Iceland Symphony Orchestra

Since its establishment in 1950 with a roster of 40 musicians, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra has expanded to more than twice that size and earned recognition as a world-class ensemble. Performances have taken the group across Scandinavia, to the BBC Proms, and into Croatia, Austria, the United States, and additional nations, while collaborations have extended to pop bands. In 2012 the orchestra inaugurated Ilan Volkov’s inaugural Tectonics Festival devoted to new and experimental music.

The ensemble originated as a cooperative undertaking among national and municipal authorities together with the Icelandic broadcasting company. Between its founding and the 1970s its sole regular chief conductor was Olav Kielland, who held the post from 1952 to 1955. Naturalized Icelandic citizen Vladimir Ashkenazy commenced guest appearances with the ISO in 1972; the following year Karsten Andersen was appointed chief conductor, the first since the initial period. Subsequent music directors have included Petri Sakari, who served 1988–1993 and again 1996–1998, Osmo Vänskä from 1993 to 1996, Rumon Gamba between 2002 and 2010, and Volkov from 2011 to 2014. Ashkenazy received the title of conductor laureate in 2002, while Vänskä was designated chief guest conductor in 2014 and honorary conductor three years later. Yan Pascal Tortelier assumed leadership after Volkov in 2015. In 2019 Eva Ollikainen became the ISO’s first female chief conductor, taking up the role at the start of the 2020–2021 season. Although the majority of its concerts, which are also broadcast, occur at Reykjavík’s Harpa Concert Hall, opened in 2011, the orchestra regularly brings programs to schools and regional communities in addition to its foreign engagements.

Three major recording projects stand out: Sakari’s cycle of the Sibelius symphonies for Naxos, the BIS survey of Jón Leifs’ orchestral works, and Gamba’s Chandos series devoted to d’Indy’s orchestral music. The opening volume of the last of these earned a 2009 Grammy nomination and affirmed the ISO’s standing among leading Nordic orchestras. Further releases appeared in 2019, among them Tortelier’s account of the Gounod symphonies on Chandos, Leifs’ Edda II: The Lives of the Gods on BIS, and Concurrence, led by principal guest conductor Daníel Bjarnason, issued on Sono Luminus.