Ólafur Arnalds' community choir transforms loss into celebration at Alvar Aalto's Nordic House

At Reykjavík's Nordic House, a one-day community choir performed Ólafur Arnalds' album A Dawning, a collaboration with the late Irish musician Eoin French (Talos). Arnalds, who lost French in August 2024, set a rule never to replace him on stage, leading to a communal approach. He discovered the Gaia Music Collective, an NYC-based non-auditioned choir, on YouTube and pitched the idea to his label Mercury KX. The event, held in the Elissa Auditorium and library of Alvar Aalto's 1960s modernist building, involved the Reykjavík choir Kliður, competition winners, and the public. Composers Geoff Lawson arranged three songs for choir, and Gaia founders Matt Goldstein and Asher Blank led a four-hour workshop. The final rendition of the title track was performed in the round in the library, with Arnalds describing it as group therapy. The album, released in July 2025, was completed after French's death but is framed as a celebration of vitality, not loss.