Iceland Academy of the Arts Graduation Recital: Alexandra Chernyshova
13 May 2013
 Monday May 13 at 8 pm Alexandra Chernyshova held the latter of her two graduation recitals from Iceland Academy of the Arts, in the Library Room of the Culture House. This spring she graduates with a Joint Master for New Audiences and Innovative Practice degree.
At the concert chapters from Alexandra’s opera In Skálholt were performed. Alexandra got inspired by the story of Ragnheiður Brynjólfsdóttir, the daughter of the bishop in Skálholt, which she heard actress Guðrún Ásmundsdóttir relate. The subject matter intrigued Alexandra who, along with Guðrún, began writing an opera based on the story. Guðrún wrote the words and Alexandra the music. The opera focused on Ragnheiður’s friendship with pastor and psalmist Hallgrímur Pétursson. The music is for solo singers, small orchestra and a quire. Selected parts of the opera were performed at the concert. The premiere of the piece is planned in fall 2013.
The former of Alexandra’s graduation recitals was held in Harpa 17 March.
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The Reykjavík School of Visual Arts, Diploma Department: Spring Exhibition
4 May 2013
 The Culture House housed the Spring Exhibitions of works by full time students at the Reykjavík School of Visual Arts, Diploma Departments. The exhibition was opened on Saturday, 4 May.
Works by students from the school’s three diploma departments: Textile, Drawing and Forming, werre displayed. The pieces were on one hand samples of work by students finishing the former of two year studies, and on the other hand graduation pieces. In the Department of Forming some of the graduation pieces were made in collaboration with the Finnish design company Tonfisk (www.tonfisk-design.fi/) and the owner and chief designer, Brian Keaney, attended the opening. The graduation pieces are ingeniously designed porcelain and wood containers for finger food and other party refreshments – even travel feasts. Twelve students were graduating while 46 students showed their work all in all.
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Katla Women‘s Choir Spring Concert
25 April 2013
 Katla Women’s Choir greeted summer with a concert in the Culture House on the evening of the First Day of Summer. A second concert was added in the afternoon because the first concert sold out. Katla Women’s Choir’s programme is diverse and suits anyone’s taste and their performances are lively and joyful.
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 Concert Series Beauty Promised: Ari Þór Vilhjálmsson and Svanur Vilbergsson
20 April 2013
Saturday 20 April at 5 pm violinist Ari Þór Vilhjálmsson and guitarist Svanur Vilbergsson will play a concert in the concert series Beauty Promised. The concert will be held in the Library Room of the Culture House and the programme holds the following works: Centone di Sonate by Niccolo Paganini, Adios Nonino by Astor Piazzolla and Sonata Bulgarica by Atanas Ourkouzounov.
Tickets available at door. Ticket price ISK 2.000 and 1.500 for seniors, disabled and students.
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Back to School – Chamber ensemble Nordic Affect in concert
17 April 2013
 Wednesday 17 April, Chamber ensemble Nordic Affect, recently nominated to the Nordic Council’s Music Prize, held a concert here at the Culture House under the title Back to School. The ensemble explored music education during the baroque period. Europe was roamed with stops in Italy, France, Britain and Germany, involving castrati, schools and domineering parents. Works by Cima, Locatelli, J. S. Bach, Geminiani, C. P. E. Bach and Hotteterre were played.
Performers were: Halla Steinunn Stefánsdóttir violinist, Georgia Browne, flutist, Sigurður Halldórsson, cellist, and Guðrún Óskarsdóttir, who plays the harpsichord. The story behind the pieces was explained by Halla Steinunn Stefánsdóttir, the ensemble’s artistic director and the director of a popular radio programme on music of the past.
The chamber ensemble Nordic Affect was formed in 2005 to promote music of the 17th and 18th centuries as well as contemporary music. Its CDs have received the Icelandic Music Award and the Kraum Award and have gotten complimentary criticism in magazines such as BBC Music, Classical Music and Fanfare. The concert belongs to the group’s annual winter concert series at the Culture House, which the group receives support for from state and city funds.
