The performance of Mahler's 8th Symphony is without a doubt a major event in the Icelandic music scene and marks a milestone in the history of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. This masterpiece of musical history has never before been performed in Iceland, and now there is no expense spared. The symphony was nicknamed “the Symphony of Thousands” early on, because its performance calls for an unusual high number of performers, both singers and instrumentalists. On stage will be nearly four hundred performers, an unusually large orchestra, eight soloists, a choir and a children's choir. Mahler composed this moving piece of music in just six weeks in 1906, a towering celebration of love and humanity, full of optimism and faith in humanity. Mahler was convinced that the work's message applied to the whole world, and even today, the performance of the work is a truly international musical event every time.

This concert will also be Eva Ollikainen's farewell as principal conductor. She has been the principal conductor and artistic director of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra since 2020.

The concert is a collaborative project between the Reykjavík Arts Festival and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.

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Rót is a new poetic puppet play for families from Handbendi Puppet Theatre, about roots, empathy, and the stories that make us whole. The piece takes place in the summer of 1995 when a young boy in a small Icelandic town meets his grandmother, his abuelu, for the first time. She arrives from Paraguay like a burst of colour and song, bringing with her a suitcase filled with stories, memories, and a touch of magic. 

Through music, puppetry, and visual enchantment, the story travels between Iceland and South America, past and present, reality and imagination. Rót is about growing up between different worlds, carrying stories from two cultures, and discovering that no one is half of anything—we are all whole. It is a heartfelt, colourful, and visually rich show celebrating family, heritage, and the beauty of being oneself.

Handbendi is an award-winning puppet theatre based in rural Northwest Iceland. The theatre specialises in original, impactful productions for audiences of all ages and tours widely abroad to great acclaim. Founded in 2016 by director, performer, and puppeteer Greta Clough, Handbendi has established itself as one of Iceland’s most original performing arts groups. 

Handbendi received the Eyrarrósin Award in 2023. Rót will premiere at the Akureyri Theatre Company on 25 April and will then be performed at the Reykjavík Arts Festival with exhibitions in Kassinn at the National Theatre of Iceland in May and June.

The Reykjavík Art Museum is pleased to welcome the German artist Karin Sander, who has been in residence in Iceland, developing a major exhibition of her work. Opening on the 30th of May at Reykjavík Arts Festival in 2026, the exhibition traces her artistic career and highlights works inspired by her connection with Iceland over the past three decades.

Karin Sander is renowned for her conceptual approach to material and space, where she reimagines everyday objects, architecture, and digital media in innovative and thought-provoking ways. Among the new works to be featured are her Patina Paintings – paintings created by exposing untreated canvas to the natural environment over an extended period. Instead of traditional brushwork, these works evolve through a natural process of weathering, becoming spontaneous “landscapes” of the sites in which they are placed.

For this exhibition, new Patina Paintings are being produced at various locations around Iceland, reflecting Sander’s interest in the interplay between material, time, and place. During her recent stay, Sander travelled around the country and installed canvases in Arnarfjörður, Kerlingarfjöll, and on the north side of Hafnarhúsið.

Further information on the exhibition opening and related events will be announced later.

Metamorphlings is the first museum retrospective of the artist’s work. Comprising over 80 artworks, the exhibition offers a window into the evolution of Merry’s artistic output over the past decade. During this time, he has developed a body of work centered on the mask – operating as a conduit for transformation, a catalyst for performance, and a portal through which identity can mutate. The exhibition focuses on the moment of metamorphosis when form and self are fluid.

The masks on view showcase Merry’s craftsmanship, which uniquely blends traditional techniques with contemporary, avant-garde expressions. Visitors encounter works in a range of mediums: embroidery, metalwork, 3D printing, jewelry, and interactive digital displays. Collectively, these works – the Metamorphlings – form a family of shape-shifting creations that can offer a deeper insight into Merry’s unending fascination with the natural world, as well as his abiding interest in archaeology and ancient ritual. Many of the masks included in the exhibition were created for Björk Guðmundsdóttir as part of their long-standing artistic collaboration. The exhibition will also include commissions made for other notable collaborators, among them Tilda Swinton and Iris van Herpen. While many of these works have appeared in live performances and high-fashion contexts, this exhibition offers a rare opportunity to engage with them as standalone artworks.


