The annual Christmas concert of the Reykjavík Queer Choir will take place in Lindakirkja in Kópavogur on December 9th. This is the fifth time the choir hosts a Christmas concert and their conductor, Helga Margrét Marzellíusardóttir, promises audiences a glimmer explosion of Christmas music and pop ballads.
Helga Margrét has been the conductor of the Reykjavík Queer Choir since it was founded six years ago and she says it was one of the luckiest things ever happening to her to be hired by the choir.
“I was still studying music when they contacted me and asked me to be their conductor,” she explains. “I had not really meant to focus on choir conducting but I said yes and I have never regretted it. It’s such a wonderful choir and we have all become great friends over the years.”
There are around sixty members in the choir and Helga says that it’s a very active group that besides holding concerts in spring and around Christmas every year is a kind of social network for it’s members.
“There are game nights every now and then,” she says. “And every once in a while we meat up and watch a film together. Many people are astonished by the number of members and all the activity, they even think that I’m doing this as a volunteer, but the fact is that this is a very well run choir with great board and good connections.”
“It’s not just a conventional concert. There is dancing and all kind of performances, it’s a full-blown show … I’ve never heard of anyone who didn’t get carried away in the joy at our concerts. It’s all about the joy.”
Helga says that studies show that queer choirs do better than other choirs in keeping it’s members and delivering the joy that the members feel to the audience.
“I’ve been reading about that lately and I can understand why this is the case,” she says. “The members of queer choirs have obviously all gone through the experience of coming out as queer and that entails taking a close look at yourself and who you are. So when they are ready to become choir members they have more confidence than many other people and are not afraid of showing who they are and giving an uninhibited performance. They are confident in their own skin and convey that to the audience.”
She promises audiences at the Queer Christmas Concert a show they will remember for a long time.
“It’s not just a conventional concert,” she explains. “There is dancing and all kind of performances, it’s a full-blown show. The key to make a good show is that the performers are entertaining themselves as well as the audiences and I always make sure that we are very well prepared and every member is enjoying him/herself. Then the joy of performing just explodes on the audience who usually are very responding. I’ve never heard of anyone who didn’t get carried away in the joy at our concerts. It’s all about the joy.”
The Reykjavík Queer Choir will have the assistance of the pianist Halldór Smárason at the Christmas concert and other performers include Ásmundur Jóhannsson on drums, Steinþór Guðjónsson on guitar and Jóhann Ásmundsson on bass.
Ticket price is 3.500 ISK and tickets are available through members of the choir or at tix.is. The last Christmas concert sold out, so act quickly and secure your ticket sooner rather than later. You will not regret it.
