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Nordic Viola
"[a] quietly pioneering project" - David Kettle - The Scotsman
“This is a show for people who like being taken on a musical journey, to explore something of the landscape, the history, the stories, the mythologies, the characters of the North Atlantic, particularly Scotland, the Faroes and Iceland, the Republic of Ireland”
Flexible Ensemble (variable number of performers)
Instrumentation
- Katherine Wren - Viola
- David Martin - Viola
- Helen Brew/Janet Larsson - Flute
- David Hubbard - Bassoon
- Anne Bünemann - Violin
- Guera Crockett - Violin
- Laura Sergeant/Ruth Rowlands - Cello
- Robert Digney - Clarinet
- Arnhildur Valgarðsdóttir/Kevin Duggan - Piano
Repertoire
Sagas and Seascapes - Nordic Viola capture the strangeness, wonder and melancholy of Norse legends in a performance of music, film and specially commissioned art. (Mixed ensemble)
https://www.sagasandseascapes.com/
On A Wing and A Prayer - Nordic Viola explores our approach to our changing habitats and the climate crisis in a 3-part series with composers from Shetland, Deeside and the West Highlands. Available as single concerts or as a series. (2-3 players)
A journey around the North Atlantic - Traditional and contemporary music for strings and wind from the Scotland to Greenland (3-4 players)
Qaanaaq - Music for viola and piano inspired by Greenland
Biography
Founded in 2016, Nordic Viola is a flexible ensemble of wind and string players with the viola at its heart.
Nordic Viola are renowned for their thoughtful approach to drawing out the inspiration and poetry of place and its memories through enhanced chamber performance, taking audiences on an extraordinary musical journey to the Faroe Islands, Orkney and Shetland, Iceland and Greenland. The islands are bound together by a common seafaring heritage and share musical and cultural connections. In a programme shaped by travelling in the region, immersed in the culture of the Far North, viola player Katherine Wren shares contemporary reflections, traditional melodies and personal testimonies that are shaped by vast northern landscapes.
Nordic Viola, described by The Scotsman as a “quietly pioneering project,” has performed in the Faroes (Summartónar Festival 2018 and with Faroese ensemble Aldubáran in 2023), Iceland (with pianist Arnhildur Valgarðsdóttir in the Bláakirkjan Summer Concert Series in Seyðisfjörður) and Greenland.
Nordic Viola’s first album, “Elsewhere, Elsewhen”, was released in November 2023.
In 2023, Nordic Viola’s founder, Katherine Wren, embarked on long-term collaborative project “On A Wing and A Prayer” which explores Scotland’s changing habitat with composers Renzo Spiteri (Shetland), Pete and Joe Stollery (Deeside) and Lisa Robertson (West Highlands). Each composer’s work is paired with a composer from the Nordic regions.
In 2022 Nordic Viola’s Sagas and Seascapes, a multimedia production with music, art and film, was selected as part of the Made In Scotland Showcase and subsequently toured the Faroe Islands and Orkney in conjunction with Faroese ensemble Aldubáran in 2023-24.
Festival appearances in Scotland include Wayword (Aberdeen) 2023, Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2022, Arbroath 2020+1, soundfestival in Aberdeen 2018 and 2021 and the RSNO Chamber Series in January 2018.
In 2019 and 2020 the ensemble was shortlisted for the Scottish Awards for New Music “Making it Happen” award and founder Katherine Wren was highly commended in the 2020 Royal Philharmonic Society/ABO Salomon Prize, an award in recognition of the extraordinary orchestral musicians working in Britain today
“Nordic Viola have created a thoughtful approach to drawing out the inspiration and poetry of place and its memories through enhanced chamber performance.” Ed McKeon, Third Ear Music
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