Anna Thorvaldsdottir to Unveil "Shadows of Solace" Symphony, Opera, and Global Residencies

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UR_ will be directed by Netia Jones, associate director of The Royal Opera.

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Composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir's 2026-2027 season will include premiere performances of her new symphony Shadows of Solace, a new production of her chamber opera UR_ directed by Netia Jones, associate director of The Royal Opera, and continued performances of her major orchestral works around the world.

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Anna Thorvaldsdottir's 'seemingly boundless textural imagination' (The New York Times) and striking sound world has made her 'one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary music' (NPR). Her music is composed as much by sounds and nuances as by harmonies and lyricism – it is written as an ecosystem of sounds, where materials continuously grow in and out of each other so that the familiar becomes abstract and the abstract feels familiar.

Anna Thorvaldsdottir's 2026-2027 season (July 2026 to June 2027) features performances of her music in more than 17 countries including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, England, Finland, Germany, Iceland, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United States, with 22 orchestras performing her works in 13 countries. Her current schedule is available at www.annathorvalds.com/performances and will be updated with additional performances throughout the year.

A major highlight of the season will be the premiere performances of Anna Thorvaldsdottir's new symphony, Shadows of Solace. The work is a critical addition to Thorvaldsdottir's 'ever-growing and ever more essential catalogue of orchestral pieces' (BBC Radio 3), her unique command of the orchestra on vivid display. Two of the co-commissioning orchestras, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Dalia Stasevska (world premiere, January 27-28, 2027) and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra conducted by Tabita Berglund (country premiere, March 11, 2027), will perform the monumental new 38-minute piece this season. The other two co-commissioners, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, will perform Shadows of Solace in future seasons.

'Shadows of Solace is a deeply personal piece but at the same time centers around shared human themes,' Anna says. 'I invite the audience into this world and to make it their own.'

In addition, Anna's chamber opera UR_ will have its UK premiere in a new production directed and designed by Netia Jones, Associate Director of The Royal Opera, from 27 May to 2 June 2027 at the Royal Opera House's Linbury Theatre. In addition to composing the opera, Anna also created the narrative, words, and phonetic textures with title and additional text by Mette Karlsvik. The one-hour opera was commissioned in 2015 by Far North in cooperation with Theater Trier in Germany, Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival, and the Norwegian National Opera. These performances of UR_ follow The Royal Ballet's performances in 2023 and 2026 of Wayne McGregor 's Untitled, choreographed to Anna Thorvaldsdottir's METACOSMOS and CATAMORPHOSIS.

Following her appointment as the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich's Creative Chair in 2024-2025 and her role as Composer-in-Residence with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (HPO) in 2025-2026, Anna is now serving as Composer-in-Residence of Bozar, Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels and the Composer-in-Residence of the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra in Norway for the 2026-2027 season.

From September 2026 through June 2027, Bozar presents a wide range of Anna's music as part of her 2026–2027 residency. The season opened on 11 September 2026 with Aeriality, performed by the Belgian National Orchestra conducted by Michael Halls. On 15 November 2026, Quatuor Diotima will perform selections from Anna's string quartet Enigma, followed on 25 November 2026 by Het Collectief's performance of Spectra for chamber ensemble. On 4 December 2026, the Belgian National Orchestra conducted by Eva Ollikainen performs CATAMORPHOSIS, and on 16 January 2027 the Antwerpen Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Osmo Vänskä, brings METACOSMOS to Bozar. The residency continues on 28 May 2027 with the Belgian premiere of Anna's cello concerto Before we fall performed by Julian Steckel with the Belgian National Orchestra, Michael Schønwandt conducting. The residency culminates on 21 June 2027 with Anna's orchestral music-installation piece for deconstructed orchestra, METAXIS, performed by the Belgian National Orchestra under Tom Decat the multi-level Galerie Ravenstein. METAXIS is an immersive orchestral work which invites audiences to move freely among the musicians, who are spread throughout the space.

From August 2026 through May 2027, the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra will feature three works by Anna Thorvaldsdottir as part of her residency. On 20 August 2026, the orchestra opened its season with METACOSMOS conducted by Andrew Manze at Stavanger Concert Hall. On 1 October 2026, the orchestra gave the Scandinavian premiere of Anna's cello concerto Before we fall performed by Johannes Moser with Joshua Weilerstein conducting. For the concluding performance on 13 May 2027, the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra will perform METAXIS, conducted by Ingar Bergby and assisted by Rui Marques, in the architecturally striking multi-level Stavanger Concert Hall foyer.

Anna's large orchestral works METACOSMOS (2017), CATAMORPHOSIS (2020), ARCHORA (2022), and her cello concerto Before we fall (2025) continue to receive country and local premieres as well as repeat performances throughout the world.

