Ten poets and writers hold At Home Readings during the Reykjavík Arts Festival. The readings offer a unique opportunity to get up close and personal with the authors and their work. Poems, stories, readings from novels, children's material, proses, published as well as unpublished material, it's all there! These are once-only events and admittance is limited.

The Reykjavik Arts Festival brings joy and beauty to the city from May 18th till June 3rd; with its brilliant and diverse programme that Festival Director, Hrefna Haraldsdóttir, announced today. The programme this year is classical yet progressive, new creations within every genre will be premiered, as well as exciting collaborations between artists, art fields and audiences. 

Bryan Ferry, one of pop music's most successful international stars will perform in Harpa, Reykjavík, on May 27th. This is Ferry's first concert this year and his first since he finished his Olympia tour in London in december last year.

Siggi Eggertsson is the winner of Reykjavík Arts Festival's Design Competition.

Yesterday the winner of the Arts Festival and Iceland Design Centre's Festival Poster Competition was announced. Over 120 diverse entries were submitted to the competition but the judging committee's decision was anonymous. 

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Buika and her band will perform in Harpa, Eldborg on June 3rd.

Buika is one of the most peculiar and original Spanish artists around. She is the daughter of political refugees from the African nation of Equatorial Guinea and grew up in a gypsy neighborhood on the Spanish island of Mallorca. The New York Times calls her unique blend of flamenco, jazz, soul and blues, "luminous...magnificent...superb!"

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Celebrated composer and multi instrumentalist Yann Tiersen will be a guest of the Reykjavík Arts Festival 2012 with a special acoustic performance of his new album Skyline. Tiersen is a renowned and startlingly unique artist whose early albums merged cutting edge classical with flourishes of folk with the bristly energy of post punk, and while these works attracted a dedicated fan base, it was his soundtrack to the beloved indie film “Amelie” which introduced Tiersen to a far wider audience.

It already feels like springtime in the festival office in Reykjavík, as more and more pieces of this year's festival program fall in place. We have announced and opened the box office for two exceptional events: a recital by Russian pianist Arcadi Volodos and Berlioz' Romeo and Juliet. Both will take place in the magnificent new concert hall of Iceland, Harpa. More international names will be announced within few weeks and the full festival program will be available in the beginning of April.

The festival takes pride in the wide variety of events and venues that it offers every year and promises exiting theatre, inspiring music, lovely literature and daring dance at the 2012 festival.
Make sure you receive the latest news and special offers by subscribing to the festival mailing-list.

The Russian pianist, Arcadi Volodos, will give a recital on May 20 at the Reykjavík Arts Festival in Harpa, Eldborg, the new concert hall in Reykjavík.

Box office is now open - Click here for tickets

Arcadi Volodos, celebrated as a "keyboard genius", is without a doubt one of today's most outstanding and internationally interesting pianists. Whether in concert or on CD, his performance is always marked by a combination of breathtaking technical virtuosity and profound and expressive musicality.

At the Reykjavík Arts Festival 2012, Iceland will see for the first time a performance of Romeo and Juliet by French virtuoso Hector Berlioz. This unique and fascinating composition challenges the symphonic form, resulting in a fusion of orchestral work and opera. Sveinn Dúa Hjörleifsson has attracted admiration for his gorgeous tenor voice and Guðrún Jóhanna Ólafsdóttir has a number of singing awards to her name. French bass Nicolas Cavallier sings the part of Friar Laurence, arriving directly from his performance of the same part at the Paris Bastille Opera.    

Box office is now open - Click here for tickets

The Reykjavík Arts Festival, in collaboration with Iceland Design Center invites designers and artists to enter in a competition to design this year's Festival poster. Take a look at the colourful design history of the Festival through over 4 decades here.

All entries must be submitted before noon, February 23, at the offices of Iceland Design Centre, Vonarstræti 4, Reykjavík, and will be judged by a panel of experts. The results of the competition will be announced on March 20th and the winner will recieve a sum of ISK 500.000.

Please contact the Festival office for competition rules, assistance and further information.

We wish you a very happy festive season and New Year.

                                         CLICK HERE TO OPEN CHRISTMAS CARD!

