BAROKKBANDIÐ BRÁK

The Baroque Ensemble Brák was founded in 2014 and has since established a firm place in Iceland’s musical life. The group consists of instrumentalists who specialize in historically informed performance of Baroque music and who seek to use their expertise to present concerts in Iceland. The founders of Brák were the violinists Elfa Rún Kristinsdóttir, Laufey Jensdóttir, and Guðbjörg Hlín Guðmundsdóttir. The Baroque Ensemble Brák has presented numerous concerts in Reykjavík and elsewhere, and regularly collaborates with Icelandic and international instrumentalists, singers, and dancers in order to breathe new life into early music. Brák has also made every effort to promote new music for period instruments by premiering works by Icelandic composers. Brák has been warmly received by audiences and critics alike and has been praised for its lively and varied concert programming. The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service, RÚV, has brought Brák’s concerts to a national radio audience. The Ensemble has been nominated numerous times for the Icelandic Music Awards, both as Performer of the Year and for Musical Event of the Year in the category of classical and contemporary music. The award in that category was bestowed on the group for the concert Brák and Bach, which took place in the Eldborg Main Hall at Harpa Concert Hall in 2020.

CANTOQUE ENSEMBLE

Cantoque Ensemble is an 8–12-voice vocal group of professional singers, all of whom have appeared as soloists and received various distinctions. The group was founded in 2017 and has twice been nominated for the Icelandic Music Awards for Musical Event of the Year. Cantoque Ensemble has performed with the Baroque ensembles Höör Barock, Camerata Øresund, and Ensemble Nylandia in concerts in Iceland, Denmark, and Sweden. The Ensemble has performed cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach under the direction of Andreas Spering, as well as new Icelandic works conducted by Steinar Logi Helgason, both at the Summer Concerts in Skálholt. In 2019, the group performed Bach’s St. John Passion together with the Baroque Ensemble Brák, conducted by Steinar Logi Helgason. Cantoque Ensemble has been a regular participant in the Dark Music Days Festival in Reykjavík in recent years and has presented widely acclaimed portrait concerts dedicated to Icelandic composers Jón Nordal, Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson, Hjálmar H. Ragnarsson, and Hildigunnur Rúnarsdóttir. In 2023, the Ensemble performed in Switzerland with the choir Ensemble Chœur3, presenting works by Frank Martin and Philippe Körper. Forthcoming engagements for the Cantoque Ensemble include concerts with the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and its conductor Tõnu Kaljuste in Tallinn, where new works by Hugi Guðmundsson and Helena Tulve will be performed; the premiere performance of a new oratorio by Högni Egilsson at Iceland Airwaves; and concerts with Camerata Øresund in Copenhagen.

RUBY HUGHES

Ruby Hughes is a critically acclaimed British soprano known for her expressive interpretations of Baroque, Classical, and contemporary music. A former BBC New Generation Artist and winner of both First Prize and the Audience Prize at the 2009 London Handel Singing Competition, she also holds a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award and was shortlisted for a Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award. She appears internationally in opera, recital, and concert settings, performing at major venues such as London’s Wigmore Hall, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Palais Garnier in Paris, and New York’s Carnegie Hall, and at festivals including the BBC Proms, the Edinburgh International Festival, and the Aix-en-Provence Festival. Her extensive discography includes award-winning and critically lauded recordings for BIS, Chandos, Delphian, and Hyperion, among them Heroines of Love and Loss, which received the Diapason d’Or, and End of My Days. She collaborates widely with leading musicians and ensembles and champions works by female and contemporary composers.

