It was a good weekend

It was a good weekend for composer Arnannguaq Gerstrøm. On Friday afternoon, she received notice that she is one of five recipients of the Danish Composers' Association's composer grant Nye Veje.

The grant is 100,000 kroner and will be used for further study. Arnannguaq Gerstrøm will use the grant to further study his musical language.

- It's a little bit nerdy, but it means a lot to have time and space to immerse myself in a project that I call "The Silent Material". In short, I am investigating how I translate nature's movements - for example, waves - into music in my own musical language, explains Arnannguaq Gerstrøm.

- As a composer, you work a lot with commissions that are supposed to end in a specific piece of music. This gives me the opportunity to delve into it without having a requirement for a finished work hanging over my head.

- I am deeply grateful for the trust that comes with the scholarship. Nature's quiet rhythms, great contrasts and my roots from Greenland and Denmark are the foundation of my music, and it is a great gift to have the time and space to explore it even deeper.

Live from music

Arnannguaq Gerstrøm was born and raised in Greenland and has lived in Ilulissat and Nuuk. She has attended music conservatories in Denmark, Sweden and England.

After completing her education, she returned to Greenland, where she conducted orchestras and choirs for several years and helped found Greenland's first symphony orchestra. Since 2009, she has created scores for symphony orchestras, ensembles and choirs in Greenland and internationally, and has also worked on interdisciplinary projects.

Today, she works based in Denmark as a composer, conductor and flautist, with commissions from soloists, choirs, ensembles and orchestras from all over the world. She works primarily with score music – music written as musical notations in scores, so that professional musicians can perform the works anywhere, without the composer having to be present. This is the form of music most often used by symphony orchestras, choirs and chamber ensembles.

She recently had a choral work premiered by Roskilde Cathedral's Girls' Choir, and her next premiere will be on February 21st with the Danish Entertainment Orchestra in connection with a DR project.