The Reykjavik Arts Festival will focus on the visual arts in
2012. The project is called (In)dependent People and will be focused on collaboration and artis initiatives. Swedish curator and theorist Jonatan Habib Engqvist has been appointed curator of the exhibitions and seminar that will take place in the 2012  festival.

The City of Reykjavik has received the honorary title of 2011 World Festival and Event City. The award was announced at the International Festivals & Events Association‘s (IFEA) annual convention on 3rd October 2011.  

at Reykjavík Arts Festival this spring with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in the music hall of Harpa.

The Reykjavík Arts Festival 2011 closed past Sunday night after seventeen eventful and action-packed days, with the participation of over 500 artists and tens of thousands of delighted Festival guests. Attendance to this year's Festival was exceptional, with many of the events selling out well in advance.

The opening week of the Reykjavík Arts Festival was filled with awe, excitement and standing ovations...

Orkiestra „Crakovia Sinfonietta" wystąpi w Reykjaviku w ramach „Reykjavik Art  Festival" z projektem SOLARIS - kompozycją inspirowaną powieścią Stanisława Lema oraz filmem Tarkowskiego z 1972 roku o tym samym tytule.

The past week's program  included opening of visual art exhibitions, premieres of new dance and theatre pieces and of course, one volcanic eruption. The eruption has now stopped and luckily has had a minimal effect on the Festival´s programme. Don't miss the forthcoming ten days of the Reykjavík Arts Festival 2011, filled with more exciting events of all shapes and sizes.

The opening week of the Reykjavík Arts Festival was filled with awe, excitement and standing ovations. In downtown Reykjavík, thousands watched The Birth of Venus by Spanish group La Fura dels Baus with the participation of more than seventy brave artists, who danced in the sky high above the ground. In Harpa, Iceland‘s new concert hall, no one was untouched by the opera concert performed by the great German tenor Jonas Kaufmann and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.  Take a look at photos and videos from the first week of the Festival.

A lot of foreign journalists were present at the Reykjavik Arts Festival opening weekend in Reykjavik. The journalists, who are from Britain, Germany, Ireland and the Nordic countries attended the concerts of Olof Arnalds and Skuli Sverrisson, Jonas Kaufmann and the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra in Harpa and Erna Ómarsdóttir´s dancepiece. An article appeared in the Daily Telegraph.

Today, Hrefna Haraldsdóttir director of the Reykjavík Arts Festival revealed the full 2011 Festival Programme with a press conference and opened the Festival Box office.

Ólöf Arnalds and Skúli Sverrisson are to open the Festival this year with a joint concert in Harpa's Northen Lights Room.

Ojos de Brujo, from Barcelona, fuse flamenco's driving rhythms with hip-hop, funk, punk and other stray sounds snatched from the Barcelona street.The Reykjavík Arts Festival Concert is a part of their 10 year Anniversary Tour, Corriente Vital. 

British newspaper The Telegraph published an article recently in its travel section on the Reykjavík Arts Festival. The article reccommended a visit to Reykavík in May to experience the exciting events on offer at the Reykjavík Arts Festival. Readers were particularly encouraged to secure tickets to the concert of German tenor Jonas Kaufmann in Icelands stunning new concert hall- Harpa. Read the article here.

The performing arts are a prominent feature of this year‘s programme, which is best desribed as a feast of music and dance, brimming with exiting concerts of all kinds, striking dance performances and colorful theatre experiences for all ages. A spirit of collaboration of many art forms can be felt in many events this year, opening doors to inspiring experiences for audiences and artists alike.

With exceptional concert halls, the largest of which accommodates up to 1,800 people, the long awaited Concert Hall will enhance the vibrant musical culture of Reykjavik. Throughout its inaugural year, Harpa will welcome a dynamic roster of international performances to its stages. Among them will be some of the programs of the Reykjavík Arts Festival, which will include a performance by Jonas Kaufman, one of the best tenors worldwide, produced in collaboration with Reykjavik Art Festival, ISO and Harpa.

Snow day for Lhasa - a new song  written in memory of Lhasa de Sela.

Gift certificates for Reykjavik Arts Festival 2011 are now available for sale at our office location in Gimli, Lækjargata 3 in downtown Reykjavik.  You can also purchase the certificates online and have them sent to your home. The Festival dates for 2011 are May 20th through June 5th and the program will be proudly announced here at the website early 2011.