JONAS NORDBERG

Jonas Nordberg is a graduate of the Mozarteum University in Salzburg and the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and performs regularly in more than 25 countries as a soloist, chamber musician, and ensemble player. He records exclusively for BIS Records and has released several critically acclaimed albums, including Intavolatura di chitarone, a Gramophone Editor’s Choice, and Lessons with solo lute music by John Dowland. His earlier recordings include Heroines of Love and Loss with soprano Ruby Hughes, which was awarded the Diapason d’Or. Nordberg’s solo programs focus on lute and theorbo repertoire by composers such as John Dowland, Robert de Visée, Silvius Leopold Weiss, and Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger, often combined with contemporary music. He collaborates regularly with Ruby Hughes, viol player Liam Byrne, and ensembles such as El Gran Teatro del Mundo, Continuum, and Orfeus Barockensemble. He appears at major international venues including London’s Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Berlin Philharmonie, and the Philharmonie de Paris, and performs with leading period and modern orchestras across Europe and beyond.

DARINA ABLOGINA

Darina Ablogina is a flutist based in Basel, Switzerland, who has specialized in Baroque flute performance. She works as a freelance flutist, teacher, and music curator, and has focused on both solo and chamber music performance. She studied at the Moscow State Conservatory and at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland, and has received various distinctions, including a prize at the Van Wassenaer Competition, the REMA Prize, and a scholarship from Early Music America. She was selected to participate in the International Young Artist Performance in Antwerp and has performed with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Darina Ablogina has appeared with period instrument orchestras throughout Europe and has performed repertoire ranging from the Baroque era to the Romantic period. She has recorded an album with Orkester Nord for the Aparte label. She also works as a publisher and is the host of the podcast (in)sight-reading, which is dedicated to education in Baroque music and sight-reading. Darina Ablogina performs equally on the Baroque transverse flute (traverso) and the recorder, and places particular emphasis on creative and educational approaches to musical performance.

PETER CROTON

Peter Croton is a Swiss-American lutenist and guitarist. He enjoys international recognition for his performances, recordings, compositions, teaching, and scholarly work related to historically informed performance practice. He began his musical career at the age of six as a folk guitarist and singer, and later completed studies in classical guitar and lute at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland. Croton has performed worldwide as a soloist and chamber musician and has recorded a wide range of repertoire from the Renaissance to the Romantic period, released on numerous albums. He won first prize at the Erwin Bodky Competition in 1984 and has collaborated with many singers and instrumentalists in Europe and North America. He teaches lute and Romantic guitar at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis as well as at the music academies in Basel and Bern, Switzerland. There he also provides instruction in historical performance practice and basso continuo. Peter Croton has published instructional books and compositions for voice and lute. He is the chairman of the German Lute Society (Deutsche Lautengesellschaft).

NATALIA DUARTE

Natalia Duarte is a violist from Costa Rica who is based in Iceland. She studied modern viola at the University of Arizona and pursued historically informed performance, Baroque viola playing, and music education in Barcelona, Milan, and Verona. She has performed with numerous orchestras and chamber ensembles specializing in historical performance practice across Europe, and has appeared at the Handel Festival in Halle, the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, and the Monteverdi Festival in Cremona. She has worked with conductors such as Rinaldo Alessandrini, Philippe Herreweghe, and Giovanni Antonini. Natalia Duarte has made recordings with various ensembles for the labels Naxos, Lindoro, CPO, and Da Vinci. In Iceland, she has performed with the Baroque Ensemble Brák, Cauda Collective, Camerarctica, the Breiðholt Chamber Orchestra, and ConsorTico, the last of which appeared at the Reykjavík Early Music Festival in 2024. She has also performed at the Summer Concerts in Skálholt and at Salurinn Concert Hall in Kópavogur. She works with multicultural groups as a music educator in the Tónagull project in Hafnarfjörður and leads a monthly music session at the Nordic House in Reykjavík. She took part in the children’s festival Kátt in 2024.

LOW KEY ENSEMBLE

Low Key Ensemble is a newly founded chamber group consisting of five musicians who perform on various bass instruments: baroque viola, baroque cello, baroque double bass, harpsichord, and lute. The members of the Ensemble are based in Denmark and Sweden. As freelance musicians with an incurable passion for Baroque music, they perform widely across Scandinavia and beyond. The members have worked closely together for many years in various ensembles on both sides of the Øresund Strait, including Camerata Øresund and Concerto Copenhagen from Denmark and Höör Barock from Sweden. Their desire to delve deeper into the sound world of bass instruments and to develop repertoire for this particular instrumentation led to the founding of Low Key Ensemble in 2025. The Ensemble’s concert at the Reykjavík Early Music Festival will be among its first performances in this formation.

