BEINTA
(2016)40'
The Faroe Islands
Advanced
Orchestra
Anna Katrin Øssursdóttir Egilstrøð (born 1981) is a Faroese composer and performer. She mixes field recordings, electronic sounds, video and classical instruments.
Together with composer Allan Gravgaard Madsen she wrote the symphonic song-cycle “BEINTA”. The two composers developed a special musical language combining elements from contemporary classical music and alternative pop.
The piece “BEINTA” is born of the impossible paradoxes of the human psyche, and draws inspiration from the legendary 18th-century femme fatale of the Faroe Islands, Beinta—a figure of great contrasts. Egilstrøð performed live together with Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, when “BEINTA” was premiered in 2016.
Anna Katrin Øssursdóttir Egilstrøð is currently studying electronic composition at DIEM – Danish Institute of Electronic Music at The Royal Music Academy. She has written music for the award winning performance ensemble Mute Comp and released her own songs under the alias AKAT.
As a singer she has toured worldwide. She was the lead singer in renowned folktronica band Valravn, and in the field of new music she has, among other works, performed Schoenberg’s “Pierrot Lunaire” and Niels Rønsholdt’s “Me Quitte”.
In 2010 Anna Katrin Øssursdóttir Egilstrøð received the Faroese Planet Award for singer of the year. In 2016 she was awarded by The Danish Arts Foundation for the work “BEINTA”.