Reykjavík Orkestra
Reykjavík Orkestra is a new dedicated session ensemble of Iceland's top musicians and audio professionals. Based in the iconic landmark building Harpa concert hall in the heart of Reykjavík, which is well known for its world-class architecture and award-winning acoustics, the orchestra specializes in recordings for film, TV, games, media and music of various genres. The ensemble of players is curated specifically for each project by Reykjavik Orkestra artistic director and conductor Viktor Orri Árnason.
With a team of engineers lead by technical director Bergur Þórisson, Reykjavik Orkestra can record straight from 3 sonically gorgeous spaces with adjustable reverberation (Eldborg orchestral hall, Aurora chamber hall and Kaldalon recital hall) connected to a 5th floor control room with a stunning ocean view overlooking the Harbour and the mountain Esja. Technical equipment includes: seamless remote sessions with SourceLive, an unmatched microphone cabinet (featuring countless vintage Neumann and DPA/B&K mics), custom 5.1 monitoring by Amphion Loudspeakers and Horus-based systems by Merging Technologies.
Noteable works by the Reykjavik Orkestra team:
Björk's Utopia (Grammy nomination)
Ólafur Arnalds' Broadchurch (BAFTA win)
Hildur Guðnadóttir's Joker (Oscar win)
Hildur Guðnadóttir & Jóhann Jóhannsson's Mary Magdalene
Jóhann Jóhannsson's Last and First Men
Hans Zimmer, Adam Lukas & James Everingham Planet Frozen II
Has you can see, Reykjavik Orkestra have worked with some of the most famous composers such as Hans Zimmer (composer of Interstellar, Inception, Dune, No time to Die, …), Jóhann Jóhannsson (composer of Arrival, The Theory of Everything, Prisoners, Mother, …) or Hildur Guðnadóttir ( composer of Joker, Women Talking, Journey’s End, … ). A proof of the excellent work that RRO represents.
The last remarkable project by the Reykjavik Orkestra team :
Hans Zimmer has recorded the theme of Frozen Planet II for BBC and David Attenborough in Reykjavik Orkestra. It is a great success for Reykjavik Orkestra to land a project as such with one of the greatest composers of the world.
Reykjavik Orkestra specializes in the production of music for films, TV shows and a variety of music for publishing. RRO also worked on big projects with Apple TV, Netflix, Amazon…
Harpa concert hall
The main hall, Eldborg, is designed as a world-class concert hall. From the beginning the focus was set on perfect sound quality, and alongside Eldborg there are reverberation rooms, giving the hall a configurable reverberation time adjustable by a millisecond, ranging from one to three seconds. The two recital halls, Norðurljós and Kaldalón, also have adjustable acoustics and are ideal for recordings of smaller groups. The recording space in Harpa has already received much critical acclaim, and a number of CD's recorded in Harpa have received international awards and nominations, including the BBC Music Magazine Recording of the year (Vikingur Olafsson, 2019) and a Grammy nomination for best classical orchestral recording (Icelandic Symphony Orchestra 2019).
Harpa´s backstage area, along with dressing rooms, are fully equipped and easily accessible from all halls. With breathtaking views overlooking the mountains and Harbour of Reykjavík, it is the perfect place to sit back and relax between recording sessions.
