Veronique Vaka
*29 January 1986
Works by Veronique Vaka
Biography
Veronique Vaka, born in 1986, is a composer based in Iceland. She studied classical cello performance at Vincent-d’Indy, electroacoustic composition at the University of Montreal and completed a Master's degree in music composition from the Iceland University of the Arts.
Veronique's works are rooted in the geology and topography of Iceland. From the inner core of the Earth to its outer shapes, she explores the narrative of landscapes. Her orchestral piece Lendh, re-imagining the geothermal region of Krýsuvík, was internationally praised by critics and described as "operating on a geologic scale, with tectonic bass textures" by The New York Times and "a marvel" by British music magazine Gramophone. Lendh was nominated for the Icelandic Music Awards and the Nordic Council Music Prize. In 2020, she began a Glacier Series; a compilation of works with the transformation of glacial landscapes as groundwork, to create awareness of climate change. Among these works is the cello concerto Gemæltan written for the renowned Sæunn Þorsteinsdóttir, expressing the melting of Síðujökull: "We are living the most rapid change of Earth’s forces that a single generation has experienced. Glaciers, that before moved at geological speed of centuries and millennia, are now vanishing in a lifetime of a single human being [...]" -programme note by Andri Snær Magnason. Gemæltan received a nomination for the Icelandic Music Awards, Composition of the Year. Also in this series is the viola concerto Vanescere, written for Þórunn Ósk Marinósdóttir, where Veronique observed the changes of Sólheimajökull during one year: "We hear the glacier’s changing shape in movements by degrees: the shifting of one note in a chord, the twisting or contracting of a texture [...]" - programme note by Andrew Mellor.
An important aspect of Veronique's music is the perception of time. It is constructed as an independent layer of music that can fluctuate with different velocities and even come to a complete standstill. It expands, contracts and alters the sense of time.
Veronique has written symphonic works, concertos, and a variety of music for ensembles, from string quartets to large chamber works. She has been performed by celebrated soloists and ensembles across continents. Her works have appeared at a variety of festivals such as Cresc... Biennale für aktuelle Musik, Tertulia Chamber Music, Chamber Music Festival on Valentia, Myrkir Músíkdagar, Tónlistarhátíð Rásar 1, Kammermúsíkklúbburinn and Sumartónleikar í Skálholti. Since 2021, her works have been published by Universal Edition in Vienna.
Among upcoming projects are Erda, a double Violin Concerto for Niklas Walentin and Ensemble Storstrøm, Boreas, a new work for the pianist Pallavi Mahidhara and a new string quartet written for Siggi String Quartet.
Veronique is a member of Tónskáldafélag Íslands (the Society of Icelandic Composers).
OCCURRENCE, released on the 22nd January 2021. Sono Luminus
LENDH, f. orchestra, w/ Iceland Symphony Orchestra and Daníel Bjarnason
Sono Luminus: http://bit.ly/ISOocSL
Spotify: http://bit.ly/ISOocSp
Nýir vængir, released the 18th December 2021, DísaRecords
VÖTN, f. soprano and piano w/ Herdís Anna Jónasdóttir and Bjarni Frímann Bjarnason, poem by Steinunn Arnbjörg Stefánsdóttir
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/2CsDgg0PT4jWGbgEipxfYg?si=7cea71feb1bc47a3
About the music
In 2018, she composed the work Lendh for The Iceland Symphony Orchestra and Daníel Bjarnason. The inspiration and guide for the work is the geothermal area in Krýsuvík. I have analysed the geologic and geographic features of the area and transformed the landscape as I perceive it into musical notation. From that abstract representation, time progression and structural events of the work evolved.
"Vaka explores and maintains a beautiful balance of tensions, gently – almost gingerly – arranging and pulling at her material to make it taut, even uncomfortable, yet almost before we’ve even noticed it’s happening, everything has begun to relax. This is one of the reasons the music comes to resemble the kind of muscular flexing I spoke of before; it undulates and ripples, inhales and exhales, slowly pulsating not simply in dynamic outline but also in terms of density, mass and clarity, the main factors at the heart of the work’s shifting stresses and pressures."- Simon Cummings, 5:4
In 2020, Veronique Vaka composed Gemæltan, a cello concerto for Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir and orchestra. The work Gemæltan began when Veronique found an old map of the area of Siðujökull and compared it with a modern one. The change was alarming. Gemæltan intends to create awareness of climate change by an abstract representation of the vanishing landscape and the glacial afterglow, with a title and a programme note leading the audience to active listening. The structure of the work consists of two surges and two quiescent phases - the last is the rapid retreat leading to the disappearance of the glacier. The composer translates the gathered information by associating them with music parameters and by defining the role of the soloist and the orchestra. She imagines details of the glaciers as motifs, colours, living materials, textures, and it affects the way she perceives the orchestration. As an example, the water accumulating under the glacier, moving rocks and matter, influenced how the piece shifts from one instrument to the other - intending to create a natural flow and a sense of wholeness. The programme note, written by the author Andri Snær Magnason, ends with these words: "Earth has left geological speed and is changing to human speed. We seem to react at geological speed. Cellist Gunnar Kvaran told me that the violin speaks to the head, it is clever and fast, while the cello speaks to the heart. We are living in times of urgency, where we have new data that needs to speak to the heart. The cello might be the perfect medium to speed up the paradigm shift and the call to action."
