Classical Iceland
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Organ Summer in Hallgrímskirkja

Organ recitals in Hallgrímskirkja every weekend of July and August, with Icelandic and visiting organists playing both of the church's instruments.

The organ of Hallgrímskirkja at the west end of the church, its ranks of pipes standing in the arch above the nave.
Photograph: Hansueli Krapf · CC BY-SA 3.0

Orgelsumar, which the church calls Organ Summer in English, is the part of Hallgrímskirkja's year that falls in July and August. The church divides its concerts into four seasons: Winter and Spring, Organ Summer, Autumn, and Advent and Christmas.

Every Saturday and Sunday of those two months, Icelandic and visiting organists play the Klais organ and the Frobenius organ, in classical and contemporary music. The Saturday recitals are at midday and the Sunday ones in the late afternoon. On Menningarnótt, Reykjavík's culture night at the end of August, there is a longer event: a cascade of hymns in 2025 and an organ marathon in 2026.

The summer recitals began before the church ran them. The Klais organ was consecrated on 13 December 1992, and from that day Listvinafélag Hallgrímskirkju, the church's arts society, held organ concerts that grew into an International Organ Summer. The society left after the parish council ended the partnership in 2020, and the summer series is now the church's own.

The programme is published at hallgrimskirkja.is, and on this site once it is out.

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