The Icelandic Opera

The Icelandic Opera (Íslenska óperan) was an opera company based in Reykjavík that produced operas and concerts.[1][2] Its productions emphasized Icelandic artists, but regularly involved foreign artists as well. The company performed between October and May every year at the Harpa concert hall until 2024, their home venue since the hall's opening in 2011.[3][4]

As of October 2017, the company had produced 85 operas.[5]

History

Founding and operations (1979–2023)

The company was founded in the late 1970s by opera tenor Garðar Cortes,[6][7] father of tenor Garðar Thór Cortes. He remained artistic director until Ólöf Kolbrún Harðardóttir, also an opera singer, took over in 1992.[8][9] Steinunn Birna Ragnarsdóttir was appointed the new director of the company in April 2015.[10][11]

The company's first performance was Leoncavallo's Pagliacci in March1979.[12] Since then, the company had performed classics by Mozart, Rossini, Bizet, Verdi, Puccini and others. For the first 30 years of its existence, the organization performed in the cinema Gamla Bíó on Ingólfsstræti in downtown Reykjavík.[7]

Loss of funding and closure (2023–2024)

In 2023, the Icelandic government announced it would cease funding the Icelandic Opera after 2024 in order to establish a new national opera company, with plans to start operating in 2025.[13][14][15][16] The new organization, Icelandic National Opera, is currently set to launch at the Harpa concert hall in 2026 as a division of the National Theatre of Iceland.[17][18]

References

  1. ^ "The Icelandic Opera's Website".
  2. ^ "Members – Opera-Europa". www.opera-europa.org. Retrieved 2018-07-30.
  3. ^ "About The Icelandic Opera".
  4. ^ "Islenska Operan". operabase.com. Retrieved 2018-07-30.
  5. ^ Ćirić, Jelena (2017-10-26). "An Ambitious and Relevant Tosca". Iceland Review. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  6. ^ "Gardar Cortes – the Godfather of Icelandic Opera". Reykjavik.com. 2014-12-19. Retrieved 2018-07-30.
  7. ^ a b "Historical Sketch".
  8. ^ Nagy, Peter; Rouyer, Phillippe; Rubin, Don (2013). World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre: Volume 1: Europe. Routledge. p. 461. ISBN 9781136402968.
  9. ^ "Ólöf Kolbrún Harðardóttir". Ísmús (in Icelandic). Retrieved 2018-07-30.
  10. ^ "New director for the Icelandic Opera". Retrieved 2018-07-30.
  11. ^ "Steinunn Birna Ragnarsdóttir". The Icelandic Opera. Retrieved 2018-07-30.
  12. ^ Atladóttir, E. "Íslenska óperan: aurar og eldsálir" (Master's thesis), Spring 2015, Bifröst University.
  13. ^ Ćirić, Jelena (2023-08-16). "Icelandic Government to Stop Funding Icelandic Opera Company". Iceland Review. Retrieved 2025-04-14.
  14. ^ Zubenko, Iryna (2023-08-17). "From Iceland — The Icelandic Opera Claims The Funding Isn't Sufficient". The Reykjavik Grapevine. Retrieved 2025-04-14.
  15. ^ Jonsson, Steindor Gretar (2024-02-19). "New National Opera to Launch Next Year". Iceland Review. Retrieved 2025-04-14.
  16. ^ Salazar, Francisco (2024-02-21). "Iceland to Open New Opera Company". OperaWire. Retrieved 2025-07-19.
  17. ^ Adamsdóttir, Margrét (2025-07-07). "Althing approves the establishment of a national opera". RÚV. Retrieved 2025-07-19.
  18. ^ Chapman, Michael (2025-07-16). "Iceland's First National Opera Receives Green Light". Iceland Review. Retrieved 2025-07-19.
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