Mobility to Iceland

Project facts

Project promoter:
Royal Norwegian Embassy to Spain
Project Number:
ES06-0026
Target groups
Young adults
Status:
Completed
Initial project cost:
€1,473
Final project cost:
€1,490
From EEA Grants:
€ 1,473
The project is carried out in:
Spain

More information

Description

Gudrún Ólafsdóttir is an Icelandic singer who has been living in Spain since 2004. Her objective in the project, where she will be traveling from Spain to Iceland, is to connect the two countries through music. Spain can pride itself of a rich vocal tradition, which unfortunately is fairly unknown outside its borders. It is not often that the European concert-goer has the chance to listen to this music. Also, very few conservatories around the world have Spanish vocal as a subject. The result of the project will be a concert at the Icelandic Opera and vocal lessons in Spanish at the Icelandic Academy of the Arts, in March 2014. Gudrún Ólafsdóttir will give the Icelanders a chance to see a performance of carefully selected Spanish songs from zarzuelas (a Spanish genre of operetta). She will be performing together with Julio Alexis Muñoz, one of Spain’s leading pianist and an expert in Spanish vocal. The songs they will perform will illustrate the uniqueness of Spanish music, which stems from its roots in Christian, Muslim and Jewish culture. The aim of the project is to increase the interest in Iceland for listening to and performing Spanish music.

Summary of project results

Gudrún Ólafsdóttir is an Icelandic mezzo-soprano who has been living in Spain since 2004. Despite her close connections to the Spanish music scene, Spanish music is little known in Iceland. In March and June 2014, Ólafsdóttir travelled to Iceland to increase the knowledge and interest of Spanish music. Ólafsdóttir gave master classes on vocal at the Reykjavik School of Singing and the Iceland Academy of the Arts. She also gave a recital of Spanish zarzuela romanzas at the Icelandic Opera. She brought the music outside the capital when she performed at the Kirkjubaejarklaustur Chamber Music Festival in the south of Iceland, where she also was the artistic director together with the Spanish Dúo Roncesvalles. The students at Reykjavik School of Singing and the Iceland Academy of the Arts have continued to sing her repertoire and a close cooperation between their teachers and Ólafsdóttir has been established. Songs from Ólafsdóttir and Dúo Roncesvalles’ last album is now being played on the National Radio, and Icelandic concertgoers have opened their eyes for Spanish music. The project has built a good foundation for further musical cooperation between the two countries.

Summary of bilateral results