Harpa (, English: Harp) is a

concert hall A concert hall is a cultural building with a stage (theatre), stage that serves as a performance venue and an auditorium filled with seats. This list does not include other venues such as sports stadia, dramatic theatres or convention ...

and

conference centre A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

, Iceland. The opening concert was held on 4 May 2011. The building features a distinctive colored glass façade inspired by the basalt landscape of Iceland.

History

Harpa was designed by the Danish firm

Henning Larsen Architects Henning Larsen Architects is an international architectural firm based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1959 by Henning Larsen, it has around 750 employees. In 2008, it opened an office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and in 2011, an office in Munich ...

in co-operation with Danish-Icelandic artist

Olafur Eliasson Olafur Eliasson (; born 5 February 1967) is an Icelandic–Danish artist known for sculptured and large-scaled installation art employing elemental materials such as light, water, and air temperature to enhance the viewer's experience. In 1995, ...

. The structure consists of a steel framework clad with geometric shaped glass panels of different colours. The building was part of a redevelopment of the Austurhöfn area dubbed World Trade Center Reykjavík, which was temporarily abandoned during the

2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis The Icelandic financial crisis was a major financial crisis, economic and political event in Iceland between 2008 and 2010. It involved the default (finance), default of all three of the country's major privately owned commercial banks in late 2 ...

. The development included a 400-room hotel, luxury apartments, retail units, restaurants, a car park and the new headquarters of Icelandic bank

Landsbanki Landsbanki (, ), also commonly known as Landsbankinn (, ) was one of the largest Icelandic commercial banks; it failed as part of the 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis when its subsidiary sparked the Icesave dispute. On October 7, 2008, t ...

. Construction started in 2007 but was halted due to the

. The completion of the structure was uncertain until the government decided in 2008 to fully fund the rest of the construction costs for the half-built concert hall. For several years it was the only construction project in existence in Iceland. The building was given its name on the Day of Icelandic Music on 11 December 2009, prior to which it was called Reykjavík Concert Hall and Conference Centre (). In the opening concert on 4 May 2011,

Iceland Symphony Orchestra Sinfóníuhljómsveit Íslands (Iceland Symphony Orchestra) (ISO) is an Icelandic orchestra based in Reykjavík. Its primary concert venue is the Harpa (concert hall), Harpa Concert Hall. The Iceland Symphony is an autonomous public institution u ...

performed under the baton of

Vladimir Ashkenazy Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy (, ''Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazi''; born 6 July 1937) is a Soviet-born Icelandic pianist, chamber music performer, and conductor. Ashkenazy has collaborated with well-known orchestras and soloists. In addition, ...

with the Icelandic pianist

Víkingur Ólafsson Víkingur Ólafsson (born 14 February 1984) is an Icelandic pianist. He has performed with leading orchestras in Europe and America, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Ro ...

as soloist. The concert was broadcast live on

RÚV Ríkisútvarpið (, ; abbr. RÚV ) is Iceland's national public broadcasting, public-service broadcasting organization. Founded in 1930, it operates from studios in the country's capital, Reykjavík, as well as regional centres around the count ...

, the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service. The related hotel, retail and office developments were delayed, but resumed construction by 2018 and by 2023, the development was complete. The Reykjavik Edition Hotel, managed by

Marriott International Marriott International, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational company that operates, franchises, and licenses lodging brands that include hotel, residential, and timeshare properties. Marriott International owns over 37 ho ...

opened in 2021 along with retail and restaurant units; Landsbankinn moved into their new headquarter building in early 2023.

Architecture and use

The building is the first purpose-built concert hall in Reykjavík and it was developed in consultation with artistic advisor

and international consultant Jasper Parrott of

HarrisonParrott HarrisonParrott is an international artist and project management agency working in the field of classical music and the arts, with offices in London, Munich and Paris. It was founded in 1969 by Jasper Parrott and Terry Harrison. Company histo ...

. It houses the

and the offices of The Icelandic Opera. In the water next to Harpa is located the sculpture ''The Musician'' (1970) by the Icelandic sculptor Ólöf Pálsdóttir. The statue is of a cellist playing, and is modelled on the Danish cellist Erling Blöndal Bengtsson, who played constantly for Ólöf as he sat for her. When the Orchestra was based at its previous home at the Háskólabíó, the statue was located on Hagatorg, but it followed the Orchestra in 2014. The Icelandic Opera performs at the concert hall even though the venue is primarily designed for concerts, lacking a curtain, proscenium, and any of the traditional stage machinery. The first director of Harpa was

Halldór Guðmundsson Halldór Guðmundsson (born 1956 in Reykjavík) is an Icelandic author. He was also chairman of the publishing company Mál og menning and its successor after the merger with JPV, Forlagið. His biography of Halldór Laxness was awarded the I ...

