I’m very much looking forward to singing this beautiful music with this wonderful choir, Mótettukórinn, next Sunday. Hörður Áskelsson, who founded the choir and has conducted it ever since, is and has been a leading force in the Icelandic music scene for years, especially in sacred music. With his wife Inga Rós at his side, he has built up magnificent music life, both around the unique Klais-organ in Hallgrímskirkja as well as with his two outstanding choirs. Hörður was also instigator of the founding of the Friends of the Arts Society of Hallgrímskirkja (now Reykjavík) and he established the Festival of Sacred Arts, a biannual event on the cultural scene in Iceland and the Summer the Organ concert series in Hallgrímskirkja.
I’ve been so lucky to often sing with Hörður, mostly performing old music, but also premiering Mysterium by Hafliði Hallgrímsson. But our collab started when blue-eyed me moved to Reykjavík to study (yeeeears ago), and I was a member of the Mótettukórinn. It was such an exciting and fun time and I have many amazing memories, at the top: singing the Frank Martin Mass for double Choir, all the coffee breaks and the celebrating! Looking forward to Sunday, hope to see you there!
Sunday 28th of November at 17h.
Performers:
The Motet Choir in Reykjavik
The Reykjavik International Baroque Orchestra
Concertmaster Tuomo Suni
Herdís Anna Jónasdóttir soprano
Alex Potter counter-tenor
Benjamin Glaubitz tenor
Jóhann Kristinsson bass
Hörður Áskelsson Conductor