The Hamrahlid Choir or Hamrahlíðarkórinn as it is called in Icelandic was founded in 1981 by

Þorgerður Ingólfsdóttir Þorgerður Ingólfsdóttir (also spelt Thorgerdur Ingolfsdottir) is an Icelandic choral conductor, known for founding and directing the Hamrahlid Choir. Biography Þorgerður was born in Reykjavík, Iceland, on November 5, 1943 and began her mu ...

, who remains its

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

. The choir consists of

alumni Alumni (: alumnus () or alumna ()) are former students or graduates of a school, college, or university. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for groups of women, and alums (: alum) or alumns (: alumn) as gender-neutral alternatives. Th ...

Menntaskólinn við Hamrahlíð Menntaskólinn við Hamrahlíð (, and usually referred to as MH) is a state school, public Gymnasium (school), gymnasium located in Hlíðahverfi, Reykjavík, Iceland. The school was founded in 1966 by the Ministry of Education, Science and Cult ...

(Hamrahlid College) in Iceland who were formerly members of The Choir of Hamrahlid College, conducted by Ingólfsdóttir until 2017. 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 Osmo Antero Vänskä (born 28 February 1953) is a Finnish conductor, clarinetist, and composer. Biography Vänskä started his musical career as an orchestral clarinetist with the Turku Philharmonic (1971–76). He then became the principal clar ...

Lukas Foss Lukas Foss (August 15, 1922 – February 1, 2009) was a German-American composer, pianist, and conductor. Career Born Lukas Fuchs in Berlin, Germany in 1922, Foss was soon recognized as a child prodigy. He began piano and theory lessons with J ...

, László Heltay, Robert King, Timothy Brown, Gustav Sjökvist, Willi Gohl, Hansruedi Willisegger, Johan Dujick, Petri Sakari and

Thomas Adés Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

. 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 ch ...

festival in

Pécs Pécs ( , ; ; Slovak language, Slovak: ''Päťkostolie''; also known by #Name, alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the fifth largest city in Hungary, on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the c ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, 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 and ...

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 Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

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

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of ...

with the distinguished

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

. 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 p ...

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 Extended technique, non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one ...

and

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

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

Te Deum The ( or , ; from its incipit, ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to a date before AD 500, but perhaps with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin ...

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 () 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 Félag íslenskra hljómlistarmanna ...

and has released several

CDs CDS, CDs, Cds, etc. may refer to: Finance * Canadian Depository for Securities, Canadian post-trade financial services company * Certificate of deposit (CDs) * Counterfeit Deterrence System, developed by the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence ...

and

gramophone record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The g ...

s. In 2019, The Hamrahlid Choir was part of the line-up for Icelandic singer

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...

Cornucopia In classical antiquity, the cornucopia (; ), also called the horn of plenty, was a symbol of abundance and nourishment, commonly a large horn-shaped container overflowing with produce, flowers, or nuts. In Greek, it was called the " horn of ...

concert tour. They featured in the New York residency from the 6th of May to the 1st of June as well as the European leg of the tour consisting of eight concerts in eight countries. Björk herself was once a member of the choir and utilized them for the ''

Utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', which describes a fictiona ...

'' track "Body Memory". Airfare for the 50-person choir was provided by the Icelandic government, with Minister of Education Lilja Alfreðsdóttir saying, "the state often strengthens cultural events" and "this will be very good for all parties". In 2020, they released the album ''Come and Be Joyful'' that featured renditions of Icelandic folk songs as well as covers of

Cosmogony Cosmogony is any model concerning the origin of the cosmos or the universe. Overview Scientific theories In astronomy, cosmogony is the study of the origin of particular astrophysical objects or systems, and is most commonly used in ref ...

and

Sonnets A sonnet is a fixed poetic form with a structure traditionally consisting of fourteen lines adhering to a set Rhyme scheme, rhyming scheme. The term derives from the Italian word ''sonetto'' (, from the Latin word ''sonus'', ). Originating in ...

by Björk on which the singer collaborated.

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) (16 July 1938 – 30 January 2013) was an Icelandic composer, conductor and pianist. The most prolific Icelandic composer, he is author of more than 350 works, from songs for children to ...

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