. The current director of Harpa is Svanhildur Konráðsdótir. Harpa is operated by ''Portus'', a company owned by the Icelandic government and the City of Reykjavík. In 2013, the building won the European Union's Mies van der Rohe award for contemporary architecture. In 2017, the venue held the annual World Yo-Yo Contest, where over a thousand contestants from over 30 countries competed for the six champion titles. It was only the second time ever the contest was held in Europe. The glass façade of the building consists of 714

LED light An LED lamp or LED light is an electric light that produces light using light-emitting diodes (LEDs). LED lamps are significantly more Electrical efficiency, energy-efficient than equivalent Incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamps and f ...

s, 486 in the eastern part of the building and 228 in the western part. These lights display a video work designed by

. In 2021 for the building's 10 year anniversary, Eliasson made 12 new light works to exhibit on the glass, one to be exhibited for each month of the year. In 2014 Eliasson first granted other artists access to the building's advanced lighting system, when artists Atli Bollason and Owen Hindley exhibited the interactive art piece PONG, based on the classic arcade game

Pong ''Pong'' is a 1972 sports video game developed and published by Atari for arcades. It is one of the earliest arcade video games; it was created by Allan Alcorn as a training exercise assigned to him by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, but B ...

, for the city's Culture Night (

Menningarnótt () or "cultural night" is a yearly event held in Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland, since 1996. It is usually on the first Saturday after the 18th of August. It was created by the Reykjavík city council, and has now become one of the largest f ...

). This was the first time the façade was set to other uses than playing videos, and PONG was shown again the following year as a part of the

Sónar Sónar is a festival dedicated to music, creativity and technology, founded in Barcelona in 1994 by Ricard Robles, Enric Palau, and Sergi Caballero. The festival has been divided into two parts since its inception: Sónar by Day and Sónar b ...

Reykjavík festival. This marked the beginning of wider use of the light façade, as Harpa, Studio Ólafur Elíasson and the City of Reykjavík started having open applications for artistic proposals to utilize the façade the following year, and the winners got help with implementation from digital artist Owen Hindley.

Notable events

In addition to hosting the

, Harpa is a popular conference centre and performing venue, and has hosted many other events and summits since its opening. The fourth Council of Europe summit was held at Harpa in May 2023, with many European leaders in attendance. The Arctic Circle organisation holds its annual summit at Harpa. The

European Film awards The European Film Awards (or European Film Academy Awards) have been presented annually since 1988 by the European Film Academy to recognize excellence in European cinematic achievements. The awards are given in 19 categories, of which the mos ...

Iceland Airwaves Iceland Airwaves is a music festival held annually in November in Reykjavík, Iceland, since 1999. Its main focus is showcasing new music, both Icelandic and international. Background The event is promoted and produced by Iceland Music Export ...

, Reykjavik Arts Festival and EVE fanfest have been hosted at Harpa.

Appearances in popular culture

In its unfinished state, Harpa (under the earlier name ''Tónlistarhús'') appears in the 2009 novel '' Gæska: Skáldsaga'' by Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl, where it is temporarily turned into a mosque in Reykjavík with the addition of a minaret. It was the setting of an episode of the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

series ''

Sense8 ''Sense8'' () is an American science fiction drama television series created by Lana and Lilly Wachowski and J. Michael Straczynski for Netflix. The production companies behind ''Sense8'' included the Wachowskis' Anarchos Productions (replac ...

''. It appeared in the

series ''

Black Mirror ''Black Mirror'' is a British anthology series, anthology television series created by Charlie Brooker. Most episodes are set in near-future dystopias containing Science fiction, sci-fi technology—a type of speculative fiction. The series i ...

'' on the episode "

Crocodile Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large, semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term "crocodile" is sometimes used more loosely to include ...

". It is the site of the "rose ceremony from hell" in season 26 of ''The Bachelor'' from 2022. Harpa is featured in the film '' Heart of Stone'' from 2023.

References

External links

*
Harpa Concert Hall in arkitekturbilleder.dk
* Rowan Moore
"Harpa Concert Hall – in pictures: A stunning new concert Hall in Reykjavik is the result of a collaboration between Henning Larsen Architects and the artist Olafur Eliasson"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...