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Piano recital – Katia Veekmans
14 April 2013
 Belgian pianist Katia Veekmans came to Iceland to teach a masterclass at Iceland Academy of the Arts. Katia is among her home country's finest pianists and she performs regularly as a soloist. She has published a few albums and received good reviews. Katia is a professor at Music Academies in Brussel and Maastricht. Sunday, 14 April, she gave a recital in the Library Room of the Culture House with the following programme:
Franz Schubert: Wanderer-Fantasie in C-major op. 15 / D. 760
Franz Liszt: Sonetto 104 del Petrarca from Années de pèlerinage, Italie
Hungarian Rhapsody no. 12
Sonetto 123 del Petrarca from Années de pèlerinage, Italie
Mephisto-waltz no. 1
Veekmans comes back to Iceland in the summer to teach a piano seminar at Selið in Stokkalækur, 3 – 7 July. Further information is available via pianosummer.iceland@gmail.com
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Student‘s Art Show: Modern Art Multiplies, at the Culture House and the National Gallery
13 April 2013
 Curious plants and creatures have nested at the National Gallery and the Culture House!
Saturday 13 April an art show, with pieces that pupils from three elementary schools and from Reykjavik School of Visual Art have made, based on their observations of the piece Museum (Safn) by artist Olga Bergmann, was opened. The show is the final stage of the project Modern Art Multiplies which Reykjavik School of Visual Art, the Culture House and the National Gallery of Iceland now present for the second time.
The project Modern Art Multiplies entails that one piece on display in the exhibition Millennium here at the Culture House, which is an overview of Icelandic visual art from the 19 century to the present, is chosen each year. Pupils visit the exhibition, observe the piece, contemplate it and subsequently make new pieces based on their observations. Last year pupils at Reykjavik School of Visual Art focused on a painting by the pioneer Þórarinn B. Þorláksson and this year the modern art piece Museum (Safn) was chosen. This time around elementary schools were invited to participate and three schools responded.
 The exhibition was opened at two places at once: at the National Gallery (elementary school pupils) and at the Culture House (students at Reykjavík School of Visual Arts). A brass band from a school orchestra played for guests at the National Gallery and artist Olga Bergmann had a chat with guests at the Culture House on all the strange items her piece is comprised of and about the mysterious scientist Dr. Bergmann.
The show is a part of the Children’s Culture Festival in Reykjavík, 23 – 28 April.
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Ólöf Arnalds – release concert
11 April 2013
 A few weeks ago Ólöf Arnalds released a new record, Sudden Elevation. On that occasion the singer and song writer held a concert at the Culture House on Thursday evening 11 April.
Sudden Elevation is Ólöf’s third studio album. Her first was Við og við, where Ólöf sang exclusively in Icelandic. The second album, Innundir Skinni, had three songs in English and one of them, Surrender, was a duet with Björk.
The new record, Sudden Elevation, was mostly recorded over two weeks in autumn 2011, in a summerhouse in Hvalfjörður. The recordings were finished and the sound mixed at the studio Sundlaugin. Skúli Sverrisson edited the recordings and played the bass and electric guitar. Ólöf played many of the instruments her self. As usual she played the guitar and in addition she played koto harp, violins, synthesizer and electric guitar. Other artist involved in the record are Ólöf’s sisters Klara and Dagný who sing and play the piano and the drummer Magnús Trygvason Eliassen.
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Concert in the series Beauty Promised: guitar and mezzo soprano
23 March 2013
 Erla Dóra Vogler, mezzo soprano, and Svanur Vilbergsson, classical guitarist, presented a diverse programme at the Culture House on Saturday 23 March. The programme held songs from four different countries and the songs were about love, desire, sorrow and happiness:
Cinque canzoni dei trovatori (I, II, III, IV, V) by Ferenc Farkas
Come againe: sweet love doth now envite
Flow my tears fall from your springs
Come heavy sleep
Say love if ever thou didst finde
In darkness let me dwell – by John Dowland
Anatoly Malukoff‘s arrangements of Russian folk songs:
Hvítu akasíutrén
Svörtu augu
Eftir Pétursborgargötu
Hei Troika
Tveir gítarar
Ekill, ekki hvetja hestana
Endechas y cantares de Sefarad
Avridme, galanica
A la una
Endecha - by Matilde Salvador
www.svanurvilbergsson.com
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Four exhibitions and a seminar at the Culture House on DesignMarch
14 – 17 March 2013
 Four different exhibitions were set up in various spaces at the Culture House on DesignMarch. Pre-booking was required for a food design experience scheduled after opening hours. There was an opening ceremony for all the exhibitions on 14 March at 4 pm.
