Lecturers
Mette Borg
Dramaturg, director, Mag. Art.
EDUCATOR/LECTURER
Mette Borg is a qualified dramaturgist and theatre historian, and for 30 years she has taught at Statens Scenkunstskole in Copenhagen and inspired some of the greatest actors in the country.
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She has taught opera history and analysis for many years at the Opera Academy. She is active as a director and recently she had great success staging a play about Clara and Robert Schumann, written by the Danish composer Karl Aage Rasmussen. Besides teaching and consulting she she is a consultant for many singers and actors who look for her assistance in understanding their parts and the play. She lectures and writes articles in theatre programmes, magazines and books. She has given out the book “Herman Bang – view and method in theatre. Since the start of the NSF in 2014 she has inspired many, both participants and auditors, with her magic lectures.
Gunnar Gudbjörnsson
tenor,
m.a. Cultural management
Gunnar Gudbjörnsson started his career in the UK and Germany after studying in Iceland, Berlin and London. He sang first lyric tenor of the Wiesbaden Opera from ’91-95 and held the same position in Opera National de Lyon from ´95-´97. He later joined the Staatsoper unter den Linden in Berlin from ´99-02.
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Gudbjörnssons career has also taken him to some of the Worlds other leading Operahouses in Europe, a.o. Munic Opera, Bastille in Paris, Opera de Toulouse, La Monnay in Brussels, Welsh National Opera, Madrid Opera, Teatro Massimo in Palermo and the Vienna State Opera. He has sung recitals in the Wigmore Hall, Salle Gaveau and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and concerts in the Royal Albert Hall(Proms ’95), Salle Pleyel, Philharmonie in Berlin and Munic and Konzerthaus in Hamburg, Alte Oper in Frankfurt and with renowned orchestras like the Berlin Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic in London, Wiener Philharmoniker, Chicago Synphony Orchestra, Singapore Sinphony Orchestra and the Israel Philharmonic Orcestra to metion some. His range of recordings consists of lieder and songs, but also oratoria and opera. He sang with Daniel Barenboim a recording of the role Walther in Tannhauser in 2000 for Teldec and has as well recorded for Decca, Philips and other labels. In 2007 Gudbjörnsson changed to the german heavier Fach, now singing roles like Max in Freischuetz, Stolzing Meistersinger, Herodes in Salome and Siegfried and has in recent years concentrated on concert repertoire. In March 2020 Gudbjörnsson returned to opera singing the role of the doctor in Helgi R. Ingavarsson´s Music and the Brain in Salurinn in Iceland. Other recent appearnces include the Missa Solemnis in Germany and concerts in Iceland.
Helgi R. Ingvarsson (IS/UK)
Composer of the year
Helgi R. Ingvarsson is a versatile composer, conductor, singer and scholar based in England and Iceland.
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His music is regularly premiered and performed in the Nordic countries and England as well as in Ireland and Germany. Helgi has, amongst other works, written 5 operas to date, and is currently working on his 6th one, Þögnin (The Silence), due to be premiered in Iceland August 2022. Hi opera Music and the Brain (2021) received audience praise when premiered in Iceland in 2021 and is due to travel to Sweden and England in 2022. Other notable works by Ingvarsson include his work for vocal quartet “Þrjú ljóð fyrir loftslagið / Three poems for the climate” (2021), the playful “Random notes I found in the street” (2021) commissioned by Personal Clutter, his instrumental quintet “ELEKTRA” (2019) commissioned by Elektra Ensemble, the art song “Vetrarþoka / Winter Fog” (2016) commissioned by soprano Rannveig Káradóttir, and “Loftkastali / Castle in Air” (2013) for solo cello. Ingvarsson’s original music for strings was described by Icelandic critic Jónas Sen to have “a strong personal style” which “echoes the past” but with a completely unique inspiration. Recordings and further information is available on Ingvarsson’s website (http://helgiingvarsson.com/), Spotify and Soundcloud. Groups that have performed Ingvarsson’s music include the Chroma Ensemble (UK), Elektra Ensemble (ICE), Reykjavik Chamber Orchestra (ICE), The Composers’ Ensemble (UK), PERSONALCLUTTER (UK), Concorde Ensemble (IRE) and Kordía Kór Háteigskirkju (Kordía Chamber Choir) (ICE).
Maria Hansson
sångare och skapare av föreställningen
Maria Hansson är utbildad i klassisk sång och dirigering på Musikhögskolan Ingesund, där blev hon legitimerad musiklärare och undervisar för närvarande deltid på Estetiskt gymnasieprogram.
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Hon har även studerat dans och musikteater på Västanå Teater, Karlstad universitet och Geijerskolan. Som artist har hon bl.a turnerat via Musik i syd och Speldags i Göteborg. Hon ingår i koreograf Takuya Fujisawas kompani CRAFT som sångare, kompositör och dansare som just nu är aktuella med en turné i norden, tidigare i somras var de i Reykjavik och härnäst spelar de i Olso, Göteborg och Stockholm.
Maria utvecklade Konceptet “naturopera” under sin tid som artist in residence på OBRAS foundations i Portugal 2019. Inom konceptet skapade hon föreställningen Mask&Man som sedan premiären i Portugal även spelats i Sverige, i Kulturtemplet, och på Fringe festivaler- Göteborg, och streamat till Hollywood Fringe.