Þorgerður Ingólfsdóttir

Þorgerður Ingólfsdóttir's 53-year career as a choir conductor is unique. She is a pioneer in choral work with young people, and more than 2,500 Icelandic teenagers have come into contact with classical music through the renowned Hamrahlid choral experience. The college choir, founded by her in 1967, has sung in 26 countries and been a leading performer of new Icelandic choral music.

The choir sang on Björk´s most recent album, Utopia, and performed at her concert series, Cornucopia, in 2019. Like many of Iceland´s leading musicians, Björk sang with the choir while she was a student. The choir’s latest release, Come and Be Joyful (2020), contains Icelandic choral music that featured in the Cornucopia concerts.

The peaks in Þorgerður’s long and varied career have been many. She was the principal conductor of the Voices of Europe in 2000, and celebrated composers such as Arvo Pärt, Vagn Holmboe and Atli Heimir Sveinsson have written works for her.