Matinée - Guðný Einarsdóttir / organ
Matinée - Guðný Einarsdóttir, organ
Saturday September 7th at 12 hrs
Tickets available at Hallgrímskirkja and on tix.is
Admission ISK 2.900
Guðný Einarsdóttir was born in 1978 and studied in Iceland with Marteinn H. Friðriksson, former organist at the cathedral in Reykjavik, at the Royal Danish Conservatory of Music in Copenhagen with Lasse Ewerlöf, Hans-Ole Thers and Bine Bryndorf and in Paris with Eric Lebrun and Sophie-Veronique Cauchefer-Choplin. Alongside her studies in Copenhagen, she was leader and one of the founders of the Staka Chamber Choir. Guðný has performed both in Iceland and abroad as a soloist, accompanist and choir director. She has focused on performing and premiering Icelandic church music both with choirs and as an organ soloist. In 2017, her CD release of Jón Nordal's organ works was nominated for the Icelandic Music Awards. Guðný has taught both piano and organ and focused on programs that bring children and young people to the organ. Together with composer Michael Jón Clarke and illustrator Fanney Sizemore, she created the musical fairy tale Lítil saga úr orgelhúsi (English translation: Sally Piper's big tootle day), where the organ pipers who live in the organ mansion are characters in the story. Together with organist Sigrún Magna Þórsteinsdóttir, she has done several organ concerts and workshops for children.
Guðný has worked as an organist and choir conductor for years in Iceland, most recently in Háteigskirkja in Reykjavík, but is now director of the Evangelical Lutheran Church's music school and church music consultant for the Evangelical Lutheran Church.
About the program:
The works on the concert´s repertoire is written by the icelandic composers Arngerður María Árnadóttir, Bára Grímsdóttir and Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson. They do all in one way or another refer to Iceland´s nature, which is full of contrasts, is both magnificent and fragile. At the same time, all the works have religious connections. The concert will feature the premiere of one chapter of a work by Bára Grímsdóttir called Flóra. It is a reference to the Icelandic flora where most of the plants are low-growing but extremely colorful, delicate and beautiful, even though many of them live in barren conditions. The names of the chapters of the work are flowers that remind of or refer to scriptures and religious legends and together they weave a wreath about the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Program
Arngerður María Árnadóttir (1975-)
Birting (2022)
Bára Grímsdóttir (1960-)
From the piece Flóra (2024) Premiére
Davíðslykill
Maríustakkur
Ljósberi
Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson (1938-2013)
Snertur (1992)
Concert notes:
Birting - Arngerður María Árnadóttir (1975-)
The work Birting was written for Guðný Einarsdóttir in 2022. The word "Birting" can mean different things but in Icelandic the root of the word is "birta" which means light. For me the work reminds me of the sunrise and the dance of the sun rays on the surface of the water.
Flóra – Bára Grímsdóttir (1960-)
The work Flóra is in four chapters who all are named after flowers from the Icelandic flora that remind of or refer to scriptures and religious legends and together they weave a wreath about the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The first chapter Davíðslykill (The Key of David) refers to a scripture about Jesus that has the key of David from Revelation 3:7:
These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.
The second chapter Maríustakkur (The mantle of Mary) refers to Mary, the mother of Jesus and her embracing warmth, maternal love and security. Mary's mantle is mentioned in the poem Máría, lend me your mantle by Einar Ólafur Sveinsson (1899-1984) where the poet prays to the Virgin Mary to wrap her mantle around him as he lays down to rest for the last time. It
It is said that if a person sleeps with the plant Maríustakkur under his pillow, he neither fears in his sleep nor has bad dreams.
The third chapter Ljósberi (Lightbearer) is about Jesus who came into the world to be the light of men and refers to a scripture from John 8:12:
Now Jesus spoke to them again and said: "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life."
Today´s premiere of the work Flóra is dedicated to the memory of Haukur Guðlaugsson, the former church music consultant for the Evangelical Lutheran Church, but Haukur died on the 1st of September. Haukur was a great artist and philanthropist and had a great influence wherever he went. In a long and wide ranging career, he was a great motivator for the publishing and performance of Icelandic organ works. He is remembered with great affection, respect and gratitude.
Snertur – Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson (1938-2013)
Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson wrote the work Snertur for the inaugeration of the new Klais organ in Hallgrímskirkja in 1992. It was Hörður Áskelsson, former organist of Hallgrímskirkja and Church Music Consultant for the Evangelical Lutheran Church, who gave the premiere of the piece. The piece is written in toccata style and has many colorful contrasts. It reflects on Hallgrímur Pétursson´s famous Passion-hymns and refers to the Icelandic folk-songs sung to his hymns. The reflective cluster sections are very pictorial, the clusters reminding of the grapes of the olive trees and the mood of the sections of the scene where Jesus is in the garden of Gethsemane. The melody in the final-section of the piece is sung in almost every funeral in Iceland to the hymn Allt eins og blómstrið eina written by Hallgrímur, where death is personified as the Grim Reaper which mowes the beautiful flowers. The hymn ends with the Christian person´s assurance of the resurrection.