Lögberg-Heimskringla - 09.05.2003, Qupperneq 3

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur, 9 Maí 2003 • page 3
FRÉTTIR • NEWS
New Iceland Youth Choir Performs
Afternoon Concert
PHOTO COURTESY OF PATRICE ODEGARD
The New Iceland Youth Choir perfroms in front of a captive audience
Patrice Odegard
WlNNIPEG, MB
At 2:00 pm, Sunday, April
6, 2003 the New Iceland
Youth Choir, under the direc-
tion of Rosalind Vigfusson,
performed at the Scandinavian
Center in Winnipeg. The Frón
Chapter of the Icelandic
League sponsored the after-
noon concert and silent auc-
tion as a fundraising opportu-
nity for the choir’s upcoming
trip to Iceland in July. The
choir has a full schedule
planned for their trip in late
July and early August.
David Gislason of Arborg
emceed the concert. He pro-
vided the audience with a bit
of background information
about Rosalind and the forma-
tion of the New Iceland Youth
Choir.
The program began with
seven numbers by the choir
followed by two beautiful
selections on the flute by choir
member Heiða Simundson.
She performed Dance of the
Blessed Spirits by Christopher
Gluck and Andante Espressivo
by Felix Mendelssohn.
The choir then took center
stage again for seven more
songs, one of which was Senn
kemur vor. This is the song
that they sang on the occasion
of Queen Elizabeth’s visit to
the Forks in Winnipeg in
October 2002. Rosalind
Vigfusson then played two
pieces on the piano, the first
being a very moving piece
which she had written several
years ago entitled Wishing fol-
lowed by The Arborg Waltz,
a piece she wrote for the
Arborg Centennial. David
Gislason then recited two
poems. The first was one he
wrote entitled Sixteen. He
then recited a translation of
Minni íslands which was writ-
ten by Böðvar Jakobsson and
had been published in a pro-
gram booklet for the íslendin-
gadagur at Hnausa in 1949.
The choir then sang seven
more numbers, one being the
poem by Böðvar Jacobsson,
which was put to music by
Rosalind. The group received
a standing ovation from the
crowd at the end of their per-
formance and delighted the
audience with an encore of A
Sprengisandi.
One audience member
remarked that everyone, at
some point during the per-
formance, had to wipe away a
tear or two, and this was evi-
dent during the performance
of The Gimli Waltz. This tal-
ented group of young people
under Rosalind’s direction
will certainly do us all proud
when they are in Iceland this
summer.
The families of the choir
members provided a delicious
lunch afterward. There were
several beautiful prizes in the
silent auction, which were
won by lucky ticket holders.
David then thanked the
Frón Chapter, on behalf of
Rosalind and the choir mem-
bers and their families, for the
opportunity to perform and
also to those who had donated
prizes for the auction. He
went on to say that the group
is going to be very busy with
their fundraising from now on
and look forward to perform-
ing as much as they can in
order to help pay for their trip.
Those who have not had the
opportunity to see The New
Iceland Youth Choir should
definitely take advantage of
any chance to hear them per-
form. They give a wonderful
performance and should be
applauded not only for their
songs and music but also for
the interest that they are tak-
ing in their cultural heritage.
Copies of the fundraising
CD From the Heart by The
New Iceland Youth Choir are
available froni Rosalind
Vigfusson by phoning 1-204-
376-2769. They can also be
purchased at Arborg Nic Nacs
in Arborg, at The New Iceland
Heritage Museum in Gimli,
and at Tergesen’s Store in
Gimli.
Afhendir stjómarskrána frá 1874
Delivers the Constitution from 1874
Um 90% íslendinga ánægðir í vinnunni
About 90% of Icelanders are Satisfied with
Their Jobs
Arecent research done on
working conditions in
Iceland shows, that even though
Icelanders point out things that
they think could be better han-
dled in their work places, about
90% say they are satisfied with
their jobs. Dr. Andreas
Liefooghe, an Industrial
Organizational Psychologist
and a professor at Birkbeck
College, University of London,
said that this is very unusual
because in most work places, in
other countries, job satisfaction
is usually about 50%.
Liefooghe is Sólveig
Jónsdótir’s instructor for her
master thesis at the university,
which is an extensive research
on the working conditions at
Landsspítalinn - University
Medical Hospital - but that
research is a part of national
research, where twelve
Icelandic work places have
already participated in.
Liefooghe said that when the
outcome of the research will be
published next June the expla-
nation for these lcelandic char-
acteristics will hopefully be
explained more fully.
Personally he thinks that
the explanation could be found
in the Icelandic National Soul,
but Liefooghe has worked quite
extensively among Icelanders
and has been in Iceland many
times to do research on working
conditions. “Perhaps you have a
higher threshold and can with-
stand greater initation and frus-
tration than other nations. That
could be the explanation.
Icelanders seem to be able to go
through a lot and are able to
handle many difficult problems
that they come up against.”
VlKING INN
Gimli, MB
(204) 642-5168
• 21 Renovated Rooms
• Gord Lee’s Chinese Dining
Ph. 642-5170
• “Two Friends” Nite Club
• Beer Store
The Danish Premier,
Andres Fogh Rasmussen,
made an official two-day visit
to Iceland the week of April
7th to 12th. Besides talking
with Premier, Davíð Oddsson,
he delivered the first Icelandic
Constitution from 1874 to
Icelanders. The Danes had
recently agreed that the
Constitution would be
returned and preserved in
Iceland when Tómas Ingi
Olrich, Minister of Education
in Iceland and Brian
Mikkelsen, the Danish
Minister of Culture, discussed
the matter last January.
The Danish Premier
arrived in Iceland on
Wednesday, January 9th and
spoke with Davíð Oddsson
that afternoon and dined at the
restaurant Perlan at the
Premier’s invitation that
evening. On Thursday, he
went sightseeing around
Reykjanes and the south part
of Iceland and had lunch at
Bessataðir by invitation from
the President of Iceland, Ola-
fur Ragnar Grímsson. The
Danish Premier left Iceland on
Friday morning, April llth.
Information from Morgunblaðið, Á. H.
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