The Stonehaven Chorus, from Aberdeenshire in Scotland, will visit Iceland in the first week of July and give three concerts in Háteigskirkja, Reykjavík, on July 3, then move on to west Iceland and perform in the church in Stykkishólmur, July 4, and in Reykholt, July 5.
Háteigskirkja in Reykjavík. Photo by Dagbjört Oddný Matthíasdóttir.
Their repertoire will contain familiar works by Bruckner, Grieg, and Rachamninov, as well as music by Alan Hovhaness, Dilys Elwyn-Edwards, the choir’s conductor Dr. John Hearne, and Scottish and Icelandic music, including a piece by Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson.
“The singers are very excited about their forthcoming tour, and are hoping that Iceland’s current good weather will continue,” Hearne writes in a press release.
Hearne first came to Iceland in 1968 as the conductor of the Elizabethan Madrigal Singers from the University of Wales for a two-week concert tour, taking him to Ísafjörður in the West Fjords and Akureyri in the north.
He then spent a year teaching music and conducting the church choir in Borgarnes and wrote an arrangement of the Icelandic folksong “Fagurt er í fjörðum” for them. This setting was later taken up by Hamrahlíðarkórinn and performed and recorded many times.
Hearne has maintained his connections with Iceland over the ensuing 40 years, and has become a close friend of Þorgerður Ingólfsdóttir, the conductor of Hamrahlíðakórinn, who was recently named honorary artist of the City of Reykjavík.
The 50-member Stonehaven Chorus is one of Scotland’s leading choral societies, and performs two annual concerts, often including music by contemporary composers. Twenty-five of its members will perform in Iceland.
The Chorus visited Germany in 2009, performing in and around Cologne.
ESA
