Laufey
has enchanted listeners the world over with her mesmerising voice and her songwriting, which harks back to the old jazz masters and yet incorporates fresh streams from contemporary popular music. She has been praised by reviewers from Rolling Stone and American Songwriter magazines, among others. Laufey has appeared on television shows such as Jimmy Kimmel Live, where she performed her song “Like the Movies”, and has collaborated with the London Philharmonic. It is a privilege for the ISO to work with Laufey on this performance, which includes several of her own songs, as well as time-honoured Icelandic and foreign jazz favourites.

Hugh Brunt has earned an outstanding reputation as an orchestral conductor, both as artistic director of the London Contemporary Orchestra and as a guest conductor in the UK including with the BBC Concert Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Orchestra of Opera North. He has also worked extensively internationally with orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. He is also known for his work with film, and for his collaborations with artists including Jonny Greenwood, Mica Levi, Beck, Bryce Dessner and Radiohead. He has appeared at the BBC Proms, Aldeburgh Festival and at the National Theatre with the Southbank Sinfonia, as well as working closely with the City of London Sinfonia. His last appearance with the ISO was in 2016, when he conducted a concert featuring Emiliana Torrini.

“As a musician, my goal is to bring jazz and classical music to my generation through a more accessible road,” declares the composer, singer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Laufey. In 2022, the Icelandic-Chinese artist’s trailblazing approach paid off, with a performance on Jimmy Kimmel LIVE! in support of her first full-length Everything I Know About Love, sold out tours of North America, Asia, and Australia, and she was the most streamed jazz artist of the year on Spotify.

The Los Angeles-based Laufey (pronounced lāy-vāy) continued her story by writing and recording Bewitched, her second album. Inspired by jazz greats and classical masters while possessing a point of view that could only be conveyed by a 21st-century twentysomething, Bewitched represents an expansion of Laufey’s sonic palette. Tracks like the breezy bossa nova cut “From the Start” and the smoldering string-assisted ballad “Promise” have classic songcraft and intricate arrangements that make them feel instantly timeless, while Laufey’s conversational lyrics give her music a relatability to the next generation of jazz and classical aficionados.

Laufey’s self-assured musicianship and deeply felt lyrics take the idea of “classic” music, whether it’s slotted as classical or jazz—or even chart-topping pop—and humanize it, creating a deep-seated connection with listeners that goes deeper than hitting “play” on a streaming service. “There are very few examples of artists who are onstage with an orchestra one day and making TikToks the next,” she notes dryly. Laufey’s straddling of those two worlds has put her in a singular place across music, and with Bewitched, she’s ready to ascend to the next level.