Conductor

Conducting – Íslenskir strengir, founded in 2017

Ólöf conducts Íslenskir strengir (Icelandic Strings) and is also responsible for developing the ideas behind the orchestra’s concerts and for producing them. She works closely with a range of composers and seeks to create an exciting conversation about interpretation with outstanding performers.

Concertmasters: Sif Tulinius, Gróa Valdimarsdóttir, Sigurlaug Eðvaldsdóttir, Chrissie Telma Guðmundsdóttir and Agnes Eyja Guðmundsdóttir.

Íslenskir strengir has also given the Icelandic premieres of works from abroad, for example from Latvia and Norway. The orchestra has given several concerts of its own in Harpa and has also appeared in the concert series Sígildir sunnudagar (Classical Sundays) in Norðurljós and in Tíbrá in Salurinn, Kópavogur. It has played in concert venues around the country as well, such as the Tjarnarborg culture house, Hvoll and the church in Hveragerði. Below is a list of concerts, performers and composers the orchestra has worked with. Many vocal and instrumental soloists have taken part, and a range of Icelandic composers of contemporary music have given the orchestra their works. It was John Speight’s gift to Ólöf to premiere his Chamber Concerto for piano and strings, Cantus III, in 2023. The soloist was the pianist Tinna Þorsteinsdóttir, for whom the concerto was written.

Concerts

Bach og börnin / Bach and the Child – 2022

Harpa Concert Hall, 2022. Eighty performers: the girls’ choir Graduale Futuri and Drengjakór Reykjavíkur (the Reykjavík Boys’ Choir), Einar Bjartur Egilsson piano, Peter Tompkins oboe, Þóra Einarsdóttir soprano, Þorsteinn Freyr Sigurðsson tenor. Composers: Johann Sebastian Bach, Snorri Sigfús Birgisson, Hafliði Hallgrímsson and Henry Purcell.

Hjálmar & Vasks – 2019

Performers: Íslenskir strengir and the choir Ægisif. A newly commissioned work by Hjálmar H. Ragnarsson and the Icelandic premiere of Musica Adventus by the Latvian composer Peteris Vasks.

Laudem Domini, a cantata by Hjálmar H. Ragnarsson for mixed choir, soprano, solo viola and string orchestra. Premiere.

Íslenskir strengir + winds in Norðurljós – 2018

Harpa. Performers: 34 strings, winds, harp and grand piano. Soloists Hanna Dóra Sturludóttir mezzo-soprano and Þorsteinn Freyr Sigurðsson tenor. Joe Ognibene horn. Programme: G. Mahler: Kindertotenlieder, Benjamin Britten: Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, Carl Sjöberg: Tonerna.

Corona og söknuður (Corona and longing) – 2021

Harpa, Norðurljós, and the church in Hveragerði.

• John Speight: Elegy for clarinet and strings. Premiere.
• Sigursveinn D. Kristinsson: Sólin heim úr suðri snýr, to a poem by Jónas Hallgrímsson
• Kristín Lárusdóttir: Söknuður for rímur chanter, clarinet and strings. Premiere.
• Hrólfur Sæmundsson: Corona for strings. Premiere.

Soloists Hrólfur Sæmundsson baritone, Kristín Lárusdóttir rímur chanter and Ármann Helgason clarinet.

Íslenskir strengir in Tjarnarborg – 2023

Tjarnarborg culture house, Ólafsfjörður. A programme at the Berjadagar festival. Soloists Tinna Þorsteinsdóttir piano, Björg Brjánsdóttir flute and Ármann Helgason clarinet. Programme: Anna Þorvaldsdóttir: Illumine, Hugi Guðmundsson: LUX, John Speight: Elegy, Jean Sibelius: Impromptu.