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KIMI Ensemble at Mechanics' Hall

KIMI is a Copenhagen based trio with Greek percussionist Katerina Anagnostidou, Icelandic accordionist Jónas Ásgeirsson and Icelandic soprano Þórgunnur Anna Örnólfsdóttir. KIMI performs new music written for their exciting and unique instrumentation, as well as composing folk-inspired original works, mostly based on melodies from their native countries Iceland and Greece. They have collaborated with numerous composers from across the world, including Marianna Filippi (USA), Nick Martin (UK), Christos Farmakis (GR) and Hugi Guðmundsson (IS), to name a few.

KIMI was nominated for Concert of the year at the Iceland Music Awards, and being chosen ensemble-in-residence for Skálholt Summer Concerts festival. They recently released an EP with Dacapo Records.

KIMI will be bringing a brand new program to Maine this July as part of their U.S. debut. Their first concert will be at the Camden Opera House on the 8th of July at 7:30 p.m., followed by a performance at Mechanic's Hall in Portland on the 10th of July at 4 p.m. The repertoire is an exciting selection of original works written for their distinctive instrumentation. They open with Nick Martin's Bittersweet, a gorgeously yearning piece of music inspired by the renaissance. Armed with texts of Sappho and Juan Ramón Jimenez, Nick creates a deeply touching soundscape, equally at home in a cathedral as in a lover's embrace. Next, KIMI pay homage to their Greek connection, with Christos Farmakis's Like dreams of the dawn and scarecrows of the night, based on poems by Kostis Palamas, Greece's unofficial national poet. While composing the piece, Christos imagined that he was weaving a mystical veil, lending the epic poem a fitting garment. The work is in three movements, whose evocative titles give a clear impression of their characters: 1. Silence, 2. Witches milking the moon and 3. Rain of Blood.

After the intermission, KIMI will perform Through the Eyes of an Octopus, a piece they commissioned from Marianna Filippi, a former resident of Camden, ME and current Copenhagener. The piece, inspired by the Oscar-winning film My Octopus Teacher is a fast-paced adventure through a day in the life of the incredible ocean-dweller. With Portland-based writer Megan Grumbling's explosive lyrics such as 'Clench!', 'Spool!' and 'Ten-ta-cle!', Marianna whisks between expressions and emotions with as much speed and skill as an octopus changing its colors. The final piece on the program is a brand new composition, MEDEA VERSES, by Icelandic composer Hugi Guðmundsson, receiving its first performance on this tour. Hugi took inspiration from KIMI's Greek roots and wrote a piece exploring the modern lessons to be gleamed from the ancient Greek tragedy of Medea, a sorceress who murdered her own children to spite her former lover. Though it is a shockingly dark subject matter, Hugi manages to keep the mood light by including an impromptu pop melody as one of the four movements, entitled 'Erotic Love with too much passion', as well as quoting a surprisingly optimistic message from the ancient text of Euripides: 'Honor is coming to the female sex. Slander will no longer injure women’.

KIMI’s tour is graciously supported by the Danish Arts Foundation and SNYK / Art Music Denmark.

7/10/2022 at 4 p.m.