Click here to purchase

Make sure not to miss the opportunity to experience the unique atmosphere in Reykjavík during the Reykjavík Arts Festival, which brings joy and delight to Iceland's residents and guests in May each year. The Festival takes pride in its focus on all artistic diciplines - theatre, dance, music, literature and visual arts and promotes Icelandic and international culture with exceptional acts and performances.

The Reykjavik Arts Festival 2011 will be held from May 20 to June 5. The programme will be announced in the early year 2011 and like always the Festival will promote outstanding acts and artists.

For the occasion of the Reykjavik Arts Festival 2010 quite a few foreign journalists were invited to visit and write about the Festival and Reykjavik in general as a place to visit. Among those were journalists from The New York Post and Art Newspaper, The New York Times, the Austrian Der Standard, Pohjalainen in Finland and Financial Times in Germany. They attended many of the events on the programme, as well as most of the photographic exhibitions and discussed with some of the artists involved.  

The Reykjavík Arts Festival 2010 closed this weekend with a stunning operatic performance by Kristinn Sigmundsson, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the Reykjavík Opera Choir. The Festival's events numbered over 60 this year and included more than 600 artists, both Icelandic and foreign. All events were extremely well attended and received.

The Reykjavík Arts Festival celebrates its 40th anniversary this year and, for the first time, in its history it focuses on photography.
There will be 20 exhibitions by Icelandic and foreign photographers held in art museums, galleries and in the open air.

Tickets are available on www.listahatid.is, at the Reykjavik Arts Festival Box office in Lækjargata 3 and phone (+354) 552 8588.

Opening hours in Lækjargata during the Festival, May 12 – June 5

Weekdays 10 am – 4 pm.

Weekends and Bank holidays 12 am – 4 pm.

Ticket sale and ticket pick-up will move to the venues one hour before the events.

Please be aware that online sale will close 2 hours before the events start.

Box-office manager: (+354) 898 9981.

To see the article click here.

This year marks the 40^th anniversary of Reykjavik Art Festival. This spring the Festival's program includes over 60 events that represent all artforms.  Icelandic artists display new and unexpected dimensions of their art, often in collaboration with artists from abroad.

 View the programme here as a PDF document.

In the March issue of LIST, Icelandic Art News is a substantial article about the photographic exhibitions in the next edition of the Reykjavik Arts Festival. This is the first time such a special celebration of the photograph will be held in Iceland.

"The partnership of Tetzlaff and Andsnes is second to none, with a powerful physicality and intensity manifesting itself not just in the moments of astringent attack but also when the music demands weight of utterance of a more inward kind. The spectrum of shading, rhythm and phrasing is subtle and all-encompassing."

This year's programme offers a varied and colourful blend of big and small events in all fields of art; theatre, dance, music, literature and visual arts.

Reykjavík is a city of pure energy and enjoys the best of two worlds: the qualities of a modern, forward looking society, complemented by a close connection to beautiful unspoilt nature. The Reykjavík Arts Festival collaborates with the airline Iceland Express as well as Center Hotels.

The first Reykjavík Arts Festival was held in summer 1970. Ever since then the Festival has been a leading force on the Icelandic cultural scene and has been instrumental in bringing world-class artists to the Icelandic nation.

The dates for the next Reykjavik Arts Festival are out in the air. We kick off on May 12 and close with style on June 5. The programme is in full preparation but will not be made official until March. Sign up for our newsletter and we‘ll keep you updated.

The Spanish‐Icelandic artist duo Libia Castro & Ólafur Ólafsson have been chosen to exhibit on Iceland's behalf at the 54th International Art Exhibition ‐ La Biennale di Venezia 2011.

Reykjavík Arts Festival celebrates its 40 anniversary in 2010. From the very first festival in 1970, it has always stayed true to its original goal of offering the best of the Icelandic and international art scene. Here you can take a look at old festival posters and download booklets from previous festivals.

Singer/songwriter Lhasa de Sela has passed away at the age of 37, succumbed to breast cancer. She moved us deeply with her performances at the Reykjavík Arts Festival last May, which sadly were to be her last, as she was forced to cancel a long international tour scheduled for autumn 2009.

