About

Fjóla Evans is a Canadian/Icelandic composer and cellist whose work explores the visceral physicality of sound while drawing inspiration from patterns of natural phenomena. Her music has been described as “a gorgeous tangle of colliding harmony and rhythm” (Peter Margasak, Bandcamp Daily) and having an “atmosphere so mysterious and dark that we might feel we entered a secret chamber to hear the time passing.” (Ivana Popovic, The Whole Note). Fjóla composes in a range of media, from electronic music, to works for symphony orchestra, choir, and electric guitar quartet.

Commissions and performances have come from musicians such as Bang on a Can All-Stars pianist Vicky Chow, Grammy-winning ensemble eighth blackbird, and the Residentie Orkest of the Netherlands. Her work has been featured on the MATA Festival, Bang on a Can Marathon, Gaudeamus Music Week, Cello Biennale Amsterdam 2020, Ung Nordisk Musik, and the American Composers Orchestra's SONiC Festival.

As a performer, she has presented her own work at venues such as Cluster Festival of New Music, (le) poisson rouge, Mengi in Reykjavík, and at Toronto's Music Gallery. Fjóla has participated in residencies at the Banff Centre for the Arts, and KulturKontakt Austria, among others. She has studied composition with Julia Wolfe, cello performance with Matt Haimovitz, and completed a master’s degree in composition at the Yale School of Music. In September 2019 she began doctoral studies in composition at Columbia University where her research is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Recent and upcoming projects include a string quintet, Moss, written for the Aizuri Quartet commissioned by the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto, Hraunflæði: a new work for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra as part of their NextGen Composers commissioning program, Íslenzk Ferðaflóra: a song cycle for Dúplum duo based on a taxonomy of Icelandic plant life, and a commission for violinist Ilana Waniuk exploring the secret lives of mushrooms. Recent releases include VC2 cello duo’s rendition of Ridge & Furrow on the album Beethoven’s Cellists, and Ashley Bathgate’s recording of Augun for multi-tracked cello out on New Focus Recordings. Fjóla is the 2017 winner of the Robert Fleming Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts.