Sámi musical tradition in dialogue with strings, horns and percussion

Singer, yoiker and artist Katarina Barruk, who grew up in Lusspie (Storuman) and Gajhrege (Gardfjäll), is one of the few young Sami who speaks Ume Sami fluently. With her uncompromising artistry and her catchy songs, she has become an important representative of her mother tongue. The wordless song comes first, she has said, followed by the text. This will be her third collaboration with the Norrlandsoperan Symphony Orchestra – but this time she is not doing it herself.

Hildá Länsman is an artist, joiker, songwriter and duojár from Utsjoki (Ohcejohka) and with this concert she makes her debut with the Norrlandsoperan Symphony Orchestra. Growing up in northern Finland, everyday life was characterized by reindeer herding, Sami handicrafts and music. She has been the frontman of several prominent Sami music groups, such as Solju, VILDÁ, and Gájanas. Recently, she released her first album in her own name, an electronic music collaboration with the Finnish artist and producer Tuomas Norvio.

Bjarni Frímann conducts

The concert and the Norrlandsoperan Symphony Orchestra are led by the Icelandic conductor, composer and musician Bjarni Frímann, who has already made a significant impression on the music world in his career. In 2018, Bjarni Frímann was appointed Music Director and Conductor of the Icelandic National Opera, where he led productions of Tosca, La Traviata, The Marriage of Figaro and Hänsel und Gretel, as well as world premieres of works by Anna Thorvaldsdóttir and Daníel Bjarnason. In the same year, he also took over as conductor-in-residence of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and has since guest-conducted orchestras such as the Hallé Orchestra, the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and the Orchestra Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.