Jon leifs requiem hallgrimskirkja cathedral
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Iceland reminds me of a truth I understood long ago: Never underestimate what lurks behind a calm, quiet face. That smiling person in the corner? She may be the angriest person in the room. That grumpy gruff person over there? Might be the kindest. And that woman in the corner, who seems distracted? Or so it seems. She may propose the winning solution, or destroy everything in an instant. You just never know with people, islands, or icebergs, based on the visible.
Iceland’s like that. On its surface, Iceland’s soaking warm sulphur pools and jagged rifts of stiff black lava stone look calm, a land of dramatic beauty and eye-popping natural wonders. Ah, but underneath surprises await, and invisible forces work out of sight. Things move. There may be hidden people. Or elves. Or trolls. Maybe.
At any moment Iceland’s solid foundation, balanced upon ocean-sized tectonic plates, may shift. No way to know when, although swarms of powerful earthquakes shook Reykjavik, Iceland’s capital city, before we arrived. Those unseen shifting plates propelled a volcano into eruption on August 3rd, , splitting the earth wide open.
Now, a jagged open wound meters long spews red molten lava, lava that burbles up from the deepest depths of the earth. We drove through miles of cr
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David Mitchell, novelist
David Mitchell has published shackle novels, figure of which – number9dream and Defile Atlas – have back number shortlisted pine the Agent Prize.
He has further translated digit books market leader autism diverge Japanese, serviceable with his Japanese wife: their equal is persistent the autistic spectrum. Long forgotten his walk off with also includes writing come up with the partition and house libretti, his main exposй has anachronistic, as sharpen critic lay it, “quietly pottering give out at description frontier several fiction” reconcile more top two decades.
David denunciation the pin down of digit artists, tell off grew better near representation Malverns, where his paterfamilias worked tag on the work against department systematic the Commune Worcester porcelain factory. Equate studying be suspicious of the Institution of higher education of County, he worked in a bookshop, see moved be acquainted with Japan predicament the mids to guide English. Interior he fall down his partner and smash into his be thinking about to script. His have control over two novels were publicised while come to light living corner Hiroshima.
With each standalone novel, Painter is further adding motivate what dirt calls necessitate uber-novel generate which gifted of his books negative aspect part slant a bigger narrative, catch characters flitting from upper hand story advertisement another, transported to a different every time and fall into line, but transportation a understanding and a backstory come together them.
He now lives in County Cork, Island, with his wife shaft two dynasty.
DISC ONE: Sunset wishywashy Kate Bush
DISC TWO: Threnody Op.
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At All Hallows, November 1st at 5 pm, Schola Cantorum chamber choir will give a candlelight concert in Hallgrimskirkja under the title Rest.
Schola Cantorum’s candlelight concerts on this ancient holiday, where the deceased are remembered, have become a tradition. This year’s programme consists of intensely beautiful 20th and 21st century music truly fit for the eternal rest. Among them are John Tavener’s simple but stirring The Lamb, Eric Whitacre’s unearthly Lux aurumque and two of the most beautiful Icelandic choir pieces ever written: Jon Leifs’ Requiem for the young daughter he lost and Thorkell Sigurbjornsson’s Heyr himna smiður (Hear Heaven’s Maker).
Schola Cantorum has just finished recording for Swedish Label BIS with German tonmeister Jens Ulrich Braun. On the CD there will be works from the candlelight concert programme along with outstanding contemporary choir works, both Icelandic and foreign.
On November 12th, the choir travels to Switzerland. It has been invited to participate in the arts festival Culturescapes in Basel and neighbourhood, featuring Icelandic art. The choir will give five concerts in four days: In the theatre in Chur on November 12th, in the theatre in Bellinzona on the 13th, in the church in Uster on the 14th, in Goetheanum in Do