ICELAND SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

http://www.sinfonia.is

Biographie

For centuries, Iceland’s cultural heritage had been firmly rooted in literature, with the Icelandic Sagas as the grand pillar. In modern sense, music has only been part of the country culture since mid 19th century. A small population of tiny coastal villages and scattered farms, along with centuries of isolation and foreign sovereignty had not provided to be fertile soil for cultural achievements.But, prosperity and the dawn of independence at the turn of the century were the means for richer culture and soon serious attempts to form a professional orchestra began. The foundation of the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service and the Reykjavik College of Music, both in 1930 proved one of the cornerstones for the formation of the orchestra, but formally, the orchestra was not established until March 9th 1950. In such a short time since then it may seem strange that the country has reached such high level of artistry as the ISO clearly manifests.The ISO gives approximately sixty concerts each season, including subscription concerts in Reykjavik, and tours both in Iceland and abroad, with recent visits to the Faeroes, Greenland, Germany, Austria, France, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and North America. The year 2000 tour to USA and Canada was the most extensive one the orchestra has done. The American press embraced the performances of the orchestra and the tour was considered a major success. ISO´s undertook a highly successful German tour in 2003 in collaboration with Musica Vivendi where the orchestra played 5 concerts in 5 cities. The second successful tour with Musica Vivendi followed in February 2007 in Europe.Over the years, many renowned guest artists have enriched the ISO's music making, most notably Vladimir Ashkenazy, Yehudi Menuhin, Wilhelm Kempff, Claudio Arrau, André Previn, Daniel Barenboim, Luciano Pavarotti, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Emil Gilels, Mstislav Rostropovich and Johsua Bell, Maxim Vengerov and Bryn Terfel to mention but a few.The post of chief conductor has also been filled by many important conductors who, over the years have greatly influenced the orchestra's development, such as Olav Kielland and Karsten Andersen from Norway, Bohdan Wodiczko from Poland, Jean-Pierre Jacquillat from France, Petri Sakari and Osmo Vänskä from Finland and Rico Saccani from USA. British conductor Rumon Gamba is now the Chief Conductor and Musical Director of ISO.We are also highly honored that Vladimir Ashkenazy accepted the post of "conductor laureate" in 2002. The ISO´s composer-in-residence is Atli Heimir Sveinsson (b. 1938), whose Symphony no. 2 was premiéred in June 2006. One of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra´s largest projects in the 2006-2007 season is the premiére of EDDA I, a large-scale oratorio by the Icelandic composer Jón Leifs (1899-1968). This performance has required several years of preparation, including the first published edition of Leifs´ score. Leifs is without a doubt one of the most important Icelandic composers and this premiere of his magnum opus will be a major cultural event. Only few movements of this piece have been performed before, on two occasions: in Denmark in 1952 and Reykjavík in 1982.