The National Gallery presents echolalalia, an exhibition of works by Björk, the visionary singer, songwriter, performer, and poet, whose work over the past five decades has consistently pushed beyond conventional musical boundaries, interweaving art, nature, and technology with restless experimentation. Echolalia focuses on Björk as the creative force behind multimedia projects she has developed in collaboration with communities of musicians, artists, designers, dancers, filmmakers, and studio technicians. In three immersive installations, the public is given a rare opportunity to engage intimately with works of phenomenal visual, aural, and emotional depth.

The first gallery contains a new installation pulled from Björk’s forthcoming album. The work offers an introduction to the latest chapter of the artist’s ongoing explorations of transformation and collaboration. 

Two elegiac works each command their own galleries. Ancestress and Sorrowful Soil honor Björk’s mother, environmental activist Hildur Rúna Hauksdóttir, who passed away in 2018. Released alongside Björk’s 2022 album Fossora, composed and arranged by Björk, the works are presented at the museum on a theatrical scale. 

Ancestress reckons with the cyclical nature of life. Set in a remote valley in Iceland, the lamentation is staged as a ritualistic procession of musicians and dancers, including Björk herself, who is accompanied by her son, Sindri Eldon, in the chorus. The film was made in close collaboration with many of Björk’s longstanding creative partners, including the filmmaker Andrew Thomas Huang, and James Merry, co-creative director with Björk, and designer of the masks and ritual objects that adorn the musicians. 

The polyphonic 9-part choral work Sorrowful Soil is a requiem expressing the loss of the mother as a life force. The oval-shaped video, directed by Viðar Logi and Björk as creative director, speaks to both human and geological time, filmed at the site of the erupting Fagradalsfjall volcano. Thirty speakers arrayed through the gallery each transmit a single voice from the Hamrahlíð choir, conducted by Þorgerður Ingólfsdóttir. As one walks through the gallery, the experience moves between singular and synergistic voices, invoking a sense of humanity that is at once individual and collective.

Information about the entrance fee can be found on the museums website

June 4th, The Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the Reykjavík Arts Festival present a fascinating evening with composer Hildur Guðnadóttir, showcasing images from her work in recent years. Hildur is one of the leading film composers of our time and has won many awards for her work, including an Emmy and Grammy Award in 2019 for the score in the TV series Chernobyl and an Oscar in 2020 for the score for the film Joker.

At the concert, the artist herself hosts a program where she talks about her work, influences, and the struggle to strengthen a film's narrative with moving music. The program features Hildur’s own compositions alongside works that have influenced her over the years.

Where to From is commissioned by Reykjavík Arts Festival, Barbican Centre, Vienna Konzerthaus and Holland Festival. In addition to Hildur, who sings and plays cello, the performance features Liam Byrne on viola da gamba, vocalists Jessika Kenney and Else Torp, violist Eyvind Kang, and cellist Claire O’Connell. Lighting design is by Theresa Baumgartner and sound design by Francesco Donadello.

On Saturday 6 June at 20:00, a concert will take place in Harpa’s Silfurberg, where Hildur and her ensemble perform Where to From for the first time in Iceland, along with Hildurs earlier works. She says of the piece:

“I have a fairly constant stream of music in my head. Sometimes I record this stream, and it becomes a kind of snapshot of my emotions at that moment. Where to From is my audio diary. I’m excited to open it up to the audience at Harpa, together with good friends.”

The 2026 Artist-in-Residence is Hildur Guðnadóttir. Three events will showcase her and her music during the festival.

“Gratitude is at the forefront of my mind when it comes to being the Artist-in-Residence of the Reykjavík Arts Festival. It’s a great honour to come home and share with the nation a glimpse of what I’ve been working on over the past decades. I’m looking forward to perform new music with close friends — music that we’ll be bringing to audiences around the world in the coming years,” said Hildur.

Where to From: Hildur Guðnadóttir and friends

As a part of Reykjavík Arts Festival, the Choir of Hallgrímskirkja invites you to a concert where two influential Icelandic composers will be brought together: Hildur Guðnadóttir, the festival’s artist-in-residence, and Jón Nordal, who would have turned 100 in the spring of 2026.

The concert will feature several of Hildur’s works written for choir, alongside Jón’s major work Óttusöngvar á vori (1993) for choir, soprano, countertenor, organ, cello, and percussion. Among the performers is Álfheiður Erla Guðmundsdóttir, with Steinar Logi Helgason conducting.

Programme

Mahler 8

Rót

Karin Sander

Björk og James Merry

Close up

Where to From

Generations in Harmony