Björk has announced a new series of orchestra livestreams. On August 9, 15, and 23, she will perform shows at Harpa Hall in Reykjavík to a live audience. For the first show, she’ll be accompanied by the Hamrahlíð Choir. The second and third shows will feature players from the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra; strings on the August 15 show and the brass section for the August 23 show, along with the flute septet Viibra. As Björk tells it, the concerts will be “unplugged… performed without beats and electronics.” The shows are being produced in association with Iceland Airwaves.
Fans will be given the opportunity to tune into the livestreams for each of these shows, which are raising money and awareness for Kvennaathvarfið, a women’s shelter in Reykjavík. Iceland-based fans interested in attending the concerts can get tickets here; they go on pre-order July 2, with the general sale beginning July 3.
“I feel we are going through extraordinary times, horrifying but also an opportunity to truly change,” Björk wrote in a statement announcing the performances. “It is demanded of us that we finally confront all racism, that we learn that lives are more important that profit, and look inside us and finecomb out all our hidden prejudices and privileges.”
Björk previously planned to perform orchestral dates in cities throughout Europe in 2020 before the coronavirus forced her to postpone those shows to 2021. Her latest album Utopia was released in 2017.
Read Pitchfork’s recent Sunday Review of Björk’s 1995 album Post.