Northscapes Ieva Jokubaviciute

• Lasse Thoresen (b. 1949):
• 1 Thoresen: Invocations, Op. 52 (Excerpts): No. 1, Invocation of Pristine Light 07:55
• Anna Thorvaldsdottir (b. 1977):
• 2 Thorvaldsdottir: Scape 07:42
• Bent Sørensen (b. 1958): 12 Nocturnes (Excerpts):
• 3 Sørensen: 12 Nocturnes (Excerpts): No. 1, Mignon [Und die Sonne geht Unter] 04:08
• 4 Sørensen: 12 Nocturnes (Excerpts): No. 3, Nachtlicher Fluss 01:16
• 5 Sørensen: 12 Nocturnes (Excerpts): No. 7, Mitternacht mit Mignon 02:46
• Kaija Saariaho (b. 1952):
• 6 Saariaho: Prelude for Solo Piano 06:58
• Raminta Šerkšnytė (b. 1975):
• 7 Šerkšnytė: Fantasia for Solo Piano 10:18
• Pēteris Vasks (b. 1946):
• 8 Vasks: Music for a Summer Evening 05:57
• Lasse Thoresen:
• 9 Thoresen: Invocations, Op. 52 (Excerpts): No. 2, Invocation of Rising Air 07:44
• Total Runtime 54:44

Info for Northscapes

The recording project Northscapes weaves works—from the first decades of the twenty-first century by composers from the Nordic and Baltic countries of Europe—into a tapestry of soundscapes, vibrating between landscape and the imagination, between the external and internal, between nature and psyche. What these works for piano solo share is a particular attunement to nature, reverberating out of the ever-present reservoir of pagan myths, legends, and folk music of the region. Their sensitivity to the sonic environment allows these composers to explore the liminal space dividing yet connecting landscape, soundscape, and mindscape.

More than mere musical “representations” of the striking natural landscapes of the North, each work, in its own way, attempts to transform the natural world into a sonic landscape, a mindscape, into imaginary geographies. More than simply pastoral nostalgia, these sonic meditations on nature reach beyond the physical to the spiritual, probing the limit dividing the objective and subjective. Whether it is vast cosmic space or the intimate, interiority of the expressive voice, these works harness the power of music to probe the emotional contours of the tension between world and mind. Haunted by landscapes colored by memory, fantasy, dreams, decay and infused with emotion, this music shifts consciousness through a transformational synthesis of landscape, soundscape, and mindscape—a shift from imaginary soundscapes to soundscapes of the imagination. In the hands of Lithuanian pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute, Northscapes is a sonic Aurora Borealis, Northern Lights of the ear and mind. (Christopher Zimmerman)

Ieva Jokubaviciute, piano

Ieva Jokubaviciute
Lithuanian pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute’s powerfully and intricately crafted performances have earned her critical acclaim throughout North America and Europe. Her ability to communicate the essential substance of a work has led critics to describe her as possessing ‘razor-sharp intelligence and wit' and ‘subtle, complex, almost impossibly detailed and riveting in every way’ (The Washington Post) and as ‘an artist of commanding technique, refined temperament and persuasive insight.’(The New York Times). In 2006, she was honored as a recipient of a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship.

Labor Records released Ieva’s debut recording in 2010 to critical international acclaim, which resulted in recitals in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore, DC, Vilnius, and Toulouse. She made her orchestral debuts with the Chicago Symphony; in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; with the American Youth Philharmonic in 2016, and in February 2017, Ieva was the soloist with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Montevideo in Uruguay. Her piano trio—Trio Cavatina—won the 2009 Naumburg International Chamber Music Competition. Ieva’s latest recording: Returning Paths: solo piano works by Janacek and Suk was also released to critical acclaim in 2014.

In the fall of 2016, Ieva began a collaboration with the violinist Midori, with recitals in Canada, at the Cartagena International Music Festival in Colombia, and in Germany and Austria. Since, they have given recitals in Japan, Germany, Austria, Poland, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, India, and Sri Lanka. ​

Jokubaviciute’s latest piano solo recording Northscapes will be released in 2021. This recording project weaves works, written within the last decade by composers from the Nordic and Baltic countries of Europe, into a tapestry of soundscapes that echo the reverberations between landscape, sound, and the imagination. This recording will include works by: Kaja Saariaho, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Raminta Šerkšnyte, Lasse Thoresen, Bent Sorensen, and Pēteris Vasks. ​

A much sought after chamber musician and collaborator, Ieva regularly tours and appears at international music festivals including: Marlboro; Ravinia; Bard; Caramoor; Chesapeake Chamber Music; Prussia Cove in Cornwall, England; and Festival de la musique de chambre at La Lointaine in France. She has participated in the Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Lubeck, Germany; the Katrina Chamber Music Festival, Aland Islands, Finland; the Oulunsalo Chamber Music Festival in Oulunsalo, Finland; the Joaquin Turina Chamber Music Festival in Seville, Spain; and Music in the Vineyards in Napa Valley, CA; the Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival in Burlington, VT; Salt Bay Chamber Music Festival in Maine, and the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival at East Carolina University.

Earning degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and from Mannes College of Music in New York City, her principal teachers have been Seymour Lipkin and Richard Goode. Currently, Ieva is Associate Professor of the Practice of Piano at Duke University in Durham, NC having previously been on the faculty at Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, VA. Ieva is also on the faculty at the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music School and Festival in Blue Hill, ME and has established herself as a mentoring artist at the Marlboro Music Festival in Marlboro, VT.

Booklet for Northscapes