AINA KALNCIEMA

Aina Kalnciema was born in Riga, Latvia. She pursued studies in piano and organ at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory and subsequently undertook studies in harpsichord performance in the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, and Germany. She performed in concerts throughout the Soviet Union and has appeared in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and widely across Europe. She has performed with the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Moscow Virtuosi, and all the leading orchestras in the Baltic countries. Aina Kalnciema has collaborated with the violinist Baiba Skride and the gambist Paolo Pandolfo, and has appeared with ensembles such as La Petite Bande, Musica Antiqua Köln, and Les Arts Florissants. Her harpsichord performances have been released on many recordings. Aina Kalnciema served as a professor at the Latvian Academy of Music for 30 years, where she oversaw harpsichord instruction. She is president of the Bach Musical Society in Latvia and has organized the International Bach Chamber Music Festival in Riga since 2001. She has received numerous honors for her contribution to musical life in Latvia, particularly for her work with the Bach Musical Society. Aina Kalnciema works tirelessly to promote young Latvian musicians internationally and places great emphasis on their education and artistic development. To this end, she has established a competition in the field of early music in Latvia.

CHRISTINA PLUHAR

Christina Pluhar is one of the world’s most esteemed lutenists and conductors in the field of early music. She performs internationally with her ensemble L’Arpeggiata. Christina Pluhar studied classical guitar in her hometown of Graz, Austria, learned the lute at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague in the Netherlands, and pursued advanced studies at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland, where she specialized in early music. She also studied Baroque harp in Basel and Milan. Since 1992, she has been based in Paris. She has appeared as a soloist with the world’s leading Baroque ensembles, performed basso continuo with them, and taken part in major European music festivals. In 2000, she founded the ensemble L’Arpeggiata, which has attracted attention for its vibrant and innovative interpretations of 17th-century music. Many of the ensemble’s recordings have received international awards, including the Diapason d’Or, the Echo Klassik Award, and the Opus Klassik Prize. Christina Pluhar has also directed stage productions to great acclaim and conducted a staged performance of Handel’s oratorio Belshazzar at the Theater an der Wien in 2023. Since 1999, she has taught Baroque harp at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague.

VINCENZO CAPEZZUTO

The singer Vincenzo Capezzuto possesses a unique voice which escapes any kind of classification. The timbre of his voice is clear and his range wide, enabling him to perform very different kinds of music, especially early music. Vincenzo Capezzuto has frequently appeared with the ensemble L’Arpeggiata under the direction of Christina Pluhar and has sung on recordings with them. He recorded the album Gondola with mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli and the ensemble Il Pomo d’Oro. His performance there of eighteenth-century Venetian songs was highly praised by critics. Capezzuto has appeared in concert as Venus in Il ballo delle ingrate by Claudio Monteverdi, in Salve Regina by Antonio Vivaldi, and as the Evangelist in the St. Matthew Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach. In addition, he has placed particular emphasis on works by Franz Schubert and on Neapolitan folk music. In addition to his singing career, Vincenzo Capezzuto is a professional dancer. He has appeared in works choreographed by the likes of August Bournonville, George Balanchine, and William Forsythe. Capezzuto has danced as a soloist with English National Ballet and at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, and has received recognition for his dancing, including awards named after Léonide Massine and Giuliana Penzi.

