The Hamrahlid Choir or Hamrahlíðarkórinn as it is called in Icelandic was founded in 1981 by Þorgerður Ingólfsdóttir, who remains its conductor. The choir consists of alumni of

Menntaskólinn við Hamrahlíð Menntaskólinn við Hamrahlíð ( en, Hamrahlíð College, and usually referred to as MH) is a public gymnasium located in Hlíðahverfi, Reykjavík, Iceland. The school was founded in 1966 by the Icelandic Ministry of Education; with the first ...

(Hamrahlid College) in Iceland who were formerly members of The Choir of Hamrahlid College, conducted by Ingólfsdóttir until 2017. Although the Hamrahlíð Choir is primarily devoted to musical education, it has from the very beginning been dedicated to giving performances of the highest quality. The choir performs with vigour and a spirit of young exploration. It sings with a clean, flexible, well-blended sound. Critics throughout the world have praised its accurate intonation, clear diction, and the high level of enthusiasm and commitment that are among the hallmarks of the choir's music-making. The choir has traveled extensively and toured dozens of countries in Europe, North America and Asia, as well as Israel and collaborated with renowned conductors such as

Tõnu Kaljuste Tõnu Kaljuste (born August 28, 1953) is an Estonian conductor. Born in Tallinn, Kaljuste is the son of Heino Kaljuste (1925–1989), an Estonian choral conductor, and Lia Kaljuste, a radio journalist. Tõnu sang in his father's choirs as a chil ...

, Osmo Vänskä, Lukas Foss, László Heltay, Robert King, Timothy Brown, Gustav Sjökvist, Willi Gohl, Hansruedi Willisegger, Johan Dujick, Petri Sakari and Thomas Adés. Recent ventures include the 2015

Europa Cantat Logo The European Choral Association - Europa Cantat is a European choral organisation founded in 1963. It is the biggest European choral organisation with members in 40 European countries and 10 countries outside of Europe. It is a network of cho ...

festival in Pécs,

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

and the 2017

Aberdeen International Youth Festival Aberdeen International Youth Festival was a festival of performing arts and one of Scotland's major international cultural events, which ran from 1981 to 2017. Each year the festival brought over 1000 young people in performing arts companies ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The choir has also made a career in Iceland by singing big pieces by composers such as

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...

with the distinguished

Iceland Symphony Orchestra Sinfóníuhljómsveit Íslands (Iceland Symphony Orchestra) (ISO) is an Icelandic orchestra based in Reykjavík, Iceland. Its primary concert venue is the Harpa Concert Hall. The Iceland Symphony is an autonomous public institution under the aus ...

. Throughout its history, the choir has collaborated closely with Icelandic composers. Over 100 works have been composed especially for the choir, including works by virtually all of Iceland's leading composers. Apart from its close association with native composers, the choir has collaborated with foreign artist such as

Arvo Pärt Arvo Pärt (; born 11 September 1935) is an Estonian composer of contemporary classical music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs tintinnabuli, a compositional technique he invented. Pärt's music is in pa ...

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading fi ...

and

Vagn Holmboe Vagn Gylding Holmboe (, 20 December 1909 – 1 September 1996) was a Danish composer and teacher. Life Vagn Holmboe was born in Horsens, Jutland, into a merchant family of dedicated amateur musicians. Both parents played the piano. His fath ...

in the first Icelandic performances of their works. Arvo Pärt was so impressed with the choir's performance of his

Te Deum The "Te Deum" (, ; from its incipit, , ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to AD 387 authorship, but with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin Chur ...

in 1998 that he composed a choral work dedicated to Þorgerður Ingólfsdóttir, Which was the son of..., which was premièred in 2000. The choir was awarded ''Performer of the year'' at the 2002

Icelandic Music Awards The Icelandic Music Awards ( is, Íslensku tónlistarverðlaunin) are the official annual music awards given in Iceland to commemorate the musical achievements of the year. The award was established in 1993 with an annual rock award given by the ...

and has released several

CDs The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octo ...

and

gramophone record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts nea ...

Discography

Albums

*1982: Mattheusarpassía/ ''St Matthew Passion'' (credited to Pólýfónkórinn, Hamrahlíðarkórinn, Kór Öldutúnsskóla og 2 kammersveitir) *1988: Kveðið í bjargi/ ''Invocation from the Rock'' *1990: Turtil dúfan, jarðaberið og úlfaldalestin/ ''The Turtle Dove, the Strawberry and the Desert Caravan'' *1993: Íslensk þjóðlög/ ''Icelandic Folk Songs'' *1996: Íslenskir jólasöngvar og Maríukvæði/ ''Icelandic Christmas Songs and Hymns to the Virgin'' *2002: Vorkvæði um Ísland/ ''Icelandic Spring Poem'' *2003: Mansöngur um Ólafs rímu Grænlendings/ ''Ballad of Olaf the Greenlander'' *2008: Þorkell/ ''Choral Music by

Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson (or Thorkell Sigurbjörnsson) (born in Reykjavík on 16 July 1938 - died in Kópavogur on 30 January 2013) was an Icelandic composer, conducting, conductor and pianist. Early life and study Born the son of bishop Sigu ...

'' *2009: Jólasagan/ ''The Christmas Story'' *2013: Djúpsins ró/ ''Calm of the Deep'' (with

Nordic Affect Nordic most commonly refers to: * Nordic countries, written in plural as Nordics, the northwestern European countries, including Scandinavia, Fennoscandia and the North Atlantic * Scandinavia, a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in ...

) *2017: Íslenskir Jólasöngvar Og Maríukvæði: Icelandic Christmas Songs *2020: Come and be Joyful

References

External links

Webpage of the choir
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamrahlid Choir Icelandic choirs University choirs Musical groups established in 1981 1981 establishments in Iceland