Lára Bryndís Eggertsdóttir is the organist at Hjallakirka, Kopavogur in Iceland and she is passionate about organ music and the power it plays in Icelandic society, in bringing people together. She talks here with composer Linda Buckley and producer Helen Shaw about her work and how music is such a central part of the community through the church choirs in Iceland.
Linda and Helen met her when they joined the community at its Sunday’s service where Lara played the organ and tutored the young teenagers on harmony singing. Lara’s own three children, including her young daughter Hekla (called after the volcano) joined in and Hekla showed her own organ skills by playing the old organ now stationed in the church’s lift. One of Linda Buckley’s own Icelandic compositions is called Hekla and was inspired during a residency in 2014 when she was looking out at the volcano.
In this episode Lara talks about a project, ‘I Heard The Sounds of Their Wings’ where she commissioned Icelandic composers to write for the organ and how women composers were a big part of it. www.audiebam.is/home/