The exhibitions were the following:
Story Delicious
Every meal tells a story with a beginning, middle and an end. Story Delicious by Gerður Jónsdóttir, Tinna Ottesen and Kristín María Sigþórsdóttir is an installation coupled with a light meal. It is an experience for all five senses in which the thread unfolds with every bite. Story Delicious was held three times in the basement. About 20 people were received each time.
Design in dialogue
Design in dialogue was a group exhibition that brought designers from different backgrounds together in interdisciplinary collaborations. Among participants were Hver design project, 7 factory design, ERUM, Guðný Hafsteinsdóttir, Sif Ægisdóttir, Rúna Thors and Ragnheiður I. Ágústsdóttir. The exhibition was curated by Katarina Siltavuori. It was mounted in a room to the right of the lobby and in the lobby.
Ljóshyrningur (Light Rectangle)
Designed by Tinna Gunnarsdóttir for Lumex, Ljóshyrningur (Light Rectangle) is a table lamp that emits gentle indirect lighting. Comfortable in a corner, it sometimes ventures towards the centre. The form is an ode to geometry, which is never far off. The material is an ode to industrial production, so unconscious of its beauty. The light source is an ode to technical innovation, which leads us forward into the future. The execution is an ode to craftmanship, which we can not do without. The display was in a room off the staircase between the 2. and 3. floors.
Vík Prjónsdóttir
Vík Prjónsdóttir presented a new remix of their celebrated Seal Pelt, made by the British-Japanese design ensemble Eley Kishimoto. Vík Prjónsdóttir also introduced new scarfs and blankets. The display was in the Library Room - the Old Reading Room of the National Library.
Open seminar about the wool, the industry and the future
Vík Prjónsdóttir extended an invitation to an open seminar on Friday 15 March at in the Library Room. The Icelandic wool, the industry and the future were discussed. Ari Trausti Guðmundsson was the moderator. |
Photography Exhibition in the Shop and Café
2 March 2013
 Two new photography graduates display their work in a new exhibition in the art exhibition series in the Culture House shop and café.
Gunnar Örn Árnason shows landscape pictures that will be printed in a photography book with his photos of Icelandic nature. Gunnar approaches nature with an artistic eye. He took the pictures from air and ground in South Iceland and in the highland. They illustrate the majesty of nature and its manifold shapes and colours.
 Finnbogi Björnsson shows works from his graduate project at the Photography School. The project revolves around sheep farming in the vicinity of Reykjavík and the lifestyle of the sheep farmers. Farming in Iceland has centred on sheep for centuries. The history and life of the Icelandic nation, as well as of the land and its usage, are tightly knit with sheep farming. The photos were taken over a period of one year, showing all four seasons.
From 2 March to 30 May 2013.
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Beauty Promised – concert series
24 February 2013
 The first concert in the series Beauty Promised (Lofað öllu fögru) 2013 was held Sunday, 24 February in the Library Room of the Culture House. Svanur Vilbergsson, classical guitarist, performed solo pieces, some of which are based on the operas La Traviata by G. Verdi and The Magic Flute by W. A. Mozart. The programme also included Hungarian Fantasy by J. K. Mertz and Fantasia Elegianque by F. Sor.
In the coming months there will be additional three concerts in the series. Mezzo soprano Erla Dóra Vogler and Ari Þór Vilhjálmsson, violinist, will perform with Svanur Vilbergsson and a guitar trio will premiere a new piece by Oliver Kentish.
Get to know Svanur via his website: www.svanurvilbergsson.com.
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FAVORITA Baroque Concert
24 February 2013
 Sunday 24 February a concert was held here at the Culture House with works by Baroque composers Frantisek Jiranek, Christoph Graupner and Antonio Caldara. They wrote the pieces on the programme in the years 1699 – 1742. All of the works were, on this occasion, performed for the first time in concert here in Iceland.
