When Harpa announced Anne Sofie von Otter's Christmas concert at the end of August, it was a single evening, Thursday 10 December at 20:30, in a hall where seating is limited. Now there are two. Citing high demand, Harpa added an earlier concert at 18:00 the same night.
Why people are booking
Part of it is curiosity. Harpa bills this as her long-awaited Icelandic debut, after more than four decades at the top of opera and song.
Part of it is range. Her career has moved easily between opera, Lieder, French chanson and pop: she made an album with Elvis Costello, For the Stars, in 2001, and won a Grammy in 2015 for Douce France, a double album of French songs and chansons.
And part of it is the setting: a Christmas song recital, at close range, in Harpa's Northern Lights hall in the dark weeks of a Reykjavík December.
“Anne Sofie has been a role model for me ever since I began studying singing.”
— Álfheiður Erla Guðmundsdóttir, the Icelandic soprano who joins her on stage
18:00 or 20:30?
The early concert leaves the rest of the evening free for dinner in town; the 20:30 one is the original, later slot. When we checked Harpa's ticket pages on 20 October, seats were still on sale for both. If one fills up by the time you read this, try the other.
Make a week of it
Coming to Reykjavík for the concert? Harpa has more Christmas music on either side:
- Thursday 3 December — Advent at the Symphony: the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in Eldborg, Harpa's main hall, with Mozart, Haydn and a symphony by Marianna Martines, conducted by Matthew Halls.
- Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 December — Christmas at the Symphony: the orchestra's family Christmas concerts in Eldborg, four performances over the weekend, with Álfheiður Erla among the soloists.