ARTISTIC PROFILE
Artistic production and research environment
Kjartan has composed music for chamber orchestra, solo instuments, voice, electronic and computer music, large orchestra and concertos, music for theatre, and children´s music and worked as a researcher and developer of CALMUS projects.
Artistic development work
From 1988 Kjartan has developed methods to compose music with algorithms. The initial idea was to construct a system to compose music with the latest technology and to expand the possibilities in the musical composition process. Since then the composing software CALMUS has been constructed and expanded into various apps such as iOS CalmusPlay and CalmusNotation and the composing workstation MacOS CalmusComposer. The CALMUS systems also added options for the composers how they could approach the compositional process. The artistic results of the development are over 20 compositions of which some of them could not have been composed with traditional composing methods, e.g., the real time compositions CalmusWaves and CalmusRemote where dancers or the audience became an influential and steering force in the realtime composition process.
Artistic research projects and networks
The international research project CalmusAutomata (2014-2020) is based on developing and constructing a composing program. The system is based on artificial intelligence technique for real-time composing and performing.
Artistic collaborations with other artists and/or national and international institutions
Over 30 people participating in the CalmusWaves projects coming from Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Sweden and USA, in collaboration with Sibelius Academy, Iceland University of the Arts, University of Iceland, Reykjavík University, Aalborg University, Stockholm Saxophone Quartet (SE), MUTE – physical dance company (DK), CCP (IS), software programmers, musicians, dancers, designers, marketing and financial people, composers, film makers.
Other Activity
2007
Admissions panel (competence assessment) for lektor position at Høgskolen i Tromsø Norge
2011-2015
International Conference on systems, man, and cybernetics SMC2011 SMC2012 SMC2014 SMC2015. Paper reviewer
2015
Member of international peer list Artistic Research Programme - Norway
2014
Validation / Vurdering Det norske Prosjektprogrammet (Norwegian Agency for International Cooperation and Quality Enhancement in Higher Education) Program for artistic research and development (utviklingsprogram) Norway.
2012 – 2017
Member of Artistic Advisory Board, Harpa Conference and Concert Centre, Reykjavík.
2016 - 2108
Young Composer award competition committee (chair) for young composer within ISCM organisation
2008 – 2015
Nordic Music Price committee, committee (chair 2009)
Leadership and participation in the organisation of artistic networks/scholarly symposia and conferences:
2018
Working group "creation", European Agenda for Music European Music Council
2011-2012
Nordic/Baltic CompositioNetwork: Network of Professors in Composition and Theory
List of artistic works
Performances/exhibitions in international contexts
Performances 2011-2019
2017
CalmusWaves for dancers, saxophone quartet, piano and electronics (2017) ICMC - Shanghai China
2014
Kinect for chamber orchestra Foot in the Door Ensemble, Hartford, Connecticut USA
2013
Kinect for chamber orchestra commissioned and premiered by the Ensemble MD7 in Festival Ljubljana, Slovenia 2013.
2012
CALCULUS ll for Solo flute and piano (Brandon University New Music)
Mozaik lll B – Future – Past (Brandon University New Music)
Structure II for piano (Brandon University New Music) Canada
In The Darkness of the Light - for clarinet, piano and electronics. commissioned and premiered by BUNME° (Brandon University New Music) Canada
OCEAN for chamber orchestra (2012). Ocean was commissioned and premiered by the Brandon University New Music Ensemble (BUNME) Canada
Performances/exhibitions in national contexts
Performances 2011-2019
2018
Calmus Game Composer, performers and audience interact in real time, on-stage composition with the composing software CalmusComposer. Kjartan Ólafsson computer, Tinna Þorsteinsdóttir, Júlía Mogensen, cello and Pétur Jónasson, guitars
CalmusRemote for piano cello and electronics (2018) (Nordic Union Conference Reykjavik) „When the audience composes music...with Artificial Intelligence. The audience vote for a musical object“ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJmmVy-y4-E
2016
CalmusWaves for four dancers, saxophone quartet, piano and electronics (2016) CALMUS Waves is a dance project to a new composition created in real-time. CALMUS Waves was premiered at Reykjavík Art Festival 2016 and broadcasted at RUV - the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service in 2018.
https://vimeopro.com/brianfitzgibbon/calmus
—> Password: speriamo
Skammdegi (DarkMusicDays) https://www.darkmusicdays.is/erki-tnlist
Calmus21 (DarkMusicDays) https://www.darkmusicdays.is/erki-tnlist
2015
Calmus automata #2 - live composition (2014). Various instrumentalists participated in the making of this work through the course of the composition process – making the longest composition in Iceland - 6 hours and 10 seconds. (Premiered at Dark Music Days 2015)
2014
Atmosfare 3291 Electronic - DarkMusicDays
2013
OCEAN for chamber orchestra. Dark Music Days
In The Darkness of the Light - for clarinet, piano and electronics. Dark Music Days
Mozaik - for piano and electronics (2010) premiered at Dark Music Days
2011
Ár var alda electronic (Bristol concert)
Mozaic Saxophone quartet (DarkMusicDays)
Monetta Violin and Piano (DarkMusicDays)
Atmosphere electronic (DarkMusicDays)
For recordings (audio, visual, etc.) visit:
www.erkitonlist.is/portfolio/music-productions-2
ITM Iceland Information Center for scores:
