Reykjavik is hosting the Nordic Music Days 2016, starting tomorrow and running until the first of October with an exciting program with contemporary music touching the fringes of visual arts, with free entry to all its events. The festival is one of the world’s oldest music festivals, founded in 1888. This year it will showcase pioneering contemporary music performances by Nordic composers performed by leading ensembles and soloists from the Nordic region. In addition to the performance and sound art programme, The Nordic Music Days Pavilion will premiere at the festival. The NMD Pavilion serves as a platform for experiments, research, critical discussions, lectures, panels and workshops. With INTEGRATION as the key word, the pavilion will tackle topics such as archiving in experimental music, gender equality in the contemporary music scene, culture politics within the Nordic countries and the integration and modernization of the West Nordic countries.
The festival will take place at Harpa Reykjavik Concert Hall and Conference Centre. Harpa is designed by Olafur Eliasson, Henning Larsen Architects and Batteríið Architects. Harpa has won multiple awards for architecture including Mies van der Rohe in 2013, Best public space – Arkitekturmassan Awards 2012, World Architecture Award 2010.
The Iceland Symphony Orchestra will perform in the magnificent Eldborg Concert Hall. Eldborg has been designed as a world-class concert hall, with state-of-the-art acoustic technology that can be adjusted to performances, conferences and lectures of all kinds. The hall’s design features make Eldborg a truly adaptable modern venue that can accommodate up to 1.800 guests at one time.
Featured image shows Marcela Lucatelli performing Screen to screen, skin to skin at the Nordic Music Days 2015 in Copenhagen.
Photo Lars Bjarnø