The Glacier Series
Gemæltan, for solo violoncello and orchestra (2020)
written for Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir
"[...]The work Gemæltan began when Veronique found an old map of the area of Síðujökull and compared it with a modern one. The change was alarming. The intention behind Gemæltan is to create awareness of climate change by an abstract representation of the vanishing landscape and the glacial afterglow, with a title and a programme note leading the audience to active listening. The approach is almost scientific; the piece is shaped by climate change. By going through texts and gathering data and information on the location, the behaviour of glaciers and their impact on landscape and ecology. By examining graphs and maps and extracting information to create the time progression of the piece. It then evolved to the idea of writing a cello concerto — with all the possibilities of creating a dialogue between a soloist and an orchestra. [...] Earth has left geological speed and is changing to human speed. We seem to react at geological speed. Cellist Gunnar Kvaran told me that the violin speaks to the head, it is clever and fast, while the cello speaks to the heart. We are living in times of urgency, where we have new data that needs to speak to the heart. The cello might be the perfect medium to speed up the paradigm shift and the call to action."- Programme note by Andri Snær Magnason, 2020
The World Premiere of Gemæltan toke place in Elborg at Harpa Concert Hall on September 29th 2022, performed by Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Eva Ollikainen.
Vanescere, for solo viola and chamber orchestra (2021)
written for Þórunn Ósk Marinósdóttir
"[...]Vasnescere takes as its subject the area around the Sólheimajökull glacier in Iceland. Using geographical and geological analyses, Vaka traced the steady erosion of the glacier over the year from September 2020 and was alarmed at the rapid rate of the ice cap’s retreat. Vasnescere is an abstract representation of the harvested data that underlines the speed of the glacier’s destruction, compressing actual time into musical time. In its direct reaction to the science, the work presents the starkest possible musical depiction of the impact of climate change on the Icelandic landscape. In translating her statistical and photographical data into musical notation, Vaka works in two principle ways. One is the establishment of a temporal grid that compresses the 12 month change in the glacier’s appearance into the course of the concerto’s duration. We hear the glacier’s changing shape in movements by degrees: the shifting of one note in a chord, the twisting or contracting of a texture. Within this, the narrating solo viola steps out of the strict time-lapse to focus or reflect on individual events and gestures..."- Programme note by Andrew Mellor, 2022
The World Premiere of Vanescere toke place in Norðurljós at Harpa Concert Hall on the 6th of March 2022, performed by Þórunn Ósk Marinósdóttir, The Reykjavík Chamber Orchestra (Kammersveit Reykjavíkur) under the direction of Mirian Khukhunaishvilli during Myrkir Músíkdagar 2022 (Dark Music Days Festival)
HOLOS, for chamber orchestra (2022)
written for Caput Ensemble
"[...]The largest and most active volcanoes in the country are covered by glaciers. Grímsvötn is the most remote and active volcano in the country. It is in the middle of Vatnajökull, the largest glacier in Europe and has erupted 60 times since the first settlers came. The glacier is up to a kilometer thick. Like other subglacial volcanoes, it melts part of the glacier, and the meltwater collects inside the glacier ice to form a subglacial lake. When the overlying ice sheet has risen by tens of meters, it reaches the limit of tolerance and the water breaks out in a catastrophic, glacial flood, where the murky glacial water melts its way through the ice and breaks out to inundate the black sands south of Vatnajökull. It is interesting that we are both working with vibrations, sound waves, but at different frequencies. I tell Veronique about my recent research and that of my colleagues on Grímsvötn. We have found that the ice sheet above the subglacial lake in Grímsvötn vibrates continuously like a membrane. My research group has also discovered a very weak vibration signal that the large outlet glaciers in southern Vatnajökull, Síðujökull and Skeiðarárjökull, cause every year in the fall. We are still investigating the source of these vibrations. A pilot sent me a picture of Síðujökull this summer. He had never seen it like this before. A field of brownish, soft, slush-ice instead of bluish rock-solid glacial ice..."- Programme note by Kristín Jónsdóttir, seismologist
The World Premiere of HOLOS is programmed on the 27th of January 2023 in Norðurljós at Harpa Concert Hall, with Caput Ensemble under the direction of Guðni Franzson, during Myrkir Músíkdagar 2023 (Dark Music Days Festival)
Neige éternelle, for solo violoncello (2022-23) -Work in progress
written for Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir
"Neige éternelle is a series of five for solo cello. This work emerged after Gemæltan, a cello concerto written for Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir. Each piece is an imagined phase in the formation of a glacier."
The World Premiere of Neige éternelle, 1st movement, toke place at Norðurljós in Harpa Concert all on the the 30th of September 2022, performed by Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir. The World Premiere of Neige éternelle, 2nd movement, is programmed on the 15th of January 2023 at La Primavera Marshallhúsið in Reykjavík, and on the 7th of February 2023 at Robert J. Werner Recital Hall, College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati.
