Stabat Mater and a concert dedicated to the sea

Two projects received a grant from the Fridrik's Fund today, on Fridrik Bjarnason's very own birthday.  One is a concert dedicated to the sea and a performance of the work Stabat Mater. This time, a total of 9 applications for a grant from the fund were received, but the fund's board decided to award grants of 145,000 kr. to two projects. Every autumn, applications for grants from the Fund of Friðrik Bjarnaason and Guðlaug Pétursdóttir are invited. The purpose of the fund is to promote the musical life in Hafnarfjörður and to support students from Hafnarfjörður for further musical studies and music scholars.

Mother of Sorrows

A performance of Stabat Mater by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi by young and up-and-coming Icelandic music students studying at music conservatoires abroad, at Hafnarborg. The performers are Álfheiður Erla Guðmundsdóttir, soprano, Kristín Sveinsdóttir, mezzo-soprano, Pétur Björnsson, violinist, and other members of the Elja Chamber Orchestra.

A concert dedicated to the Sea

Cauda Collective is a musical group that aims to blend classical chamber music with new music and weave it together with other art forms. The members are Sigrún Harðardóttir, violinist, and Þórdís Gerður Jónsdóttir, cellist. The grant is for a concert dedicated to the sea, which will take place at Hafnarborg around the same time as Seafarers' Day.

About the Fridrik's Fund

In a will from 1960, the couple Friðrik Bjarnason and Guðlaug Pétursdóttir bequeathed a large part of their assets to the City of Hafnarfjörður and stipulated that books and items should be preserved in the library and that a fund should be established to „to promote musical life in Hafnarfjörður in whatever way is considered best at the time, with particular emphasis on promoting choral singing in the town“, and „to support students in musical studies and music scholars“. Grants are awarded on Friðrik's birthday, 27 November, each year.

Hafnarfjörður warmly congratulates the grant recipients!