The Up­beat

The Upbeat hits again in 2025

The Upbeat is a co-operation project between Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre, Reykjavik Children’s Culture, Iceland University of the Arts, KrakkaRÚV (The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service’s children’s channel) and Reykjavik Music City. The concert for Upptakturinn 2025 will be held at Norðurljós on the 11th of April 2025!

The selected pieces will be finished in a workshop with the help of composers and music professionals. After this process, music professionals perform the new musical compositions as part of an ambitious and elegant concert programme in Harpa at the Children’s Culture Festival in Reykjavik.

The rules

• Children and young people in grades 5–10 can participate in Upptakturinn by submitting a composition, regardless of musical style. Those selected will take part in a workshop with professionals.
• The composition should be 1–5 minutes long, either a solo or ensemble piece for up to seven performers.
• Submissions must be sent to upptakturinn@gmail.com by February 21, 2025. They must include the author's name, age, phone number, email, school, title of the piece, and the composition in sheet music and/or an MP3 audio file.

Jury A panel of professionals will serve as the jury and select 12–13 compositions from the submitted ideas.

Composition Workshop The selected pieces will be fully developed in a composition workshop, which will take place over several days at the Iceland University of the Arts and Harpa in collaboration with composers and music professionals. At the end of this process, new musical works will be created.

Concert The compositions will then be performed during an impressive concert program at Harpa. The concert is part of the opening festivities of the Children's Culture Festival in Reykjavík. Professional musicians will handle the performance and execution.

The Composition Award All pieces performed at the concert will receive the Composition Award: Upptakturinn 2025.

More About Upptakturinn Harpa organizes Upptakturinn along with Reykjavík's Children's Culture Festival, the City of Music Reykjavík, RÚV, and the Iceland University of the Arts. Partners include the Association of Southern Municipalities, the East Iceland Music Center, Garðabær, Borgarbyggð, Mosfellsbær, Kópavogur, and the Akureyri Cultural Society.