L'ARPEGGIATA

Christina Pluhar founded the ensemble L’Arpeggiata in 2000. The group is one of the best-known and most highly respected early music ensembles in the world. It brings together musicians from diverse musical traditions for ambitious projects that combine the finest research into early music with Christina Pluhar’s vibrant creative energy. The ensemble’s sound, centered around plucked string instruments, is celebrated and instantly recognizable. Christina Pluhar leads the group in concert and regularly focuses on lesser-known repertoire from the early Baroque period, drawing particularly on music from Rome, Naples, and Spain. She places strong emphasis on free improvisation and on creating a vivid visual experience for audiences, in which music, singing, dance, and theater merge into a unified whole. The ensemble frequently creates a fusion of different musical styles, incorporating elements of jazz and folk music. In doing so, it seeks to evoke the original meaning of the word “baroque” — the irregular pearl — where freedom and creativity reign. L’Arpeggiata has collaborated with outstanding soloists such as Philippe Jaroussky, Núria Rial, and Véronique Gens, and has performed in prestigious venues including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall in London, and Carnegie Hall in New York. Recordings by the ensemble have received numerous international awards. The ensemble is supported by the French Ministry of Culture, the Île-de-France Regional Council, and the Orange Foundation.

DÚÓ STEMMA

Dúó Stemma consists of violist Herdís Anna Jónsdóttir and percussionist Steef van Oosterhout. Both are members of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and have performed together as Dúó Stemma for many years, creating engaging and educational programs for children of all ages. Dúó Stemma has presented children’s concerts in numerous preschools and schools throughout the Reykjavík metropolitan area and across Iceland. They have also performed in major concert venues such as Harpa Concert Hall, Salurinn in Kópavogur, and Hof in Akureyri. In addition, the duo has toured internationally, performing for children in the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and the Netherlands, and in 2019 they gave family concerts at the Konzerthaus in Berlin. In 2008, they received recognition for their contribution to children’s culture in Iceland.

HERDÍS ANNA JÓNASDÓTTIR

Herdís Anna Jónasdóttir studied violin and piano and pursued vocal training at the Music School of Ísafjörður. She undertook advanced studies at the Iceland University of the Arts under the guidance of Elísabet Erlingsdóttir. She graduated from the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin in 2012, where she studied with Brenda Mitchell, Anna Samuil, Julia Varady, and Wolfram Rieger. She was subsequently engaged by the Opera Studio of the Zurich Opera House in Switzerland. There she participated in numerous productions and masterclasses, including those led by Brigitte Fassbaender, Francisco Araiza, and Fabio Luisi. Herdís Anna Jónasdóttir has appeared in many opera productions in Germany, Iceland, and Switzerland. Among her principal roles are Adina in L’elisir d’amore, Adele in Die Fledermaus, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, and Musetta in La bohème. She has performed in concert with the Reykjavík Chamber Orchestra, the Saarland State Orchestra, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, and the Canberra Symphony Orchestra in Australia. She was named Singer of the Year in Saarbrücken, Germany, in 2016, received the Icelandic Music Awards as Singer of the Year in 2022, and was awarded the Gríman Performing Arts Award as Singer of the Year in 2019. From 2014 to 2018, Herdís Anna was engaged as a principal soloist at the Saarbrücken State Opera in Germany.

SÓLVEIG THORODDSEN

Sólveig Thoroddsen studied classical harp at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff (Coleg Brenhinol Cerdd a Drama Cymru) and graduated with a BMus degree in 2013. She then studied Baroque and Renaissance harp performance, with a particular focus on the triple harp, at the University of the Arts Bremen, graduating in 2016. Sólveig Thoroddsen has performed at music festivals and concert series in Europe and Central America. In Iceland, she has appeared at the Reykjavík Early Music Festival, the Summer Concerts in Skálholt, the Summer Concerts at the Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum, and the Reykjavík Opera Days festival. In addition, she has worked as a freelance instructor in the Iceland University of the Arts’ productions of Baroque works. In 2023, Sólveig Thoroddsen released the album Consort of Two together with the Costa Rican lutenist Sergio Coto Blanco. The recording, released by the German record label Arcantus, features English Renaissance music.