The Festival team is very grateful for the opportunity to get to know her during her visit to Iceland. According to Sela's manager she was happy to have come as she always wanted to perform in Iceland.  The Festival team offers its deepest sympathies to Sela´s family and friends. Her music continues to be an integral part of our lives.

The official Press Release can be downloaded here.

Gift certificates for Reykjavik Arts Festival 2010 are now available for sale at our new office location in Gimli, Lækjargata 3 in downtown Reykjavik.  You can also purchase the certificates online and have them sent to your home. The Festival dates for 2010 are May 12th through June 5th and the program will be proudly announced here at the website early 2010.

Click here to purchase

The dates for the next Reykjavik Arts Festival are out in the air. Next year, we will kick off on May 12 and close with style on June 5. The programme is in full preparation but will not be made official until  the new year.

The final event of the Reykjavik Arts Festival 2009 was a recital by soprano Deborah Voigt. The festival was highly successful and the majority of the 70 events, hosted by over 500 Icelandic and international artists, on the Festival were sold out.

In addition, audiences and critics alike praised the artists.

The Reykjavik Arts Festival hosted STRAY BEACONS, an unconventional art exhibition in four lighthouses around Iceland during spring and summer 2009. The exhibitions are the focus of the article LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS, written by Markus T. Andresson, in the August/September issue of DAMN°, an international review on contemporary culture.

Click here to download the article (455 KB).

Reykjavík Arts Festival's office is closed from July 1 until August 4. For urgent matters please contact Jóhanna Vigdís Guðmundsdóttir executive director at johanna@artfest.is and / or Hrefna Haraldsdóttir artistic director at hrefna@artfest.is.

The final event of the Reykjavik Arts Festival 2009 was a recital by soprano Deborah Voigt. The festival was highly successful this year and remarkably well received by audience and critics alike. Almost all events were sold out.

Reykjavík Arts Festival 2009 hosts an unconventional art exhibition in four lighthouses around Iceland, one in each quarter of the island. Artists have been invited to install their work in the lighthouses that will be open to the public during the summer. Each of the participating artists is quite different from the others, even if they belong to the same generation. A mutual element in their work, however, is a coherent search for innovative ways to relate to their immediate surroundings, society and the audience.   

Deborah Voigt, arguably the leading dramatic soprano singing today, has a gleaming voice that easily soars over the largest Wagnerian orchestra,” states the New York Times. She has sung leading roles in Wagner’;s Tristan und Isolde,Walküre, Fliegende Holländer, Tannhäuser and Lohengrin and in Strauss’;s Ariadne auf Naxos, Die Aegyptische Helena,Elektra, Rosenkavalier, and Salome.

Experience Reykjavík during the preparations for the upcoming Reykjavík Arts Festival by viewing The Guardian's brand new Reykjavík Video Break.  The Festival opend May 15 and will be ongoing until May 31.

Click here to view the video.

Campingwomen, a five large rolling sculptures, by Marit Benthe Norheim, are functional caravans from the 60s and 70s. The torsos of the female figures grow out of the roof so that the caravans function as the women's skirts.  

The travel of the Campingwomen at Reykjavík Arts Festival:

Fri 22.5 - Sólfarið - a sculpture by Sæbraut street

Sat 23.5 - Old Washing Springs in Laugardalur from 1pm

Sun 24.5 - Old Washing Springs in Laugardalur

Mon 25.5 - Old Washing Springs in Laugardalur

Australian street artists, Strange Fruit, and Norwegian Campingwomen will stake their claim to Austurvöllur Square in Reykjavík City Centre this Saturday at 2 and 4 pm, but there will be a number of other events to delight Festival guests in downtown area and elsewhere in the city on Opening Day. By the Reykjavík Pond and in the Gallery 100° the Environmental Health Clinic will emerge and at Gallery i8 Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir opens an exhibition named Vanity Disorder; objects designed from photographs are on display in an exciting exhibition at the Reykjavík Museum of Photography and visual artist Hulda Hákon opens her show at the Akureyri Art Museum. At the Reykjanesbaer Art Museum, Olga Bergmann brings us The House of Pain and the neighbouring gallery Suðsuðvestur hosts an exhibitions by Dutch artist Klaas Kloosterboer.

