Reykjavík Arts Festival Sumpteous feasts and small delicacies The Reykjavík Arts Festival will open unusually early this season, on May 10th this coming spring. The first festival days overlap the final days of the French Culture Festival “Pourqouis Pas? A French Spring in Iceland 2007”, featuring magnificent street theatre spectacles, on a scale such hitherto unseen in this city, courtesy of the French troupe Royal de luxe. School children in Reykjavík are invited for at trip down town on this occasion, and they will fill the streets of the city centre. The minister of Culture and Education, Ms Thorgerdur Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, will open the Festival at the National Gallery, followed by the Hamrahlíð Youth Choir, the African musicians of Konono N° 1 and Icelandic duo Ghosdigital. This season, the Festival offers an unusual variety of grand scale, elite events; among these are performances by the San Francisco Ballet, recitals by Bryn Terfel and Dmitri Hvorostovsky and the Icelandic premiere of Haflidi Hallgrimsson´s recent opera Die Wält der Zwischenfälle. Forty musicians from the Balkans, lead by world famous musician and composer Goran Bregovic, give us examples of just how much fun can be had at weddings and funerals, at a concert in Laugardalshöll, jointly organised with the music festival Vorblót (Rite of Spring). Bregovic has performed this musical programme in a number of countries to unanimous critical acclaim, most recently at the Lincoln Centre in New York and at the Montreal Jazz Festival, where he played to an audience of 200 thousand at an outdoor arena. Performing arts also play a big role at this festival, with theatre being brought to the streets, to a Coast Guard vessel, to private homes, the National Theatres and other locations. The countryside will enjoy a visit from the vaudeville artists Les Kunz, at locations in East and North Iceland. One of the most esteemed English-speaking theatre groups of today, Cheek By Jowl, visits the Festival and the National Theatre with a brand new staging of Shakespeare´s Cymbeline. Icelandic theatre will be amply represented, with two premieres of new plays: Partyland and Imminent – the latter a living room drama if there ever was one, as it will be performed in the living room of a private home in Reykjavík. The Goddess in the Machine, a theatre happening aboard the Coast Guard vessel Ódinn, is yet another exciting event, and all three feature leading artists of the current, energetic and vital generation of Icelandic theatre people. Apart from the premiere of Hallgrimsson´s opera, The Iceland Symphony Orchestra performs at a concert with the acclaimed, young pianist Hélène Grimaud, a recital which marks the finale of the French Culture Festval. Among other music events is the Reykjavík Chamber Orchestra´s programme of the string quartets of Icelandic pioneering composer Jón Leifs, a programme of the flute music of Atli Heimir Sveinsson, performed by flautist Áshildur Haraldsdóttir and the composer himself, and a concert with the Iceland Sound Company with local and “imported” guest artists at Hallgrímskirkja Church. Not to be missed is a concert series with young, Icelandic soloists at Ýmir Concert Hall, with Tinna Thorsteinsdóttir, Ari Vilhjálmsson, Elfa Rún Kristinsdóttir – recently awarded the “Most promising musician” award at the Icelandic Music Awards – and others. From Congo, in the heart of Africa, comes a unique band of musicians, Konono N°1, which won the BBC World Music Award last summer. The band plays traditional, African instruments and run-down amplifiers from Europe. Jazz buffs will not be neglected, with a concert with the E.S.T. – Esbjorn Svensen Trio – from Sweden, which boasts of numerous awards and have been on the cover of most of the notable jazz magazines in the world. The members of E.S.T. will play some jazz with a rock´n´roll edge at Club Nasa. There are also grand and noteworthy visual arts events, such as the Festival´s Opening Day exhibition – the first retrospective of the works of the Cobra artists to be put on in Iceland. On the next day, an extensice Roni Horn show will open at the Reykjavík Museum, and recent works of Spencer Tunick will be on display at the Gallery i8. Kvika (Magma), an extensive exhibition of Icelandic design, will open at Kjarvalsstadir. As usual, the Festival appears at various countryside locations; this year, we commemorate 17th century horrors of “The Turkish Raid” with a magnificent exhibition and a music programme in the Westman Islands, and Roni Horn´s Water Library will be opened at Stykkishólmur in East Iceland. The Festival also travels to Laugarborg Culture Centre in the North, with three concerts featuring Icelandic music. Leading companies of Icelandic industry and finance are an important backbone of the 2007 Arts Festival, and innumerable individuals and institutions participate in the various events. The Festival Box Office opened for three of the big events in early december, but as of February 8th, tickets for all the 2007 events can be purchased. Tickets are available at www.artfest.is, and by tel: (+354) 552 8588, from 10 am to 4 pm on weekdays. The Reykjavík Arts Festival opens on May 10 and closes on May 26.