Into Iceland

A Festival of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester

Víkingur Ólafsson
Víkingur Ólafsson © Ari Magg
Daníel Bjarnason
Daníel Bjarnason © Samantha West
Esa-Pekka Salonen
Esa-Pekka Salonen © Katja Tähjä

Description

The word »Iceland« conjures up images of unparalleled natural spectacles, of volcanoes and geysers. And as for the music: the wonderfully eccentric sounds of Björk and the epic melancholy compositions of Sigur Rós have long since become global hits. But Iceland’s pop stars are just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, the island’s music scene is very active and in the field of art music, more and more young composers are becoming a talking point internationally.

For its reconnaissance trip into the Icelandic music scene, the NDR teams up with two proven experts and advocates of Scandinavian music, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Geir Lysne. Together with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, the newly established NDR Kammerorchester, the NDR Big Band and the radio stations NDR Kultur and N-Joy, they present a three-day mini festival celebrating classical music, jazz, pop music and literature from Iceland.

The programme includes four world premieres and countless German premieres of compositions by young artists such as Anna Thorvaldsdottir and Daníel Bjarnason and performed by instrumentalists Sæunn Thorsteinsdottir and Víkingur Ólafsson, among others.

The concerts at 20:00 and 23:45 on 10 February will be broadcast live on NDR Kultur. »Iridescent Icelandic«, the reading with various Icelandic authors, will be broadcast on NDR’s radio programme Sonntagsstudio at 20:00 on 12 March.

Events of the festival

  • Kühne Stiftung Logo
  • Julius Bär Logo