition spaces and demand immediate attention.

Elja consists of young Icelandic classical musicians. All of them have one thing in common: they all studied together in Iceland before going abroad, and most of them now work as soloists or orchestra players around the world. Since the ensemble was founded in 2017, it has established itself among the country’s leading chamber ensembles and has attracted attention for its lively and fresh performances. Over the years, Elja has performed regularly, with the largest concerts usually taking place both in the summer and at the turn of the year, along with smaller chamber concerts in the fall and spring semesters. The concert venues have been diverse, including Harpa, Gamla Bíó, Hof, the Old Potato Warehouses, Iðnó, Tjarnarbíó and Mikligarður in Varmahlíð. Elja has received much praise for her performance and was nominated for the Icelandic Music Awards 2019 as Performer of the Year (Groups) in the Classical and Contemporary category.