Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.03.2009, Page 2

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2 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • 1 March 2009
Icelandic violinist
receives Grammy
PHOTO: WWW.PACIfICAquArTeT.COM
The Pacifica Quartet. Left to right: Brandon Vamos, Simin
Ganatra, Masumi Per Rostad, Sigurbjörn Bernhardsson.
Reading Society holds 100th meeting
Lestrarfélagið Gleymmérei, the Icelandic Reading Society that serves as
the Icelandic National League’s literary branch, held their 100th evening
on January 29 in the Icelandic Collection board room at the University of
Manitoba. The topic was Halldór Laxness’ Under the Glacier.
Another celebrated author, Bill Holm, sent a toast to be read aloud at the
event. It said, in part, “Skal to the Lestrarfélagið for one hundred nights of
vínarterta and poetry to warm the soul of frosty Winnipeg... an Icelander is
made and revealed not by DNA nor by fish products, aluminum or invest-
ment schemes, but by the love of sentences... the Lestrarfélagið has honored
all Icelanders... Enjoy 100 more.”
In the photo at left we see the founders of Lestrarfélagið Gleymmérei,
Vi Bjarnason Hilton, Linda Sigurdson Collette, Gunnþóra Gisladóttir and
Carl Johnson. On the right we see the meeting in progress.
Photos courtesy Linda Sigurdson Collette.
The Pacifica Quartet, of which Icelandic violinist Sigurbjörn Bernhards-
son is a member, received an
award at the Grammys recent-
ly. The quartet comes from
Champaign-Urbana, a commu-
nity south of Chicago, where
Bernhardsson lives.
“It is an encouragement for
us to continue playing the music
we believe in,” Bernhardsson
told Fréttabladid. All the mem-
bers of the quartet, which was
founded in 1994, teach music at
the local university and regularly
go on tours.
The Pacifica Quartet has just
returned from a two-week tour
in Europe with the last concert
taking place in Lisbon on Satur-
day evening, the night before the
Grammy Awards. “So there was
unfortunately no way to get to
Los Angeles in time for the cer-
emony,” Bernhardsson said.
The violinist said it had been
a pleasant surprise that his quar-
tet received the award because
other excellent musicians were
nominated in the same category.
The Iceland Symphony Or-
chestra was also nominated for a
Grammy this year.
Reprinted with permission
from IcelandReview.com.
New cultural centre
proposed for Reykjavík
Representatives of an institution owned by art collector Francesca von Habsburg which exhibits, presents and collects international contemporary art, Iceland’s Living
Art Museum (Nýló), along with the estate of Dieter Roth, have
presented ideas on a new art and cultural centre in Reykjavík.
A possible location for the centre is the old Ó. Johnson &
Kaaber coffee processing plant on Saetún, Morgunbladid re-
ports.
“In difficult times like these we have to work together on
improving the relations with Iceland,” von Habsburg said. “The
art community in Iceland is prepared to become a part of the
solution—because it was never part of the problem—and I sup-
port it wholeheartedly.”
Von Habsburg has declared her institution’s willingness to
contribute up to EUR 1 million (USD 1.3 million) to the project.
Yesterday, 30 works of art from her collection were auctioned in
London and she plans to use the profits to invest in Icelandic art
creation and culture.
Reprinted with permission from IcelandReview.com.
We Pack For Travel
Gimli Fish
596 Dufferin Ave • 204-589-3474
625 Pembina Hwy • 204-477-6831
1604 St Mary’s Rd • 204-256-3474
Winnipeg Manitoba
gimlifish@mts.net
Fresh Pickerel
Smoked Goldeye
Harðfiskur
Laxness
biographer
to speak in
Winnipeg
Halldór Guðmunds-son, the author of the sprawling, cel-
ebrated new biography of
Halldór Laxness, will be
speaking at the University
of Manitoba on Thursday,
March 19 at 7 p.m. The
book, An Islander: A Biog-
raphy on Halldór Laxness,
was published in English
last year.
Guðmundsson studied
literature at the University
of Iceland and then at the
University of Copenhagen.
He has written extensively
about Iceland‘s literature
and its history, and worked
as a publisher for almost
20 years. In 2005, his biog-
raphy of Halldor Laxness
won the Icelandic literary
prize for best work of non-
fiction and has been trans-
lated into 5 languages.
The lecture will take
place in the Icelandic Col-
lection reading room in the
Elizabeth Dafoe Library.
Admission and parking are
free for this very worth-
while event.
Erratum
It was reported in Issue
3 that Matthew Holm was
born in Lockport, Mani-
toba. He was actually born
in Winnipeg.
Lögberg-Heimskringla
regrets the error.
Pp