Mystical Creatures - Seigla 202

Three voices intertwine in Seigla’s opening recital to explore myths of the natural world. Harpa Ósk Björnsdóttir, Kristín Einarsdóttir Mäntylä and Sophie Kidwell, accompanied by Elísabet Waage, harpist, and Matthildur Anna Gísladóttir, pianist, bring together opera, art song, and folk traditions from across Europe. Moving between rivers, forests, and the supernatural beings said to inhabit them, the music traces stories that have flowed through European culture for centuries.

The programme opens in the realm of water, where myth and nature meet. The Rhine Maidens of Richard Wagner’s Das Rheingold guard their radiant treasure beneath the river’s surface. In Antonín Dvořák’s Rusalka, the water nymphs call from the depths, while the famous Song to the Moon expresses longing and wonder beneath the night sky. Clara Schumann’s Lorelei, inspired by the legendary siren of the Rhine, and Rebecca Clarke’s haunting Seal Man, drawn from Celtic selkie folklore, continue this exploration of mystical water worlds.

From water, the journey leads into the forest, a place of transformation and hidden life. In Hänsel und Gretel, the children wander into the woods encountering the Witch. Leoš Janáček’s Cunning Little Vixen features a playful duet of foxes, capturing the vitality and freedom of woodland creatures. Richard Strauss’s Waldseligkeit (Forest Bliss) offers a lyrical vision of the quiet enchantment of nature.

Performers

The musical paths of sopranos Kristín and Harpa, and mezzo-soprano Sophie, have crossed many times over the years. Harpa and Kristín grew up singing together in the choirs of Langholtskirkja in Reykjavík and later continued their studies at the Reykjavík Singing School and at the University of Music and Theatre “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” in Leipzig. Kristín and Sophie first shared the stage at the Schlossfestspiele Ettlingen in a production of Carmen, where Sophie sang the title role and Kristín appeared as Mercédès.

Harpa and Sophie later spent two seasons together at Theater Basel as members of OperAvenir, the theatre’s opera studio. There they performed in a wide range of productions, including Das Rheingold, Götterdämmerung, The Cunning Little Vixen, Into the Woods, and Carmen. During the same period, Kristín was a frequent visitor to the Basel region, performing in productions of Parsifal nearby.

This concert marks the first time they appear together on stage as a trio. Joining them are pianist Matthildur Anna Gísladóttir and harpist Elísabet Waage, who together help bring to life the concert’s world of water, forests, and mystical creatures.

Duration: approx. 75 mins., without intermission.

Discounted Tickets (students, Schumann Society members, low-income): 2.500kr in Harpa's box office.

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More information, festival programme and artists bios available at www.seiglafestival.com and in the festival zine Seiglazine.

Harpa is the main sponsor of Seigla 2026. The music festival Seigla is supported by the Icelandic Music Fund, SUT and Ruth Hermanns Music Fund, Ýlir, FÍH Culture Fund, Iceland University of the Arts and Friends of Seigla.