Anna Thorvaldsdottir's 'volcanic' (The Times) cello concerto Before we fall was written for cellist Johannes Moser, and co-commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony, BBC Proms, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic, and Odense Symphony Orchestra. Of its world premiere by the San Francisco Symphony led by Dalia Stasevska in May 2025, the San Francisco Chronicle raved, 'Thorvaldsdottir's new cello concerto, Before We Fall, is a banger, sonically and intellectually. . . Moser played throughout with both thrilling splendor and fierce intimacy. . .Thorvaldsdottir's sound world, both delicate and massive, is like no other. . . in [Dalia] Stasevska's hands, [it] induced a trancelike sense of being outside of time.' The UK premiere at the BBC Proms by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ollikainen was similarly praised, with The Guardian reporting that 'the concerto has an elemental, immersive quality, its symphonic textures seeming at times to breath as if a living organism.'

Before we fall will have at least seven performances this season. In addition to the performances by the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and Belgian National Orchestra, the Odense Symphony Orchestra, a co-commissioner of the piece, gives the Danish premiere conducted by Pierre Bleuse (8 October 2026); the Philharmonisches Orchester Freiburg, with Valerie Fritz as soloist and conducted by André de Ridder, performs at the Konzerthaus in Freiburg, Germany (15 December 2026). The Taiwan National Symphony Orchestra, with Johannes Moser as soloist and conducted by Olari Elts, gives the piece's Asian premiere at the National Concert Hall in Taipei (13 March 2027). The Real Filharmonía de Galicia, also with Johannes Moser and conducted by Baldur Brönnimann, performs the work twice in Spain at the Auditorio de Galicia in Santiago de Compostela (18 March 2027) and the Palacio da Ópera in A Coruña (20 March 2027).

ARCHORA will have at least ten performances this season, bringing the total number of performances of the work to over fifty since its premiere in 2022. The Oslo Philharmonic conducted by Dalia Stasevska performed the piece at Oslo Concert Hall (3 September 2026); the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin conducted by Stasevska performs ARCHORA at the Berlin Philharmonie (8 November 2026); the Detroit Symphony Orchestra conducted by Tabita Berglund gives three performances at Orchestra Hall in Detroit, Michigan (14-16 January 2027); the Juilliard Orchestra conducted by Stasevska performs the work at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall in New York City (31 March 2027); and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra conducted by Stasevska gives four performances in Sydney, Australia (21-24 April 2027).

Of the world premiere of ARCHORA, The Guardian reported, 'Anna Thorvaldsdottir's music is about mass and density, how different planes of sounds collide and combine, and how intricately detailed textures evolve over time. Those qualities make the orchestra the obvious medium for her work, and it has largely been through her sequence of strikingly effective orchestral scores that the Iceland-born composer has become recognised as one of the most distinctive voices in European music today.' ARCHORA was commissioned by the BBC Proms and co-commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, and Klangspuren Schwaz, and was premiered in August 2022 at the BBC Proms by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and Ollikainen in a concert selected as among The Guardian's Classical Highlights of 2022.

CATAMORPHOSIS will be performed several times this season, bringing the total number of performances of the piece to over fifty since 2021. Performances this season include the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic conducted by Anna Sułkowska-Migoń at the National Forum of Music in Wrocław, Poland (30 April 2027); the Belgian National Orchestra conducted by Eva Ollikainen at Bozar in Brussels, as part of Thorvaldsdottir's residency (4 December 2026); the Antwerpen Symphony Orchestra conducted by Karel Deseure at Queen Elisabeth Hall in Antwerpen (20 February 2027); and the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin conducted by André de Ridder at the Konzerthaus Berlin (10 June 2027), the third Berlin orchestra to perform the piece, the work having previously been performed by the Berlin Philharmonic (world premiere) and by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.

CATAMORPHOSIS, premiered in 2021, was commissioned by the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Iceland Symphony Orchestra. Of the piece The Guardian reported, 'Thorvaldsdottir's impressive new work was detailed and powerful ... Lasting around 20 minutes, it's a single movement of restrained power, a continuum of shifting, colliding layers of sound, which are minutely detailed in the score yet manage to seem simultaneously massive and delicate as they move from dense chromaticism to moments of almost lucid tonality ... this scrupulously prepared and wonderfully performed premiere showed that it's a piece that stands entirely on its own feet, creating an utterly convincing musical world.'

METACOSMOS will have at least seven performances this season. The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Tabita Berglund performed the piece twice at Konserthuset in Stockholm (23–24 September 2026); the Brockton Symphony Orchestra conducted by John Masko performs at Christ Congregational Church in Brockton, Massachusetts (18 October 2026); the University of Utah Philharmonia conducted by Robert Baldwin performs at Libby Gardner Hall in Salt Lake City, Utah (9 December 2026). The Antwerpen Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Osmo Vänskä, gives two performances at Queen Elisabeth Hall in Antwerpen (15 January) and at Bozar in Brussels as part of Thorvaldsdottir's residency (16 January). The Horsham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Steve Dummer performs the piece at The Capitol in Horsham, England (26 June

_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwtv/article/Photos-Anna-Thorvaldsdottir-to-Premiere-SHADOWS-OF-SOLACE-Symphony-20261005)._