National Parks Mashup - Seigla 202

Miller-Porfiris Duo

What happens when two Icelandic, four American, and one Scottish composer meet an Icelandic visual artist, inspired by the landscapes and geology of the three countries? National Parks Mashup was inspired by the paintings of Icelandic artist Arngunnur Ýr, whose National Parks series braids together iconic mountain landscapes from Iceland and the United States. The project began when composer Veronique Vaka approached Duo Miller-Porfiris about creating a work inspired by these paintings.

From this collaboration grew a larger commission project, bringing together seven composers whose works explore the meeting points between landscape, memory, and place. The programme receives its Icelandic premiere at Seigla, following its world premiere at the Grand Teton Music Festival in Wyoming, performed within the landscape that inspired many of the works.

Music and visual art come together through projections of Arngunnur Ýr’s paintings alongside imagery of mountains, volcanic eruptions, shifting tectonic plates, microscopic life forms, and geological processes that connect Iceland, Scotland, and the United States. As landscapes merge and transform on screen, the programme invites audiences to consider the deep connections between geography, imagination, and artistic creation.

Programme:

Veronique Vaka: Vatn

Hildigunnur Rúnarsdóttir: Snæfellsjökulsþjóðgarður

Errollyn Wallen: Tree

Anne Guzzo: Water Suite

Elena Ruehr: Evening On Jenny Lake

Ken Steen: Smámyndir: Tungl yfir Laugarvatni, Sprungudalur, Þúfa, Óvægið sólarljós

Stephen Gryc: Gazing

Performers:

The Miller-Porfiris Duo (MP2) has been delighting audiences since 2005. The duo has been artist-in-residence across the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. In recent seasons, the duo has performed at Spitalfields Festival in London, Chamber Music of Little Rock, Chamber Music Pittsburgh, Tel Aviv Museum and the Grand Teton Music Festival. Their "MP2 on the Silver Screen" concert series has garnered attention for reintroducing modern audiences to the fascinating fusion of silent film and live music.

Duration: approx. 60 mins., without intermission.

Discounted Tickets (students, Schumann Society members, low-income): 2.500kr in Harpa's box office.

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More information, festival programme and artists bios available at www.seiglafestival.com and in the festival zine Seiglazine.

Harpa is the main sponsor of Seigla 2026. The music festival Seigla is supported by the Icelandic Music Fund, SUT and Ruth Hermanns Music Fund, Ýlir, FÍH Culture Fund, Iceland University of the Arts and Friends of Seigla.