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Culture
Reykjavik received intense media coverage as a result of being one of the European Cities of Culture for the year 2000, and it certainly didn’t disappoint those visitors who wanted a new experience off from the beaten track. With so many months of darkness and bleak weather to fill, far from being limited or monotonous, the city’s cultural life surprises many visitors with its sheer diversity and vibrancy.
Tickets to some cultural events can be purchased from the Tourist Information Centre, Bankastraeti 2 (tel: 562 3045; e-mail: tourinfo@tourinfo.is), such as the Arts Festival or the Viking Festival. All other tickets are available from the venue box offices.
Two excellent free guides to what’s going on in the city are Reykjavik this month and What’s On In Reykjavik, both available at the Tourist Information Centre and leading hotels.
Music: In winter, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra (tel: 545 2500; fax: 562 4475; e-mail: sinfonia@sinfonia.is; website: www.sinfonia.is) performs every alternate Thursday at 2000, in Háskólabió, Hagatorg, across from the Saga Hotel. Tickets cost from IKr1400. The Salurinn (tel: 570 0400; fax: 570 0401) concert hall in Kópavogur, Hamraborg 6, hosts regular recitals and concerts. Ticket prices are from IKr1500. The Icelandic Opera, Ingólfsstraeti, in Garmia Bió (tel: 551 1475; fax: 552 7384; website: www.opera.is), performs lunch operas on Wednesday at 1215. Ticket prices are IKr2000. One of the best sopranos in the country, Signy Saemundsdottir, often sings at these events. Björk, who broke onto the international music scene with the group The Sugarcubes in 1986, is one of Reykjavik’s most famous daughters, with a string of subsequent solo albums also to her name. Jazz lovers should aim to visit Reykjavik during the first week of September, when the annual Reykjavik Jazz Festival – an increasingly prestigious event on the international jazz scene – takes place. Many of the gigs are at Kaffi Reykjavik, Vesturgata 2 (tel: 562 5530).
Theatre: Serious theatregoers wanting to check out Icelandic drama should head for the National Theatre, Hverfisgata (tel: 551 1200; website: www.leikhusid.is), or the Reykjavik City Theatre, at Listabraut, near the Kringlan shopping centre (tel: 568 8000). Tickets start at IKr1700 at the National Theatre and IKr2450 at the Reykjavik City Theatre. A lively, young amateur theatre group, Loftkastalinn, is based at Hédinshúsid, Vesturgata (tel: 552 3000). Tickets start from about IKr1500.
Dance: The Icelandic Ballet (tel: 567 9188) puts on about three shows a year, covering a range of classical and popular ballets. Tickets start from IKr1700. The Iceland Dance Company (tel: 568 5500; fax: 568 0383; website: www.id.is), based at the Reykjavik City Theatre (see Theatre bove), focuses on contemporary work and has a regular programme of modern dance pieces by Icelandic and foreign choreographers.
Film: Reykjavik has seven cinemas with a total of over 20 screens. These are Bioborgin, Snorrabraut 37, Biohollin, Alfabakki 8 (tel: 557 8900), Háskólabió, Hagatorg (tel: 530 1919), Laugarasbio, Laugaras (tel: 553 2075), Stjörnubio, Laugavegur 94 (tel: 551 6500), Kringlubio, Kringlan 4-12 (tel: 588 0800), and Regnboginn, Hverfisgata 54 (tel: 551 9000). Most of the new films shown are from America, although there are also a limited number of European films. Films are usually shown with the original soundtrack and subtitled in Icelandic. The daily papers can provide further details.
Cultural events: The annual Reykjavik Arts Festival takes place in May. This is Iceland’s premier cultural festival and brings together the best in local and international theatre, dance, music and visual art. Jazz lovers can look forward to the annual Reykjavik Jazz Festival during the first week of September, while film buffs usually gather in Reykjavik in September and October, for the month-long Reykjavik Film Festival. The recently established Iceland Airwaves Music Festival also takes place in October, as a forum for showcasing the best of popular international music. Among the performers in 2002 were The Hives and British superstar DJ Fat Boy Slim.
Literary Notes
According to many experts, the foundations of Icelandic literature were laid during the 12th century, when scribes wrote down the sagas and epic tales of the early Icelandic settlers and villagers gathered in farmhouses on winter nights to hear them. One of the best known, Egils Saga, is a biography of the Viking hero Egill Skallagrimsson. Iceland’s most famous modern writer is Halldor Laxness, who was born in Reykjavik and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1955, for works documenting life in Iceland – such as Independent People (1935) and The Atom Station (1948). Among the most successful of Iceland’s contemporary writers is Hallgrimur Helgason, whose novel 101 Reykjavik (1996) was made into a film of the same name and released internationally in 2000. A dark comic tale of life in the city, the novel tells of an aimless young man who begins to find maturity through an affair with his mother’s Spanish lesbian lover. Evelyn McDonnell tackles the enigmatic Bjork in Army of She (2001), in an irreverent and warm book that ends up with the author truly enamoured with Iceland’s pop queen.
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