|
|
|
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, such as the Arts Festival or the Viking Festival, can be purchased from the Tourist Information Centre, Adalstraeti 2 (tel: 562 3045; fax: 562 3057; e-mail: info@visitreykjavik.is or tourinfo@tourinfo.is). 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. For more information on life in Reykjavik, check out the excellent (and free) Grapevine paper.
Music: In winter, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra (tel: 545 2500; fax: 562 4475; e-mail: sinfonia@sinfonia.is; website: www.sinfonia.is) usually performs every Thursday (sometimes on Fridays and Saturdays too) at 1930, in Hsklabi, Hagatorg, across from the Saga Hotel. Tickets cost from IKr2400. The Salurinn (tel: 570 0400; fax: 570 0401) concert hall in Kpavogur, Hamraborg 6, hosts regular recitals and concerts. Ticket prices vary but normal average price is IKr1500. The Icelandic Opera, Inglfsstraeti, in Garmia Bi (tel: 551 6400 office or 551 4200 tickets; fax: 552 7384; website: www.opera.is), performs lunch operas on Tuesday at 1215. Ticket prices are IKr1000. Tickets for other performances cost from IKr2000. One of the best sopranos in the country, Signy Saemundsdottir, often sings at these events. Bjrk, 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 (www.reykjavikjazz.com), an increasingly prestigious event on the international jazz scene, takes place (Sep 29 until Oct 3 this year, 2004). 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 19 (tel: 5851200 or 5511200 for tickets; website: www.leikhusid.is), or the Reykjavik City Theatre, at Listabraut 3, near the Kringlan shopping centre (tel: 568 8000; website: www.borgarleikhus.is). Tickets start at IKr1700 at the National Theatre and IKr2500 at the Reykjavik City Theatre. A lively, young amateur theatre group, Loftkastalinn, is based at Hdinshsid, Vesturgata (tel: 552 3000). Tickets start from about IKr1500.
Dance: The Iceland Dance Company (tel: 588 0900; 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 six cinemas: Hsklabi, Hagatorg (tel: 530 1919), Kringlubio, Kringlan 4-12 (tel: 588 0800), Laugarasbio, Laugaras (tel: 553 2075), Sambio, Alfabakki 8 (tel: 587 8900), Smarabio, Smaralind Shopping Centre (tel: 564 000) 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 September or October (Sep 29-Oct 3 in 2004), while film buffs usually gather in Reykjavik in September and October, for the month-long Reykjavik Film Festival. The Iceland Airwaves Music Festival also takes place in October, as a forum for showcasing the best of popular international music.
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.
|
|
Culture