Schola Cantorum is a chamber choir of 18 singers, which was founded in 1996 by the conductor Hörður Áskelsson, the cantor at Hallgrímskirkja (Hallgrim’s Church) in Reykjavík. Schola Cantorum has from the very start played an important role in the Icelandic music scene with a repertoire that consists mainly of renaissance, baroque and contemporary music including numerous premier performances of works by Icelandic composers. The choir has also performed many of the great masterpieces of choral repertoire, e.g. Händel's Messiah and Bach's Christmas Oratorio.
Schola Cantorum has given concerts in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Italy, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, France and Japan. Schola Cantorum was invited by Los Philharmonic to sing 5 concerts in Los Angeles in April 2017 most of them in the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
The choir can be heard in many recordings including complete choral/orchestral works of Icelandic composer Jón Leifs issued by Sweedish label BIS. The choir has also recorded with artists such as Björk (Medulla 2004) and Sweedish experimental band Wildbirds & Peacedrums (Rivers 2010). In 2013 Resonus Classics released an album with ScholaCantorum singing a selection of choral works by the celebrated Icelandic composer Hafliði Hallgrímsson. The choirs latest cd (Meditatio) was released by BIS 2016. It includes expressive works for choir from the twentieth and twenty first centuries which interpret grief and bereavement in the light of hope and comfort.
Schola Cantorum was appointed by Iceland Music Awards as the Performer of the year
2016.
DISCOGRAPHY
PRINCIPIUM (1999): Music from renaissance by Tallis, Byrd, Schein and Gesualdo.
AUDI CREATOR COELI (2001): Icelandic contemporary church music.
HALLGRÍMSPASSÍA (2011): Hallgrims Passion, an oratorio by Sigurður Sævarsson (b. 1963), based on Hallgrimur Petursson´s Passion Hymns.
FOLDARSKART (2012): Fifteen Icelandic choral favorites.
CHORAL WORKS OF HAFLIÐI HALLGRIMSSON (2013): A selection of choral music by the celebrated Icelandic composer Hafliði Hallgrímsson (b. 1941).
MEDITATIO (2016): Expressive works from twentieth and twenty-first centuries which interpret grief and bereavement in the light of hope and comfort.
See further information on www.scholacantorum.is
gð í Hávamálum. Einnig söng kórinn alla efnisskrá Meditiatio á tónleikum í First Congregational Church í borginni. Geislaplatan Meditatio kom út á vegum sænsku útgáfunnar BIS snemmsumars 2016 og hefur hlotið afar lofsamlega umfjöllun víða um heim í tónlistartímaritum og tónlistarnetmiðlum.
Fyrr á þessu ári var Schola cantorum útnefndur Tónlistarflytjandi ársins í flokki sígildrar- og samtímatónlistar á Íslensku tónlistarverðlaununum 2017.
