South Iceland Chamber Choir

The South Iceland Chamber Choir is comprised of musicians from the South of Iceland, as well as Iceland's capital area. It was founded in 1997 by Hilmar Örn Agnarsson, who has been its conductor from the outset. The choir has given many performances in Iceland, e.g. at Cycle Music and Art Festival, the Skalholt Cathedral Summer Concert series, Reykjavík's Dark Music Days festival, Reykjavík Jazz Festival, Reykjavík Arts Festival and the Tectonics festival, which is also held in Reykjavík. The choir has also performed abroad in France, Greenland, Sweden and in England, at Southwark Cathedral in London and the Salisbury International Arts Festival. The choir has also recorded music for film and radio.

The South Iceland Chamber Choir has collaborated with and premiered works by many outstanding Icelandic and foreign composers. In the past few years the choir has gained international acclaim, most notably for its collaboration with English composer, Sir John Tavener. The choir’s collaboration with John Tavener began in 2004 when they performed the first complete concert of his works in Iceland. In October 2010, the choir released an album of Tavener's music, ‘lepo Oneipo’ (Sacred Dream), which was chosen as album of the month by Gramophone Magazine in October 2010. It was also nominated for the Album of the Year Award in the contemporary and classical music category of the 2011 Icelandic Music Awards.

More recently, the Choir has participated in a European collaboration project, along with Curated Place, Cycle Music and Art Festival, and Pinquins, with the aim of premiering newly commissioned work from composers in residence as part of the Moving Classics project, funded in large by Creative Europe and SASS.