One Day in Reykjavík

As usual, we landed a bit after 6 AM.  The process through Passport Control was extremely smooth, but by the time we booked the shuttles to town, it was about 8:30 when we arrived at Freyja Guesthouse. Unfortunately, check-in wasn't until 2, but we could at least leave our bags.

So, what to do in Reykjavík for 5 hours on a chilly (55F, with a sea breeze) morning? Something indoors, something we haven't done.....

We decided to go hang out at Harpa, the stunning harbor-front concert hall. We had wandered around inside on a previous trip (see Nomads i Norden 4???), and at least it would be indoors.

As we approached, we saw a familiar-looking ship moored alongside. Turned out to be the NatGeo "Endurance", the twin sister to our "Resolution". It looks quite tiny next to the gigantic concert venue.

We went on into Harpa, and found that they offered tours.  One would start in about 45 minutes, so we opted for that, planning to grab lunch afterward and then head back to the hotel.

The logo as seen on our tour stickers is a snowflake made up of tuning forks!

Just wandering around, waiting for the tour to start.

The history turned out to be fascinating, at least to Sheila.  For years, the Icelandic Symphony had been rehearsing and performing in a downtown movie theater, which according to our guide was internationally famous for having truly terrible acoustics! So a concert hall was desperately needed.

An Association was formed in 1983 to collect funds and choose an architect. There was a competition, and the winner was Olafur Eliasson, an Icelandic-Danish artist known for large-scale sculptures.  He was inspired by the hexagonal columnar basalt found throughout southern Iceland, and the building is full of irregular hexagons, and the concrete panels were impregnated with coal dust to appear "volcanic". Actual construction was carried out by the Danish firm Henning Larsen Architects and the Icelandic company Batteríið Architects.

Some funding was acquired privately, and then eventually Iceland's banks backed the project. Construction began in January, 2007, on a location beside Reykjavík's harbor.

In 2008, with the building 40% finished, the bottom fell out of the Icelandic (and global) banking industry, and construction was stopped for a time. Realizing that it would cost as much to tear down the partial structure as it would to finish it, the Icelandic government stepped in, and Harpa opened to the public in May, 2011.

The name has 3 meanings in Icelandic--a common woman's name, the musical instrument (Harp, not nyckelHarpa!), and the first month of Spring in the old runic calendar. Plus, it carries similar meaning in several other languages!

Harpa sees 1000 concerts per year in its several concert halls, all of which were designed to be incredibly flexible in terms of acoustics, so they can host anything from a classical ensemble to punk rock or heavy metal. There are wall panels that can be flipped around, to present a soft surface on one side or solid wood on the other.  There are felt drapes that can be lifted out or dropped in to various levels. There are "echo chambers" off to the sides of the main hall, that can collect the sound and bounce it back.  The echo or reverb can be controlled from 1.5 seconds to 3.7...which is a LOT. And it's controlled by changing the ROOM, not by electronically adjusting mic outputs using a mixing board.  We couldn't view one hall because the pianist Vikingur Olafsson was doing a recording for Deutsche Grammophon (he won a Grammy last year with a recording also made in the same hall).

And if that isn't enough, each hall has a distinct appearance. 

One is mostly used for amplified performances, and has flexible seating ranging from bleachers that pull out of one wall, to 800 chairs.

Nöröurljós (Northern Lights) in a stripped-down version--there were workers setting up the room for something.

These panels can flip, and are wood on the other side for a different acoustic profile

Kaldalón, named for a well-known Icelandic composer (it's also the name of a fjord)

The walls are wood strips with moveable felt panels behind.

It's pretty small....

The crown jewel is Eldborg, designed to feel like you're in the heart of a volcano.

Solo seating along the balcony

A good look at the felt panels that can be configured in various ways

An 'echo chamber'. 

Panels on the left can be opened to varying degrees to let the sound bounce into the concert hall.

For a Mahler piece, the trumpet section was IN the echo chamber! 

I don´t know how they could see the conductor!

And ending with a couple of shots of the "Endurance" from inside Harpa:

We were going to eat lunch at Harpa, where we remembered a casual, grab-and-go kind of cafe, but it had gone all upscale and expensive. Then we walked to where our favorite sandwich shop was, and it's GONE!!! 😢 So we started working our way back up the hill, and stopped at a place that looked OK and turned out to be ONLY okay.  Should have held out for Cafe Loki.  

Got back to Freyja Guesthouse about 1:30, by which time our room was ready. Settled in for much-needed naps (and the writing of blogs....), then went to Loki for dinner.  Soon it will be time for bed, even though it seems as though it may never get truly dark.