Sono Luminus Announces Partnership With Iceland Symphony

Sono Luminus announces a new recording partnership with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. The first recording will be conducted by composer/conductor Daníel Bjarnason, and will feature music by Icelandic composers Daníel Bjarnason, Thurídur Jónsdóttir, María Huld Markan, Hlynur A. Vilmarsson, and Anna Thorvaldsdóttir. The sessions will take place from December 5-9, 2016 at Harpa in Reykjavik, Iceland, and an April 2017 release date is planned.

"I'm thrilled about our new relationship with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra," Sono Luminus CEO Collin Rae says. "It is not only a spectacular step for all involved but also seemingly a very natural one! We look forward to bringing recordings of the ISO's impressive performances, showcasing some of today's most exciting Icelandic composers, to listeners."

Arna Kristin Einarsdottir, Managing Director of ISO says, "To record new Icelandic music is one of the most important role of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. Through our collaboration with Sono Luminus we are able to reach further and let Icelandic music be heard."

The new album will include Daníel Bjarnason's Emergence, Thurídur Jónsdóttir's Flow and Fusion, María Huld Markan's Aequora, Anna Thorvaldsdóttir's Dreaming, and a work by Hlynur A. Vilmarsson.

The Iceland Symphony Orchestra Founded in 1950, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra is the national orchestra of Iceland. Widely praised for its performances and recordings, each year the orchestra presents a full season of subscription series, school and family concerts, and concerts devoted to modern music. Since 2011, the orchestra's home has been Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavík.

Yan Pascal Tortelier assumed the post of Chief Conductor in September 2016, a role previously held by conductors such as Jean-Pierre Jacquillat, Petri Sakari, Rumon Gamba, Ilan Volkov and Osmo Vänskä, who currently holds the title of Principal Guest Conductor. Vladimir Ashkenazy has conducted the orchestra regularly since the early 1970s and now holds the position of Conductor Laureate. Daníel Bjarnason is the orchestra's Artist-in-Residence and is active in a variety of roles as conductor, composer, and educator.

The Iceland Symphony Orchestra has recorded for a number of international labels, including Deutsche Grammophon, BIS, Chandos and Naxos. The orchestra's complete cycle of Sibelius symphonies under the direction of Petri Sakari was praised by critics. Most recently, the orchestra recorded the complete orchestral works of Vincent d'Indy with Rumon Gamba for the Chandos label. The first volume of the series was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance.

The Iceland Symphony Orchestra has toured in Europe and the United States. Concerts abroad include appearances at the BBC Proms and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., as well as two concerts in Carnegie Hall, in 1996 and again in 2000. Writing in The New York Times, critic Alex Ross described the orchestra's performance under Osmo Vänskä as "sensational... one of the finest Sibelius performances I have encountered."

Sono Luminus was founded in 1995 by Sandy Lerner and Len Bosack, founders of Cisco Systems. Drawing upon their expertise in digital technologies as well as their love of music, they applied their experiences to realize a life-long dream: to develop and create a new paradigm for recorded sound, dedicated to the realization of true performance fidelity. To achieve this, Sono Luminus adopted a simple philosophy of "less is more," with a focus on natural, ambient acoustics.

As the first American record label to release audio projects on Pure Audio Blu-Ray technology, Sono Luminus specializes in the highest caliber of audio quality. Not only does this format guarantee the utmost in sonic experience available, it also gives Sono Luminus the ability to provide the consumer with high resolution 192k/24-bit stereo versions as well as 7.1, 96k/24-bit, and 5.1, 192k/24-bit surround sound. They are now expanding the immersive listening experience with the use of Auro-3D 9.1 recordings.

Sono Luminus owns and operates its own, state-of-the-art recording studio located in a nearly 100-year-old former Emmanuel Episcopal Chapel in rural Boyce, VA. In addition to a beautiful natural acoustic created by the 25-foot vaulted wood ceiling over a 35'x65′ original heart pine floor, Sono Luminus Studios has the capability of recording 24 simultaneous channels of audio with sample rates up to DXD (Digital eXtreme Definition) 352kHz/24-bit or DSD (Direct Stream Digital).

Under label CEO Collin Rae, who came to Sono Luminus in fall 2014 after working in the recording industry for many years at Naxos of America and Universal, the label is now focused on creating a unique voice within the vast world of recorded sound, developing relationships with some of today's most energizing classical music composers and performers. The label's commitment is to the music, the people who create it, and to recording and releasing it in the most dynamic way possible. In addition to producing new recordings, Sono Luminus also licenses and releases music that aligns with the label's philosophy and aesthetic under its SL Editions series.

Sono Luminus has received the Audio Engineering Society's Award of Excellence in High Resolution Audio (2007), twenty Grammy nominations, one Grammy award for Best Engineered Classical Album in 2009, and one Latin Grammy award for Best Classical Album in 2012.