{"id":3302,"date":"2016-10-18T17:50:44","date_gmt":"2016-10-19T00:50:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/culturecrash\/?p=3302"},"modified":"2016-10-19T15:22:19","modified_gmt":"2016-10-19T22:22:19","slug":"the-bizarre-wonder-of-the-iceland-concert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/culturecrash\/2016\/10\/the-bizarre-wonder-of-the-iceland-concert.html","title":{"rendered":"The bizarre wonder of The Iceland Concert"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"iceland1\"<\/a>

Photo Kevin Campbell<\/p><\/div>\n

[contextly_auto_sidebar]<\/p>\n

About a week ago I went to see a cryptically named sort-of opera called “The Iceland Concert<\/a>” at the John Anson Ford Amphitheater. I went mostly because of a vague interest in Scandinavian culture, because I was curious about the renovation of one of my favorite LA theaters, and because I trust the taste of the publicist. It didn’t hurt that the success of groups like Yuval Sharon’s The Industry and Chris Rountree’s wild Up have made Southern California a lively center for new music lately; I hoped this might end up being another part of that unfolding story.<\/p>\n

“The Iceland Concert,” by the longtime LA group Overtone Industries, who are new to me, tells the tale of a brooding, itinerant Irishman who bumps into a black woman he used to know while walking through an airport; the two were once involved but had drifted apart. After the meeting, they disappear into a folkloric Icelandic setting complete with bizarre woodland creatures. And that’s about all I know or can describe lucidly. I got a bit lost in the storytelling — probably my fault, not the production’s — but the music and setting could hardly have been bettered.<\/p>\n

\"iceland2\"<\/a>

Photo Kevin Campbell<\/p><\/div>\n

Because the Ford is cut into the hillside near the Cahuenga Pass, and is smartly tiered, with running water and small plazas, it created a rustic, sophisticated, vaguely European environment for the piece.<\/p>\n

The renovation of the Ford — which was built in 1920, burned down in 1929, and re-opened in 1931 — doesn’t appear to be complete yet, but it looks good so far, and was a very comfortable place to hang out before the show and at intermissions. (The seating area at least so far, does not appear to have been changed.)<\/p>\n

The big surprise was the music. A 10-piece chamber orchestra and 12-voice choir onstage provided the accompaniment to music that was at times in the classical tradition, but also went other places: The woman, Vala, (played by Cesili Williams) sang in a very restrained R&B\u00a0style. Her\u00a0old flame, Mundi (played by Irish musician\u00a0Emmett Tinley) sang and\u00a0played guitar in a vaguely folky or Celtic mode,\u00a0with touches of early Van Morrison crossed with Thom Yorke. It\u00a0should not have all worked well together, but it did.<\/p>\n

My only regret is that “The Iceland Concert,” which was written by O-Lan Jones and Tinley, and directed by Ken Roht, only played for one night. I’ll look forward to what this crew, and Overtone Industries in general, cooks up next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[contextly_auto_sidebar] About a week ago I went to see a cryptically named sort-of opera called “The Iceland Concert” at the John Anson Ford Amphitheater. I went mostly because of a vague interest in Scandinavian culture, because I was curious about the renovation of one of my favorite LA theaters, and because I trust the taste […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[40,30,1,29],"tags":[722,724,723,721],"class_list":{"0":"post-3302","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-indie","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"category-uncategorized","9":"category-west-coast","10":"tag-classical","11":"tag-folk-music","12":"tag-john-anson-ford","13":"tag-opera","14":"entry","15":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/culturecrash\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/culturecrash\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/culturecrash\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/culturecrash\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/culturecrash\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3302"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/culturecrash\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3310,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/culturecrash\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3302\/revisions\/3310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/culturecrash\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/culturecrash\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/culturecrash\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}