Further Information

Galdur is a simple story that evolves around the conflicts between good and evil. The main characters are Sigrún, a 16-year-old farmer's daughter from Borgarfjörður, and Sturla, a young sheriff from Hunavatnssysla who puts everything at risk to prove her innocence. This gamble of life and death becomes an intensive fight because powerful forces have sentenced Sigrun to a horrific death. The forces of evil in this story are envy and malice. The forces of good are honesty and trust. In the whirlwind that arises when these forces collide, the public opinion is sensitive and easily influenced. The first victim in the battle between evil and good is indeed the truth. This is an old and well known theme. Public opinion changes rapidly. The evil forces may know how to manipulate and shape the public opinion, but the question is whether the evil forces will win or if the good forces will eventually prevail?

Galdur will be put on stage in 2021. The main focus will be on the music.

The author of Galdur is Helgi Þór Ingason (left in the photo) but the main drivers of the project are Söngfjelagið, a mixed choir conducted by Hilmar Örn Agnarsson (right in the photo) and the folk band Kolga.

There are three main roles in the show. Einar Clausen plays the role of Sturla. Einar studied at Söngskólinn í Reykjavík and has worked in music since 1990 and as a singer from 2006. Einar has sung in multiple choirs, church choirs and chamber music groups and has sung as a solo artist with both choirs, bands and orchestras.
Kamilla Alfreðsdóttir plays the role of Sigrún. Kamilla graduated as an actor and singer from the New York Film Academy but she is also a registered nurse.
Guðjón V. Stefánsson plays the role of Illugi. Guðjón has studied at both Tónsóli Sigursveins D. Kristinssonar and Tónlistarskóli FÍH.
All other roles in the musical are played by members of Söngfjelagið, and a few of them are Hjörleifur Hjartarson, Helga Kristín Haraldsdóttir and Þorsteinn Geirharðsson.

A group of people have been involved in this project. Choir arrangements are in the hands of Viktors Ritovs of Latvia (center in the picture). Ólafur Egill Egilsson is the manuscript consultant for this project. Music consultants are e.g. Matthías Stefánsson and Hilmar Örn Agnarsson. Gísli Örn Garðarsson has provided consulting on the stage production. In addition, several people have given the author good advice during the 15 years that this project has been under development.

Now it is time to take the project to the next level, with rehearsals of a choir and a band, and performing the musical in front of an audience. More specifically, the intention is a simplified version with main emphasis on the music. Such a production is extensive and requires considerable preparations, the completion of the manuscript, arrangements for choir and band, the directing, rental of a suitable venue and a lot of tasks and items. The money that hopefully will be accumulated in this crowd funding will be used to make this all happen.

Söngfjelagið is a mixed choir, directed by Hilmar Örn Agnarsson. The choir was founded in 2011 and is well known in the music arena of Reykjavik. The choir has some regular events on its agenda, such as annual concerts during the advent, with a new original song - specially written for the choir. Also, a summer festival on "the last day of winter" in Iðnó, an old theater in Reykjavik centrum. The choir performs a variety of music, jazz, klezmer, folk songs and whatever challanging assignments the choir desires to take on. However, one fact can always be taken for granted; The joy of singing is paramount for Söngfjelagið. The choir consists of about 60 people, every member has experience in singing in a choir and/or formal training in music. The choir was formed due to the group's interest in performing high-quality choral music under the direction of Hilmar Örn Agnarsson.

Hilmar Örn Agnarsson - cantor and conductor - is with his wife Björg Þórhallsdóttir opera singer on the picture above. Hilmar Örn is among the most experienced and best known conductors in Iceland. He graduated as a music art teacher from the Reykjavik School of Music (Tónlistarskólinn í Reykjavík) in 1983. After graduation, he worked as a cantor and conductor in Thorlákshöfn and Strandarkirkja 1983-1985. From there he continued his studies in organ playing and choir conducting in Germany and studied at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Hamburg from 1985-1991. Hilmar was appointed cantor at the Cathedral in Skálholt in 1991 and ran a very active music program there until the end of 2008. He took the position of a cantor at the catholic church at Landakot in Reykjavik, in early 2009 and worked there until mid 2012. Hilmar Örn is presently the conductor for the South Chamber Choir (Kammerkór Suðurlands), Vox populi and Söngfjelagið. He has a position as the cantor and conductor at Grafarvogs church (Grafarvogskirkja) in Reykjavik.

The folk band Kólga (www.kolga.band) was formed in the fall of 2014. Its members are Kristín Sigurjónsdóttir on violin, Magni Fridrik Gunnarsson on guitar and mandolin, Jón Kjartan Ingólfsson on double bass and Helgi Þór Ingason on accordion. The quartet really puts heavy emphasis on the singing. Everyone in the band has experience of choral singing and takes turns as lead singers. Kólga plays folk music with influences from Ireland, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia and the United States. The repertoire thus includes music from different places, but about half of it is original. All lyrics are in Icelandic and most of them are original and written by the band. The band has great passion for creating and performing music. They usually have weekly rehearsals and perform in public during concerts and festivals.

Viktor Ritov works as a pianist and pianist with the radio band in Riga, Latvia. He leads the Riga Jazz Quartet and has received numerous accolades for piano playing. Among other things, he was nominated for the "Grand Music Award" - Latvia's most prestigious music award 2016 for "Outstanding Ensamble Work." Viktor studied piano at a music school in Riga, he graduated from the Latvian Academy of Music but has also studied at a music school in the Netherlands and Finland. He has performed with numerous artists, including China, Moses, Roberta Gambarini, Patina, Randy Brecker and others. The picture below was taken in the home of Helgi Þór in November 2019 when Viktors visited for a work session on arrangements for the choir.

Helgi Þór Ingason is a mechanical and industrial engineer, with a PhD degree from NTNU in Norway. Helgi Þór is a professor at Reykjavik University and director of the MPM program, a master's program in project management. Helgi Þór studied piano from the age of 9 and later studied at the Jass Institute at the FÍH Music School for three years from 1982. He studied singing at Söngskólinn í Reykjavik (Reykjavik School for singing) in the winter of 1989-1990 under the guidance of Ólöf Kolbrún Harðardóttir. Helgi Þór has been an active member in large choirs in Iceland since 1989, for the longest time he was a member of Langholtskórinn, but also Mótettukór Hallgrímskirkju and Óperukórinn. Helgi Þór has worked with several bands, including the band Jassgaukar, but he is a founding member of the South River Band (www.southriverband.com) which has released six CD during the period from 2002. The CD "Gamla hverfið", with music and lyrics by Helgi Þór, was released in 2013. Helgi Þór is one of the members of the folk band Kólga.

Galdur has a variety of music, music sung by a choir, by solo singers and instrumental music. The emphasis on sung music is strong, but the folk band Kolga plays the instrumental music and accompanies with singers when needed. A brief example of the instrumental music can be heard below, the recording is from a rehersal by Kólga in November 2019.