Performers:
Erla Dóra Vogler, mezzo soprano
Brjánn Ingason, bassoon
Snorri Heimisson, bassoon
Kjartan Óskarsson, clarinet
Sigurður I. Snorrason, clarinet and basset horn
Una Sveinbjarnardóttir, violin
Gerhild Hammer, violin
Þórunn Ósk Marinósdóttir, viola
Bryndís Björgvinsdóttir, cello
Richard Korn, double bass
Snorri Örn Snorrason, theorbo
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Conservatorium of Music Day
23 February 2013
 Conservatorium of Music Day was held across Iceland on Saturday 23 February. Reykjavík Conservatorium of Music participated by having a concert at the Culture House that day. The programme was diverse, as it usually is in concerts where students at the Conservatorium perform all the music. Icelandic songs for solo singers were prominent; a piano piece by Hafliði Hallgrímsson was played, along with solo pieces for violin and piano and chamber pieces for strings. J. S. Bach, F. Chopin, L. van Beethoven and Z. Kodály were among the composers on the programme.
All were welcome to attend and there was no admission fee.
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Museum Night at the Culture House – A Light in the Dark
8 February 2013
 Museum Night was a great success; good turnout and everyone in a fine mood! The variety and quality of the programme attracted curious visitors of all ages and nationalities from the start, at seven, until closing time, at midnight. The younger generation was at centre stage, especially in the Library Room where musicians at the Iceland Academy of the Arts presented rich talents. The folk duo Hringanóri (Ringed Seal) and the scriptorium appealed to many as did the excellent exhibitions on view.
Here is a recap of the programme:
Writing on Vellum
In the scriptorium inside the Árni Magnússon Institute’s Medieval Manuscripts – Eddas and Sagas through the Ages, guests could try their hand at writing on calf hides using a quill and freshly boiled herbal ink. A museum educator was present and gave information about the crafts, such as the processing of the hides, cutting of quills, ink boiling, colour making for illuminating the manuscripts, and other interesting matters.
Light in the Dark I
Students pursuing Joint Master of New Audiences and Innovative Practice at Iceland Academy of the Arts Department of Music told stories to children with music, and, at the same time, involved the children in the music.
Folk Music in the Dark
Well known Icelandic folk songs, along with original songs, arranged for a voice and cello, performed by Hringanóri (Ringed Seal); Unnur Sara Eldjárn (voice and guitar) and Gréta Rún Snorradóttir (cello).
 Light in the Dark II
Chamber music and original music performed by students at the Department of Music of Iceland Academy of the Arts.
• 20:30 Solo recitals by two sopranos and a baritone. Opera arias and folk songs.
• 21:00 Flute and clarinet – solo performances.
• 21:30 Piano recitals. Works by Nielsen, Chopin and Bach.
• 22:00 Electronic works by students of Composition:
o Vala Sigríður Guðmundsdóttir Yates. Step/ Spor (stereo)
o Guðný Valborg Guðmundsdóttir. Foot print/ Fótspor (multi channel)
o Áskell Harðarson. Sínus I (multi channel)
o Hlöðver Sigurðson. New work/ Nýtt verk (multi channel)
o Stefán Ólafur Ólafsson. Lekt 1B (video)
Light in the Dark – prelude and finale
Before and after live performances, videos and recordings of previous presentations by students at Iceland Academy of the Arts Music Department were screened.
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 Jazz concert with Ingi Bjarni Skúlason
6 January 2013
On Sunday, 6 January at 5 pm, a New Year’s concert was held at the Culture House.
The following performed:
Ingi Bjarni Skúlason – piano
Helgi Rúnar Heiðarsson - saxophone
Gunnar Hrafnsson – double bass
Magnús Trygvason Eliassen – drums
They played music by Ingi Bjarni Skúlason, who currently studies jazz piano playing at Koninklijk Conservatorium in Den Haag, and others.
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 Women who love, loose, cry and laugh – a concert with Hrafnhildur Árndóttir, soprano, and Mattildur Anna Gísladóttir, pianist
5 January 2013
Saturday 5 January Hrafnhildur Árndóttir, soprano, and Mattildur Anna Gísladóttir, pianist, held a concert in the Library Room of the Culture House. At the concert, which they called Women who love, loose, cry and laugh, they cast light on female characters within the opera world. The repertoire spanned over 200 years of music history with works by Mozart, Puccini, Massenet, Catalani, and others.
The concert was recorded by RÚV – national broadcasting service.
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