Freyja

Barbara Hannigan, principal conductor of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, and Hugi Guðmundsson, the Orchestra's composer in residence, join forces here to premiere a new piece, Freyja, which was written in close collaboration between the two of them and Canadian author Julie Salverson, who wrote the text for the piece. Freyja oscillates between the everyday and the mythical. The work is inspired by the remarkable life of Margrét Benedictsson (1866–1956), who at the age of 21 moved from the poverty of her Icelandic homeland to Canada, where she later became a great activist for human rights. She founded, amongst other things, the magazine Freyja and was a unique force in the fight for women's suffrage in Canada.

The piece also explores the integration of the two roles that Hannigan plays in the piece, both as conductor and soloist. The concert concludes with the energetic and lively Symphony No. 2 by Ludwig van Beethoven. Although the knowledge of his inevitable deafness had coloured his life in dark colours around this time, the symphony is nonetheless full of humour and teasing. It is one big smile that will hopefully follow us into the mild spring evening.