How to Ruin Someone’s Career as a Violist, Klang 2026 | Photo: Alexander Banck-Pedersen
How to Ruin Someone’s Career as a Violist is a piece by S. Gerup, written for Þórhildur Magnúsdóttir. Focusing on affect, grief, anger, and illness, Gerup seeks to musically express forms of pain that can prevent a musician from performing, laying bare how real life beyond the stage can reshape or even destroy an artistic career. Inspired by Hannah Arendt, the work asks what must be concealed and what must be made public when it comes to our private suffering.
Work: Performance installation for solo viola
Duration: 13–15’
Performer: Þórhildur Magnúsdóttir (vla)
Technical setup: Monitor, active PA system incl. subwoofer (for installation setup). Airstep multicontroller, two pedals, passive horn speaker (for performer setup).
How to Ruin Someone’s Career as a Violist, Dark Music Days 2026 | Video: Hiroki Kamoshida
S. Gerup
Gerup grew up in the Copenhagen area and studied classical composition at the Royal Danish Academy of Music with Simon Løffler and Bent Sørensen, as well as at KCB in Brussels, Belgium, with Annelies Van Parys.
Þórhildur Magnúsdóttir
Þórhildur Magnúsdóttir is an Icelandic violist and performer based in Copenhagen. She is a member of Tríó Sól, an unconventional string trio, as well as Elja ensemble. Þórhildur has a particular interest in new experimental music and free improvisation and seeks collaborations with artists from different fields. She has performed as a soloist with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and worked as an assistant with the same orchestra in autumn 2024.
She studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Music with Asbjørn Nørgaard, Tim Frederiksen, and Lars Anders Tomter, as well as at KASK & Conservatorium in Ghent, Belgium, with Diederik Suys.
How to Ruin Someone’s Career as a Violist, Klang 2026 | Photo: Alexander Banck-Pedersen
Amanda Cook (I Care If You Listen):
— “On the final day, a collaboration between composer S. Gerup and violist Þórhildur Magnúsdóttir titled How to Ruin Someone’s Career as a Violist considered the many types of disabling experiences that can prevent musicians from performing. After an introduction of double stops sliding in and out of unison, rumbling static consumed the space and Þórhildur slid out of her chair into the fetal position on the ground, staring at her instrument with a pained expression. Staged in an open exhibition space, the sounds of chattering crowds filtering in from elsewhere in Harpa was a possibly unintentional yet nevertheless powerful reminder of how isolating disability and grief can be — especially when it feels like life is going on as usual without you.”
Read the full report from Dark Music Days 2026 HERE.
Andreo Michaelo Mielczarek (Seismograf):
— “Best work title of the festival must go to the Danish composer S. Gerup: How To Ruin Someone’s Career as a Violist — a quiet study of the meeting between musical skill and human fragility, embodied by violist Þórhildur Magnúsdóttir”.
Read the full report from Dark Music Days 2026 HERE.
How to Ruin Someone’s Career as a Violist was selected through an open call in 2025 as part of the Northern Connection project. Since then, the work has been performed at Dark Music Days and Klang Festival in 2026.
How to Ruin Someone’s Career as a Violist, Klang 2026 | Photo: Alexander Banck-Pedersen
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