Performers & composers

Hörður Áskelsson

Hörður Áskelsson has been organist at Hallgrímskirkja since 1982, when he returned to Iceland from studies abroad. He has played a key role in building up the church’s renowned artistic activities.
He was born in Akureyri in the North of Iceland, began his musical studies at the age of seven, moved to the Reykjavík School of Music where he studied the organ and gained his music teacher’s diploma. During 1976-1981 he studied at the Robert Schumann Hochschule für Music in Düsseldorf in Germany and graduated with honours.

In 1982 he founded both the Hallgrímskirkja Friends of the Arts Society and the Hallgrímskirkja Motet Choir that have become pillars on the artistic scene in Reykjavík. In 1996 he founded the Schola cantorum choral ensemble. Two acclaimed events on the Icelandic music calendar, the biennial Festival of Sacred Arts (since 1987) and the International Organ Summer concert series (since 1993) were devised by Hörður Áskelsson, who is their artistic director.

Hörður Áskelsson has conducted performances by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and others featuring many of the greatest works of church music, and premiered many Icelandic compositions. The wide recognition that he has earned for his work includes the Icelandic Music Prize and twice the annual Culture Prize of the newspaper DV in 1990 and 2002, appointment as Municipal Artist of Reykjavík in 2002 and in 2004 he was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Icelandic Order of the Falcon.

Hörður Áskelsson is also an active concert organist and he has given concerts in all the Nordic countries, Germany, Belgium, France and Italy. During 1985-1995 he lectured in liturgy at the University of Iceland’s Department of Theology and he was the musical director when the Church of Iceland celebrated 1000 years of Christianity in Iceland in the year 2000. Since 2005 he has also held the position of Director of music for the Church of Iceland.