Björk Orkestral

Björk Orkestral was an "unplugged" concert series by Icelandic musician Björk. Originally announced for the summer of 2020, all concert dates were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A four-part concert series was later announced for August 2020 at the Harpa concert hall in Reykjavík, then rescheduled to October and November 2021 due to new restrictions against the pandemic by the Icelandic government. Each date featured different musicians, instrumentation and set lists and all four concerts were live streamed to raise money for Kvennaathvarfið, a women's shelter in Reykjavík. Over 100 Icelandic musicians joined Björk on stage across the four matinee performances, which were some of the first live performances with an audience by a major international singer since COVID-19 crippled the live music industry.

Björk Orkestral

Tour by Björk
Promotional poster from the Reykjavik charity shows
Start date	11 October 2021 (2021-10-11)
End date	23 April 2023 (2023-04-23)
No. of shows	11 in Europe 4 in North America 3 in South America 2 in Asia 20 total
Björk concert chronology

After the shows in Iceland, Björk embarked on a global tour of acoustic concerts, which saw her headline music festivals such as Bluedot Festival and Primavera Sound.

Background and concept

After touring her "theatrical" stage production, Cornucopia, in 2019, Björk announced a new concert series called Björk Orkestral (originally spelled Björk Orchestral) in February 2020. The original dates were scheduled for summer 2020 in France, England, Russia, Finland and Germany, and the tour was billed as acoustic, strings-only shows in celebration of Björk's "orchestral arrangements of works so far". Shortly after these dates were announced, however, the coronavirus pandemic put a crippling halt on live concerts and Björk had to postpone the show until summer 2022.

Measures the Icelandic government took to contain the virus proved to be one of the most effective throughout the world, and by mid-May 2020 the country had slowed the spread of the coronavirus to 2 new cases a week, effectively eradicating COVID-19 from its shores.

Recognizing the unique position Iceland was in but also the devastating global economic impact COVID-19 left in its wake, along with the world-wide Black Lives Matter protests in response to the police murder of George Floyd in the United States, Björk decided it was the right time to bring her orchestral concerts to live audiences in her home country. "There are many musicians out of work right now... Many of them live by playing concerts because they no longer earn revenue from record sales." She credits her father's role in Iceland unions for her desire to fight for musician's wages. The proceeds from the concerts went to Kvennaathvarfið, a women's shelter dedicated to refugees in Iceland, though Björk revealed that due to the isolation experienced during lock down, Icelandic women in general are in need of Kvennaathvarfið's services. In addition to concert ticket sales, each matinee performances was followed by an evening of food and beverages with the proceeds also going to Kvennaathvarfið. In addition to the funds raised in Iceland, the concerts were live streamed throughout the world to raise money for charity with donations being sent to non-profit organizations in each country the shows are streamed in.

Björk at La Seine Musicale in Paris on June 21, 2022, for the second leg of the European tour.

As for the concerts themselves, Björk has wanted to hold these acoustic-only shows since publishing her first collection of sheet music in 2017. 34 Scores for Piano, Organ, Harpsichord and Celeste features acoustic arrangements created in collaboration with her longtime accompanist Jónas Sen which covers her entire discography. Björk Orkestral saw Björk reunite with over 100 Icelandic musicians, Sen included, that have contributed to her studio albums and live concerts. Initially only 3 concerts were announced, but on 13 July 2020 a 4th show was added to the schedule. Each concert featured a different set of musicians and instruments and a unique set list. The 11 October show featured the strings section of the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Viktor Orri Árnason, in addition to the harpist Katie Buckley. Árnason replaces Bjarni Frimann Bjarnason who was originally announced as conductor. The performance will draw the bulk of its material from Björk's albums, Post (1995) and Vespertine (2001) plus the 2000 soundtrack album Selmasongs.

The 24 October show featured the 50-person Hamrahlíð Choir conducted by Þorgerður Ingólfsdóttir and musician Bergur Þórisson on organ and will feature songs primarily from Björk's albums, Medúlla (2004), Biophilia (2011) and Utopia (2017). Both The Hamrahlíð Choir and Þórisson featured on the album Utopia and performed on the New York and EU dates of the Cornucopia tour.

The October 31 show featured the brass section of the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra in addition to the flute septet Viibra. The members of Viibra played the flutes on Björk's 2017 album Utopia and officially formed as a group to tour with Björk throughout the Utopia and Cornucopia tours. In addition to brass and flutes, the night will see American-born harpist Katie Buckley return in addition to pianist and long-time collaborator Jónas Sen. Material will be drawn from the albums Vespertine, Volta (2007) and Utopia.

These concerts were held in collaboration with Iceland Airwaves, RÚV, Harpa, Promote Iceland, and Icelandair.

Songs performed

During each concert in Iceland, Björk performed a different set of songs to fit the different musicians invited to perform with her.

