Fjóla Evans, a Canadian composer and cellist originally from Reykjavík, Iceland, writes both electronic and acoustic music. Her works are informed by her cello performance practice, using structures where timbral hierarchy dictates the musical development. Commissions and performances have come from ensembles such as the JACK Quartet, Contemporaneous, Bearthoven trio, and Architek Percussion. Her work has been featured on the MATA Festival, Ung Nordisk Musik, and the American Composers Orchestra's SONiC Festival. Current projects include commissions from Viðarneisti duo, Bang on a Can All-Stars pianist Vicky Chow, and an evening length work for cello and electronics based on Icelandic folk song.
As a performer, she has presented her own work at the Cluster Festival of New Music, núna (now), and at Toronto's the Music Gallery. She has performed with ensembles such as Hotel Elefant, singer/producer Lydia Ainsworth, and Bing & Ruth. A graduate of McGill University where she studied with cellist Matt Haimovitz, Fjóla recently completed her master's degree in composition with Prof. Julia Wolfe at NYU Steinhardt. Fjóla was the winner of GroundSwell's Emerging Canadian Composers Competition, and recently collaborated with instrument maker Merche Blasco on a piece for three sopranos and theremin orchestra. She has participated in the Bang on a Can contemporary music festival in Massachusetts, both as a composer and as a cellist, in the Soundstreams 2016 Emerging Composer Workshop studying with mentor composer Steve Reich, and has attended residencies at the Banff Centre for the Arts, KulturKontakt Austria, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center, and the Old School Arthouse in Hrísey, Iceland. Her work has been supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the SOCAN Foundation. Fjóla will be pursuing graduate studies in composition at the Yale School of Music starting in the fall of 2016.
