Beethoven & Banjos Festival
The Upper Peninsula's Annual
Cross-Genre Music Festival
Beethoven and Banjos Music Festival is more than a simple presentation of the respective styles of classical and traditional music. The program integrates music and musicians from around the world to create new music and new interpretations of old music. It engages students in the creative process through interactive workshops. The music is selected for, composed about, and rehearsed in the Northwoods and is designed specifically for our audiences to celebrate our landscape, culture, and heritage.
Beethoven and Banjos musicians gather for an intensive week-long experience of preparation, writing, rehearsing, student programs, and performances. The freshness and intensity experienced during the residency is reflected in the performances and interactions with the audience.
The 2025 Festival
In 2025, Beethoven and Banjos will feature Icelandic Music with musicians Saeunn Thorsteinsdottir ( Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir ) and Haldor Smarason ( HALLDÓR SMÁRASON - Music ). Evan Premo performs with Saeunn through his work with Decoda (Affiliate Ensemble of Carnegie Hall). Saeunn and Haldor, along with Evan Premo (Home) and Laurel Premo (Laurel Premo) will present classical and folk music from Iceland.
Performances
Artists
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Icelandic cellist Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir enjoys a varied career as a performer, collaborator and artist teacher. She has appeared as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Iceland Symphony, among others, and her recital and chamber music performances have taken her across the US, Europe and Asia. Sæunn has performed in many of the world’s prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall, Elbphilharmonie, Barbican Center and Disney Hall and the Los Angeles Times praised her performances for their “emotional intensity”. An avid chamber musician, she has collaborated in performance with Itzhak Perlman, Mitsuko Uchida, Richard Goode and members of the Emerson, Guarneri and Cavani Quartets and has participated in numerous chamber music festivals, including Prussia Cove and Marlboro, with whom she has toured. Formerly Artist-in-Residence at Green Music Center’s Weill Hall in Sonoma as well as cellist of the Manhattan Piano Trio, she is currently cellist and founding member of Decoda, The Affiliate Ensemble of Carnegie Hall. Sæunn has garnered numerous prizes in international competitions, including the Naumburg Competition in New York and the Antonio Janigro Competition in Zagreb, Croatia. She is an alum of Ensemble Connect— a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute in partnership with the New York City Department of Education—performing chamber music at Carnegie Hall and bringing classical music to students in the New York City Public Schools.
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Halldór Smárason completed a B.A. degree in composition from the Iceland University of the Arts in 2012 and an M.M. degree from the Manhattan School of Music in 2014 as a Fulbright-grantee. Through the years his teachers include composers Dr. Reiko Füting, Atli Ingólfsson and Tryggvi M. Baldvinsson. Halldór has received numerous grants and awards, including a six-week residency at Civitella Ranieri in Italy. He has received the Icelandic artist’s salaries seven times and has received three nominations for the Icelandic Music Awards. In 2020, he released his debut album STARA on the Sono Luminus label. Halldór has worked with many renowned artists in Iceland and abroad, including the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart Radio Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and many chamber ensembles, including Ensemble intercontemporain and Caput.
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Laurel Premo is known for her rhythmically deep and rapt delivery of roots music, voiced on finger-style electric guitar, lap steel, fiddle, and voice. The glowing heartiness and rich grit of her sound reveal a love of and complete submersion in heavy archaic roots—from the crossover of old-time and blues American traditions to darker Nordic sounds. She is a Michigan-based artist who has been writing, arranging, and touring since 2009 with vocal and instrumental roots acts, and is internationally known from her duo Red Tail Ring. Her 2021 solo release, ‘Golden Loam’, continues Laurel’s sonic raising of old wild landscape, with ruminant power, a masterful use of space, and dynamic waves of warm, gritty sustain. “Subtle but dazzling and rich in texture. Watching a live performance is pure hypnosis.” – MTV Laurel Premo has spent her life immersed in American and Nordic folk traditions. Now both new compositions and arrangements of older music are held in a living relationship with tradition, musically revealing a bloom of underlying harmonic drones, minimalist repetition, and rich polyrhythm.
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Musician/Composer/Sound Artist Evan Premo creates musical experiences that explore the intersection of consciousness, spirituality, and artistic expression. A deep listener with an insatiable curiosity about life’s mysteries, Evan’s cutting-edge work traverses the boundaries of knowing through the language of sound. His latest work delves into the intersections of science, spirituality, and artistic expression. As a passionate Teaching Artist with 15 years of experience in Vermont, Evan has worked to inspire and educate the next generation of musicians. He trained through a prestigious two-year residency with Ensemble Connect, a program affiliated with Carnegie Hall, where he honed his skills as both a performer and educator. Evan’s teaching integrates his diverse musical experiences, fostering a deep understanding of sound, collaboration, and artistry in students. He is also listed on the Vermont Arts Council Teaching Artist Roster, which reflects his dedication to the local arts community. Evan is a founding member of Decoda, a society of virtuoso chamber musicians, arts advocates, and educators affiliated with Carnegie Hall, with which he has performed around the world. His other performances include appearances at Carnegie Hall and on National Public Radio’s Performance Today. Evan’s compositions have been commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony Chamber Orchestra, The Pine Mountain Music Festival, and Aizuri Quartet, among others. He is the Artistic Director of Northwoods Music Collaborative, which includes the annual Beethoven and Banjos Festival. He is certified in Deep Listening and completed degrees in Composition and Performance at the University of Michigan, where he received the highest honor for outstanding public performance. He also received a post-graduate fellowship position from Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute.
Archives
“Stunning! Most heartfelt, moving music I have ever heard. Thank you!”
– BEETHOVEN & BANJOS ATTENDEE