11 October 2021 show

1. "Stonemilker"
2. "Aurora"
3. "I've Seen It All"
4. "Sun in My Mouth"
5. "You've Been Flirting Again"
6. "Isobel"
7. "Hyperballad"
8. "Harm of Will"
9. "Bachelorette"
10. "Unison"
11. "Generous Palmstroke"

24 October 2021 show

1. "Show Me Forgiveness"
2. "Pleasure Is All Mine"
3. "Hidden Place"
4. "Cosmogony"
5. "Sonnets/Unrealities XI"
6. "Unravel"
7. "Vertabræ by Vertabræ"
8. "Oceania"
9. "Who Is It"
10. "Mouth's Cradle"
11. "Where Is the Line"
12. "Human Behaviour"
13. "New World"

31 October 2021 show

1. "Tabula Rasa"
2. "Utopia"
3. "The Gate"
4. "Courtship"
5. "Pagan Poetry"
6. "Losss"
7. "Sue Me"
8. "Generous Palmstroke"
9. "Aeroplane"
10. "Wanderlust"
11. "Mutual Core"
12. "The Anchor Song"

15 November 2021 show

1. "Jóga"
2. "Come to Me"
3. "Hunter"
4. "Lionsong"
5. "History of Touches"
6. "Black Lake"
7. "Mouth Mantra"
8. "5 Years"
9. "Quicksand"
10. "Pluto"
11. "Notget"

For the touring shows, Björk performs with a 22 piece string orchestra, combining songs from the 4 original Reykjavík shows.

Touring set list

This set list is representative of the show on 24 July 2022, in Cheshire.

1. "Stonemilker"
2. "Aurora"
3. "Come to Me"
4. "Lionsong"
5. "I've Seen It All"
6. "History of Touches"
7. "Black Lake"
8. "Hunter"
9. "You've Been Flirting Again"
10. "Isobel"
11. "Bachelorette"
12. "Jóga"
13. "Quicksand"
14. "Hyperballad"

Encore

15. "Overture"
16. "Pluto"

• During the first show in Miami, "5 Years", "Mouth Mantra" and "Notget" were performed instead of "You've Been Flirting Again", "Hyperballad" and "Overture".
• Starting from the show in Bergen, "Black Lake" and "Bachelorette" are not performed.
• After the release of Fossora, "History of Touches" was replaced by "Ovule" during the show in São Paulo and by "Freefall" for subsequent dates.
• "Notget" was added back to the setlist after "Quicksand" starting from the show in Buenos Aires.

Tour dates

List of 2021 concerts

Date (2021)	City	Country	Venue	Players	Conductor
11 October	Reykjavík	Iceland	Harpa	Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Katie Buckley (harp)	Viktor Orri Árnason
24 October				Hamrahlíð Choir, Bergur Þórisson (electronics, organ) Bjarni Frímann Bjarnason (piano, organ, accordion)	Þorgerður Ingólfsdóttir
31 October				Iceland Symphony Orchestra (brass), Viibra (flute septet), Katie Buckley (harp), Bergur Þórisson (electronics)	Björg Brjánsdóttir
15 November				Iceland Symphony Orchestra	Viktor Orri Árnason

List of 2022 concerts

Date (2022)	City	Country	Venue	Players	Conductor
13 February	Miami	United States	Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts	The Aym Ensemble	Bjarni Frímann Bjarnason
16 February
17 June	Berlin	Germany	Waldbühne Open Air	Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra
21 June	Paris	France	La Seine Musicale	Pasdeloup Orchestra
24 June
3 July	Montreux	Switzerland	Montreux Music & Convention Centre	Sinfonietta de Lausanne
24 July	Cheshire	England	Jodrell Bank Observatory	The Hallé
30 July	Trondheim	Norway	Kristiansten Fortress	Trondheim Soloists
3 August	Bergen		Bergenhus Festningen
5 November	São Paulo	Brazil	Anhembi Convention Center	Fundação Bachiana
9 November	Buenos Aires	Argentina	Costanera Sur	Orquesta Teatro Colón
13 November	Santiago	Chile	Parque Bicentenario de Cerrillos	Fundación de Orquestas Juveniles e Infantiles de Chile

List of 2023 concerts

Date (2023)	City	Country	Venue	Players	Conductor
20 March	Tokyo	Japan	Tokyo Garden Theatre	Muroya Strings	Bjarni Frímann Bjarnason
25 March	Kobe		World Memorial Hall
16 April	Indio	United States	Empire Polo Club	Hollywood String Ensemble
23 April

Notes

Cancelled shows

8 June 2022	Moscow, Russia	Crocus City Hall	Russo-Ukrainian War
12 June 2022	Helsinki, Finland	Hartwall Arena	Russo-Ukrainian War (Hartwall Arena is Russian-owned)

Reschedulations
The tour has been marred by repeated shows' rescheduling due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.