Bjork Announces Livestreamed Performances For Charity

Björk has announced plans for 3 special matinee performances in association with Iceland Airwaves which will all be live-streamed online to help raise money for domestic women’s charities worldwide.

Iceland has been able to reopen safely and the shows will actually take place with a live audience at Reykjavík’s Harpa Hall on August 9, 15 and 23. The performances will see Björk celebrate of the Icelandic musicians that she’s worked with over the years, with each concert finding the artist collaborating with over 100 Icelandic musicians, across three groups that have played a part within the creation of her discography.

Each concert will feature different songs, with Björk´s instrumental arrangements played by members of the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, Flute Septet Viibra and Hamrahlíð Choir without electronics or beats.

Find some more information about the performances below, along with a note from Björk about the performances:

Live from Reykjavík
Eldborg – Harpa

Sunday August 9 – 17:00 GMT
björk with
Hamrahlið Choir,
conductor Þorgerður Ingólfsdóttir,
Bergur Þórisson, organ

Saturday August 15 – 17:00 GMT
björk with
strings from Icelandic Symphony Orchestra,
conductor Bjarni Frímann Bjarnason

Sunday August 23 – 17:00 GMT
björk with
brass from the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra,
flute septet Viibra,
harpist Katie Buckley,
pianist Jónas Sen

A note from Björk:

dear friends

i would like to invite you to some concerts

to honour
folks who got hit hardest in the coronavirus
and the black lives matter movement

and to honour how many icelandic musicians i have worked with through the years

i recorded almost all of my albums with local musicians :

homogenic with an icelandic string octet
medulla with schola cantorum ( an icelandic mixed choir )
volta with 10 brass girls i found all over the island and then later they formed wonderbrass
biophilia with langholt´s church girl choir graduale nobili
vulnicura with a 15 piece string ensemble
utopia with 12 female fluteplayers who later formed the flute septet viibra
cornucopia with hamrahlíð´s choir conducted by þorgerður ingólfsdóttir
all these albums where then performed all around the planet with these musicians
together they are over hundred people !!

and we are going to celebrate that we are all healthily exiting quarantine together by playing concerts in harpa music hall for 3 weekends of august

my input into the feminist fight is to brag about that almost all of those arrangements are by me
unfortunately this is something that is almost always ignored when women are arrangers

the concerts will be in the afternoons and will also be streamed live online, where there will be an option to donate to the icelandic women’s shelter – which supports women of all origin in iceland

for those attending in person, after the concert we will be offering food to raise money in support of this charity

the concerts will be “unplugged” or acoustic and performed without beats and electronics
the concerts will be performed with the icelandic symphony orchestra and guests

i feel we are going through extraordinary times
horrifying but also an opportunity to truly change
it is demanded of us that we finally confront all racism
that we learn that lives are more important that profit
and look inside us and finecomb out all our hidden prejudices and privileges

let´s all humbly learn together

transform

humongous love

björk

Tickets for the performances are currently on sale.

---