Krishna Nagaraja & Scandinavian Spirits
Scandinavian Spirits
Brú is a project whose flexible format features musicians active in the European baroque music scene. Its musical style merges the eloquence of early music on period instruments with the fresh vitality of folk music from Ireland, Scotland, and the Nordic countries, combined in original arrangements and compositions written by Krishna Nagaraja.
Brú members embrace a wide variety of influences: the historically informed practice gained in hundreds of concerts, the delight of playing “non-classical” music, and most of all the urge to renew themselves constantly searching for different sources of inspiration. Each musician brings their own unique ingredient to the “inexhaustible cauldron”, giving life to kaleidoscopic musical creations; and it is this very company of artists who, for the first, must not go away “unsatisfied”.
After a debut tour in Finland in 2014, the group played in several European festivals and venues such as the MA Early Music Festival and the Concertgebouw Series in Bruges, the Warsaw Philharmonia, the MiTo Settembremusica Festival in Milan and Turin, the Café Barock Series in Helsinki and Tampere, the Early Music Festival in Oulu, and the East Cork Early Music Festival.
Brú will record its first CD in the spring of 2024, entitled “Sjungande Danser” and devoted to folk music for singing and dancing from the Nordic traditions.
Krishna Nagaraja
Violinist, violist, composer, arranger, researcher, formerly also singer and beatboxer, Krishna Nagaraja has always approached music from many different directions. Over the years, his path led him to the baroque violin and viola, performing with renowned groups in his native Italy and abroad. His passion for folk music also steered him towards Irish, Scottish, Breton, and Nordic traditions. In 2014 he obtained a master’s degree in Global Music at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, where in 2022 he completed an artistic PhD project on the hybridisation of Nordic folk music with other elements.
Within this framework he experimented with the interaction between musical genres and styles, mixing folk with baroque and contemporary music in original arrangements and compositions. One of his latest achievements is the CD “Tales from Norway”, published in 2022, featuring two compositions based on Norwegian folk music performed by string quartet Meta4 and himself on the Hardanger fiddle. The recording was nominated at the Finnish Grammy Awards in the category of Classical Album of the Year, and its repertoire is currently being performed in several countries both in Europe and overseas. He is currently conducting an artistic research project around polyrhythms as structures for the composition of new pieces.