Isgaard

Isgaard comes from the north of the Germany, from Husum in Schleswig-Holstein. Her parents chose an Islandic name for their daughter born in 1972. Isgaard means Ice garden. A little poetry and a touch of beauty was already there. The name fits.As a child Isgaard discovered her love of singing and as a teenager spent many years in the church choir. During this time she became acquainted with the musical classics (like West Side Story, My Fair Lady) and was fascinated by them, a little bit later as well by Pop and Rock-Music like U2, The Cure, Kate Bush, the Mission. From this time on it was clear to her that singing would play an important role in her life.She initially took classical singing lessons with various teachers and later studied at the Hamburg Singer Academy.Isgaard soon got to know a few music producers who were attracted by her clear tone which ranges through three octaves. Simultaneously she got interested more and more in experimental and sophisticated music like Björk, Peter Gabriel and Loreena Mac Kennitt.An offer from Mirko von Schliefen und Christopher von Deylen withtheir high-quality-dance project Schiller and the album Weltreise came at an opportune moment. They asked Isgaard for her voice and made a good choice as it later turned out. Isgaard raised two of the Weltreise songs to a new level: Ein schöner Tag and Dream of you (with Heppner). Was it just a coincidence that precisely these two songs became chart hits? Driven by the success of the two singles, Schillers Weltreise made it to first place on the German album charts in August 2001. In March 2002 the project was given an Echo award.Since then Isgaard has continued to develop her individual musical style. With the producer and composer Jens Lueck ( among others, Kind of Blue. Sylvan, Rain for a day, Music for several sountracks), who she has worked with since 2000, she made her first solo album, Golden Key, which was released in early 2003 by Edel Records.In March 2003 Isgaard appeared in public for the first time with her own music. Her recording company nominated her for the German preliminary heats of the Eurovision Song Contest where many expected a qualitative musical improvement. In the light of her personality and artistic talent she was made one of the advance favourites by the media but in the end the contest was dominated by conventional hits and ballyhoo. Perhaps this was not the right venue for her music? Disappointed after having her hopes raised so high? Fear of being labelled the one from the Eurovision contest? No way (allthough the media treated her like this for a while)!. Isgaard takes it in her stride and is glad to have had the experience as well as having gained many new friends and fans for whom she has become the winner in their heart of the contest. The visitors book on her website is noticeably getting filled up and her album is beginning to sell well. Various television appearances are coming.In April 2003 Isgaard accompanied the internationally very successful group Gregorian on their concert tour of Germany and sang in support. The enthusiastic public reaction, which cleared the available stock of CDs on several evenings, demonstrates that Isgaard is on the verge of a great career. Since March 2003 Isgaard..s album has been published in 14 countries. In the Philippines the latest album actually reached number 9 in the charts and reached number 8 in the Taiwanese TCR & Rose Classical Charts.In late Autumn 2003 Isgaard began to record her new album Secret Gaarden, again together with Jens Lück and this was finished in March 2004.In the age of Casting-Shows and similar shows it was very brave to bring out such an album containing the entire repertoir from chillout-pop to classic.An album for people who still look on music as an adventure, who want to be surprised, who can and want to listen and who are not satisfied with the everyday uniform mixture.That also shows itself in the euphoric public reaction to Isgaards guest appearance during the Germany tour (March 2004) of the talented singer Galileo when she presented songs from her new album for the first time.A repeated concert highlight was the new version of Isgaards song Dreams will never die (with Galileo as duet partner) which was noticed by MDR.For this reason Dreams will never die was chosen as the theme song for an MDR television show to celebrate the enlargement of the European Union.After a time of experimentation and testing Isgaard and Jens started the recording of the third album. This time they were absolutely focussed on their roots, their basic influences and they decided to make no compromise at all. So they created an album full of surprises. Mostly quiet songs, that have their own space...no 3-minutes-short-stories, that are told everywhere. They combined Pop, World-music and Classical influences in a special way and in the end it sounded like a musical voyage, that you have to get into. If you close your eyes, pictures will pass by like movies that wait for being realized. Landscapes of sound carried by Isgaard..s various voice. Therefore filmmaker Stefan Erdmann used some tunes of the album for the soundtrack to his movie ISLAND 63°-66°north (www.iceland.com). ISGAARD..s crystal-clear voice in combination with fascinating pictures of the icelandic landscape create an extraordinary symbiosis. The album has been released october, 24th, 2008.