Next Friday, on 15 May the Reykjavík Arts Festival will begin: a two-week programme of exciting events will take place on the city's streets, in theatres, concert halls, opera houses, art museums and galleries, lighthouses, private homes and selected places in the countryside. The Opening Ceremony will be on 15 May at Kjarvalsstaðir museum, when the exhibition Unuhús and West 8th Street, featuring the art of painters Nína Tryggvadóttir and Louisa Matthíasdóttir, will also be opened. The Reykjavík Arts Festival 2009, which continues until 31 May, will cover art in a wide range of genres. More than 70 events will feature the work of around 500 local and international artists.

The middle of May marks the onset of two weeks of the Reykjavík Arts Festival´s dense and varied program of events which take place on the city´s streets, in theatres, concert halls, art museums and galleries, lighthouses, private homes and selected spots in the countryside.

The forefathers of Brechtian Punk Cabaret, the Tiger Lillies, will have concert on May 29 at the Icelandic opera. They were founded in 1989 and 20 years later, their sound remains one of the most unique and original things you could come across. The Tiger Lillies stood out immediately for their distinct sound and style and worked their way up from  London pubs to the Piccadilly Theatre, from buskers’ benches to the Sidney Opera House. Soon the Tiger Lillies were touring the world giving concerts and participating in various art and theatre projects.

Reykjavík Arts Festival 2009 will be held from May 15 to May 31.  The Festival will be a feast of all art forms, including music, theatre, dance,opera, literature and visual arts.

The Festival is pleased to announce that Hrefna Haraldsdóttir, former Executive Director of the Festival, has formally assumed the role of Artistic Director.

The work Ambra that was premiered at Reykjavík Arts Festival 2008 received recently the Norwegian Critics Price. Ina Christel Johannessen created Ambra for the Iceland Dance Company and Carte Blanche in co-operation with Reykjavík Arts Festival and Bergen International Festival.

As I am now stepping down as a director I would like to thank all of you who have sent regards and greetings. This has been a wonderful time and I will miss you all.

Tonight, June 5 at 7.30 pm, Barði Jóhannsson and Keren Ann Zeidel will get together in a concert with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. The programme covers their individual careers in new symphonic arrangements.

Articles about the Opening Weekend of the Reykjavík Arts Festival have been appearing in respected foreign journals and art magazines recently but quite a few journalists from the foreign press attended the first days of the Festival. Thorough articles have appeared in the newspapers Boston Globe and Wall Street Journal as well as in the art magazines Artnet, Artforum and Art - Das Kunstmagazine.

The Experiment Marathon in the Reykjavik Arts Museum started last Friday and will continue Sunday, May 18 at 10 am and run until 3 pm. During the Marathon the Museum will become a laboratory in which leading artists, architects, film-makers, academics, and scientists create an environment of invention through a series of installations, screenings, performances, and experimental films.

The Reykjavík Arts Festival launched Thursday, May 15. The opening ceremony was broadcast live from the Reykjavik Arts Museum where the Experiment Marathon exhibition was opened at the same time. In the evening, Amiina & Kippi and friends in Wonderland held a magnificent concert in the Museum.

The Reykjavík Arts Festival launches on May 15, 2008 with a groundbreaking series of visual and performing arts programs that will involve most of the city’s exhibition spaces and extend to other locations in Iceland. This year will mark the Festival’s second focus on contemporary visual art, following the critically acclaimed program presented in 2005. It will feature more than 20 exhibitions of nearly 100 Icelandic and international artists, with most exhibitions on view through July or August 2008.

Reykjavik Arts Festival and KlaraFestival van Vlaanderen in Brussels have established an official exchange programme where a project manager from both festivals visits and works for the other festival. In May, Vicky Van Keer, a project manager for the KlaraFestival, will come to Reykajvik to assist with the preparation and organisation for the Reykjavik Arts Festival.

Our recent experience being on tour in Reykjavik was nothing short of a dream come true!  Our dancers are still talking about the spectacular performances, dancing Helgi's ballets, and having the chance to meet so many wonderful Icelanders, and of course, their visit to the magical Blue Lagoon

The Reykjavík Arts Festival launches on May 15, 2008 with a groundbreaking series of visual and performing arts programs that will involve most of the city’s exhibition spaces and extend to other locations in Iceland.