MARÍA KONRÁÐSDÓTTIR

María Konráðsdóttir completed her final diploma in clarinet from the Reykjavík School of Music in 2007. She studied singing with Þórunn Guðmundsdóttir at the same institution. In the summer of 2015, María completed a bachelor’s degree at the Berlin University of the Arts. She graduated with a master’s degree in lieder and oratorio singing from the same university in the spring of 2018. María has appeared in numerous concerts in Iceland and Germany and has won international awards. She has sung in a concert series at Salurinn Concert Hall, and performed at festivals including Reykjavík Opera Days, Reykjavík Early Music Festival, Dark Music Days, and the Summer Concerts in Skálholt. There she sang the title role in the opera Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell in 2025. In the autumn of 2024, she appeared as a soloist with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. That same year, María sang with cellist Yo-Yo Ma at the Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavík, premiering a major work by composer Viktor Orri Árnason. Recently, she sang the role of Florestine in the opera Hliðarspor by Þórunn Guðmundsdóttir. María has sung with the vocal group Cantoque Ensemble and is a member of the women’s choir Yrkja, which performed All-Night Vigil by Sergei Rachmaninoff together with the male choir Kyrja in 2025. María is the conductor of the Seltjarnarnes Church Children’s Choir and teaches clarinet for the West End and City Center Youth Band.

KYRJA

Kyrja is an Icelandic male vocal group founded in 2022. Its members are all internationally experienced professional singers and musicians with a desire to push the limits of vocal music. Setting out with a double-release of Nótt by Árni Thorsteinsson and a chilling version of Jónas Sigurðsson’s Rangur maður, the group seeks to find new twists in old classics. Kyrja also performs classical repertoire, most recently Sergei Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil with its sister group, Yrkja, in the Norðurljós Hall at Harpa Concert Hall in 2025. Kyrja seeks to explore the new, having already premiered compositions by Hafsteinn Þórólfsson and Philip Barkhudarov, with the goal of spearheading new Icelandic music and genre-mixing collaborations in the coming years. Kyrja and its members have collaborated with artists such as Júníus Meyvant and Kaleo, as well as featuring on the award-winning soundtrack to the action-adventure game God of War Ragnarök and appearing in the (in)famous Bag Song in the 2022 annual New Year’s Eve television satire Áramótaskaup. Kyrja is led by Philip Barkhudarov, Sólveig Sigurðardóttir, Pétur Oddbergur Heimisson, Jón Ingi Stefánsson and Þórhallur Auður Helgason. Other members are Bjarni Guðmundsson, Marteinn Snævarr Sigurðsson, Ragnar Pétur Jóhannsson, Stefán Sigurjónsson, Þorkell H. Sigfússon and Þorsteinn Freyr Sigurðsson.

REYKJAVÍK BAROKK

The chamber ensemble ReykjavíkBarokk was founded in 2012 and has since worked to enrich the Icelandic baroque scene. The group consists of instrumentalists and music teachers who perform on period instruments and focus on the performance of early music, often in combination with contemporary works. The ensemble frequently weaves Icelandic folk heritage, poetry, and storytelling into its projects and has collaborated with performing artists from various fields. ReykjavíkBarokk places particular emphasis on performing rarely heard works and compositions by women alongside more familiar masterpieces of early music. The group has used musical theater to introduce the stories and music of women to new audiences in a vivid and accessible way. ReykjavíkBarokk has performed at the Summer Concerts in Skálholt, the Reykjavík Arts Festival, the Summer Concerts at Akureyrarkirkja, and elsewhere. In September 2019, the ensemble organized the early music festival Kona — Woman for the first time, held at Skálholt Cathedral and Seltjarnarnes Church, where women’s works were placed at the forefront. The festival has taken place every other year since. ReykjavíkBarokk regularly collaborates with both professional and amateur artists and seeks to create a shared platform for them. This year, the ensemble is organizing Krakkabarokk (“Kids’ Baroque”) for the fourth time. At these family concerts, children’s choirs and music students join the group in performances dedicated to early music and Icelandic folk songs.

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