Summartónar

Annually the Association of Faroese Composers arranges the Summartónar festival – the composers and songwriters festival of classical and contemporary music.

Over the years more than 1600 concerts have been presented and each year several new works are performed – over 500 compositions have had their world premieres at Summartónar, the vast majority of these written by Faroese Composers.

Recordings of Summartónar Concerts

Below are some recordings of Summartónar concerts from various years:

A brief history of Summartónar

Beginning in 1984, Faroese composers started organizing concerts of their own music together with works by international composers. After establishing the Association of Faroese Composers (Felagið Føroysk Tóna skøld) in 1987, these concerts became more regular, especially with the annual Spring Concert and a series of concerts over the summer in collaboration with the Listasavn Føroya. In 1991 a concert with works by several Faroese composers was presented at the St Magnus Festival in Orkney.

After participating at a festival in a community comparable with the Faroe Islands, we decided to establish a similar festival the following year in the Faroes. We used the name Summartónar from the beginning and in 1992 15 concerts were held in Tórshavn, Kirkjubøur, and Runavík with compositions by William Heinesen, Edvard Nyholm Debess, Alti K. Petersen, Pauli í Sandagerði, Heðin Meitil, Bjarni Restorff, Ólavur Jøkladal, H.J. Højgaard, Esmar Jacobsen, Sunleif Rasmussen, Kristian Blak, Richard Stanley, and Graeme Rudd in addition to classical repertoire.

Since these early years, the musical scene in the Faroes has gone from strength to strength and our festival reflects the diversity and creativity of today’s musicians who bring Faroese music to the world and international music to the Faroes.

To see the Summartónar programmes from the previous years please visit this site: Summartónar programmes