Hannah Federley Holmkvist was born and raised in Malmö, Sweden. Having parents with diverse musical interests, Hannah grew up exploring many different genres. During her childhood and teenage years, Hannah had the possibility to try many styles and she played classical, punk, surf, folk and electronic music. The wide exploration created an insatiable interest and love for music and sounds. Hannah found early on her enjoyment the happiness of writing her own songs and composing for the piano and the guitar. In recent years, an eagerness and curiosity for new modes of expressions has led Hannah in to contemporary classical music. She is currently undertaking her bachelor degree in composition at The School of Music in Piteå, at Luleå University of Technology. In the future, Hannah is looking forward to continuing her musical exploration, developing her compositional range and knowledge.

Slow Dance of Feather or
Communication in Space

fl, cl, perc, pno, vln, vla, vlc

In the summer of 2021, Hannah Federley Holmkvist started writing ”Slow Dance of Feathers or Communication in Space” as part of her residency at the Druskininkai Artists’ Residence in Druskininkai, Lithuania. During the residency, she spent three weeks alone in the Composers’ Residency house, situated next to a huge pine forest. Most nights she went into the dark forest to watch the stars.

In her loneliness Hannah began thinking about big existential questions, eternity, humankind - and how we humans float around in space. Being in a country where one does not understand the spoken language, Hannah noted on the importance of communication and languages as a sense of belonging.

”Slow Dance of Feathers or Communication in Space” explores these gathered experiences, played out by an ensemble of 7 instruments. The piece combines a direction forward, as in the instruments’ individual lines, with a spatial perspective in the fragmented, interwoven contrapuntal web. In addition, the music explores contrasts between varied timbres, for example the fragility of the Tibetan Singing Bowl and the distinctive brusqueness of the Contrabass Clarinet.