Matinée - Guðný Einarsdóttir, organ
Saturday September 7th at 12 hrs
Tickets available at Hallgrímskirkja and on tix.is
Admission ISK 2.900

Guðný Einarsdóttir was born in 1978 and studied in Iceland with Marteinn H. Friðriksson, former organist at the cathedral in Reykjavik, at the Royal Danish Conservatory of Music in Copenhagen with Lasse Ewerlöf, Hans-Ole Thers and Bine Bryndorf and in Paris with Eric Lebrun and Sophie-Veronique Cauchefer-Choplin. Alongside her studies in Copenhagen, she was leader and one of the founders of the Staka Chamber Choir. Guðný has performed both in Iceland and abroad as a soloist, accompanist and choir director. She has focused on performing and premiering Icelandic church music both with choirs and as an organ soloist. In 2017, her CD release of Jón Nordal's organ works was nominated for the Icelandic Music Awards. Guðný has taught both piano and organ and focused on programs that bring children and young people to the organ. Together with composer Michael Jón Clarke and illustrator Fanney Sizemore, she created the musical fairy tale Lítil saga úr orgelhúsi (English translation: Sally Piper's big tootle day), where the organ pipers who live in the organ mansion are characters in the story. Together with organist Sigrún Magna Þórsteinsdóttir, she has done several organ concerts and workshops for children.
Guðný has worked as an organist and choir conductor for years in Iceland, most recently in Háteigskirkja in Reykjavík, but is now director of the Evangelical Lutheran Church's music school and church music consultant for the Evangelical Lutheran Church.

About the program:
The works on the concert´s repertoire is written by the icelandic composers Arngerður María Árnadóttir, Bára Grímsdóttir and Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson. They do all in one way or another refer to Iceland´s nature, which is full of contrasts, is both magnificent and fragile. At the same time, all the works have religious connections. The concert will feature the premiere of one chapter of a work by Bára Grímsdóttir called Flóra. It is a reference to the Icelandic flora where most of the plants are low-growing but extremely colorful, delicate and beautiful, even though many of them live in barren conditions. The names of the chapters of the work are flowers that remind of or refer to scriptures and religious legends and together they weave a wreath about the gospel of Jesus Christ.