ECHO Rising Stars in Harpa | Fest­ival Pass

The ECHO Rising Stars concert series will take place in Norðurljós in Harpa, in the weekend of
May 9-10, 2026, where young and outstanding musicians from all over the world will offer colorful and extremely exciting repertoire that spans many centuries and eras. The concerts are four and take place at 5 pm and 8 pm, Saturday and Sunday.

The Portuguese Maat saxophone quartet performs powerful music that revolves around equality and freedom. Pianist Giorgi Gigashvili from Georgia plays beautiful and captivating solo works for piano, classics and new works. Austrian cellist Valerie Fritz weaves together a wide variety of solo works for cello, incorporating movement, lighting, singing, visual art and dance, and soprano Álfheiður Erla Guðmundsdóttir and pianist Kunal Lahiry invite listeners on an amazing journey inspired by Sylvia Plath's poem, Lady
Lazarus! All concerts feature brand new music, written especially for the performers, by composers Aleksandra Vrebalov, Jennifer Walshe, María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir and Natalie Beridze. A four-concert festival pass
guarantees admission to all concerts of the festival and costs only 10,000 krónur.

ECHO RISING STARS IN HARPA
9. - 10. MAY 2026 IN THE NORTHERN LIGHTS HALL

Saturday, May 9 at 17

Maat Saxophone Quartet: Blackbird

Saturday, May 9th at 8pm

Giorgi Gigashvili, piano

Sunday, May 10th at 5pm

Valerie Fritz, cello: Learn to unlearn

Sunday, May 10th at 8pm

Álfheiður Erla Guðmundsdóttir, soprano and Kunal Lahiry, piano: Lady Lazarus

ECHO Rising Stars is a project of ECHO, the European Concert Halls Association. The ECHO Rising Stars project is multifaceted. It gives young and outstanding musicians the opportunity to perform in great concert
halls across Europe and also provides fresh inspiration for the music scene and programming of the respective concert halls. The project supports innovation,and the groups and individuals selected to participate in ECHO Rising Stars commission a new piece of music that is performed at all of the concerts of the respective concert hall. In addition to performing, the musicians participate in community music projects related to communication, teaching and/or organizing events, often outside the traditional concert hall, but the projects are determined in collaboration with the relevant music hall. Around 110 concerts are held annually under the auspices of ECHO Rising Stars. Among the musicians who have performed under its banner are violinists Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Renaud Capuçon and Janine Jansen, pianists Khatia Buniatishvili and Igor Levit, cellist Kian Soltani and string quartets Quarteto Casals and Belcea Quartet.

Promoter

Harpa