Concert dedicated to Jaap Schröder and Helga Ingólfsdóttir
The Dutch violinist Jaap Schröder (1925-2020) was a key figure in the historically informed performance movement and he played an important part in Skálholt Summer Concert’s history and in the Icelandic music scene. He was almost 70 years when he first visited Skálholt and he and his wife fell for the place and made many friends there. We are very glad to be honoring the memory of Schröder and Helga Ingólfsdóttir the Summer Concert’s founder with the concert “All roads lead to Rome” July 11. Two generations of Icelandic early music-performers will play music by Corelli, Scarlatti and Bach.
Halldór Bjarki Arnarson
Halldór Bjarki Arnarson was born in Reykjavík, Iceland. He attended the Sigursveinn D. Kristinsson School of Music in the subject of french horn until graduation in 2011. Between 2012 - 2016 Halldór completed his first Bachelor’s degree at the Hannover Academy of Music with the horn as his major under the guidance of Markus Maskuniitty. Having played various keyboard instruments alongside his studies, he decided in autumn 2017 to study harpsichord and Basso Continuo at the Royal Conservatoire the Hague with Prof. Patrick Ayrton and Fabio Bonizzoni. Now he regularly plays with baroque ensembles in the Netherlands, France, Germany and Iceland, and won a BR special prize at the renown Deutscher Musikwettbewerb in 2019 with his ensemble Amaconsort. Halldór enjoys wandering into a variety of musical directions, for instance Icelandic folk music, jazz and electro pop. Throughout his carreer he’s been active as a composer, notably receiving a scholarship from the Emil Thóroddsen Memorial Fund for writing a concerto for horn and orchestra published by Íslensk Tónverkamiðstöð in 2016.
Photo: Jóhanna Helga Þorkelsdóttir
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Photo: Ásta Sigríður Arnardóttir
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Hildigunnur Halldórsdóttir
Hildigunnur Halldórsdóttir, violinist, studied at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, finishing both her Bachelor’s and her Master’s degrees there, graduating in 1992. That same year, she won a position with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra as well as becoming member of the Caput Ensemble, Camerarctica chamber group and the Reykjavík Chamber Orchestra. Hildigunnur has performed as soloist with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the Reykjavik Chamber Orchestra and has served as concertmaster for the Iceland Opera Orchestra and the Icelandic Dance Company. Hildigunnur has played the baroque violin with Bachsveitin í Skálholti, Reykjavík Barokk and Symphonia Angelica. She has been a prominent player of that genre in the Icelandic music scene, participating in countless performances of chamber works as well as music for larger ensembles and choirs from the Baroque era. Hildigunnur has made several recordings with the aforementioned groups and performed at various festivals abroad and in Iceland; Dark Music Days, Skálholt Summer Concerts and in the concert series of the Reykjavík Chamber Music Society, Kammermúsíkklúbburinn. Amongst the various pieces of music she has performed with Camerarctica are the complete cycles of string quartets by Béla Bartók and Dmitri Shostakovich.
Sigurður Halldórsson
Sigurður Halldórsson studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where his main subjects were cello, chamber music, voice and Performance and Communication Skills. Sigurður is a member of CAPUT, Voces Thules, Camerarctica and Symphonia Angelica. He has toured extensively with these ensembles in Europe, USA, Japan and China. He has participated in several experimental music-theatre and dance productions and other cross-arts activities. Sigurður has specialized in early music performance where his collaborators have been a.o. Helga Ingólfsdóttir, Ann Wallström, Bruno Cocset, Peter Spissky as well as the Dutch violinist and period music pioneer Jaap Schröder with whom he played for over 20 years, both in the Skálholt Bach Consort and Skálholt Quartet. Sigurður was artistic director of Skálholt Summer Concerts in Iceland from 2004 to 2014. Sigurður is professor at the Iceland University of the Arts and programme director for the NAIP European Master of music (New Audiences and Innovative Practice).
Photo: Jóhanna Helga Þorkelsdóttir
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Photo: Yat Ho Tsang
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Sólrún Franzdóttir Wechner
Sólrún Franzdóttir Wechner first started taking harpsichord lessons in 2006, her teacher being Guðrún Óskarsdóttir until 2012. She then began her studies at the University of the Arts Bremen (Germany), where she finished her Bachelor Degree with Prof. Carsten Lohff and Michael Fuerst in 2016. Thereafter Sólrún studied at the University of the Arts Frankfurt, harpsichord with Prof. Eva Maria Pollerus and baroque violin with Mechthild Karkow. She finished her master degree in harpsichord playing and thorough bass in 2020. She has played with numerous chamber music ensembles, as well as in bigger orchestras such as the Opera Houses in Gießen, in Frankfurt and in Belgrade. Sólrún is a founding member of the ensemble Les Cascades who are in the Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now initiative in Frankfurt, where they regularly play concerts. In Iceland, Sólrún has performed at the Reykholt Music Festival and in 2017 performed concerto’s for 3 and 4 harpsichords at the Skálholt Summer Concerts, which were in memoriam to Helga Ingólfsdóttir whom Sólrún had the privilege of getting to know as a teenager and was founded by Helga's memorial fund for her harpsichord studies in Reykjavík.