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Iceland mourns its principal flute

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norman lebrecht

September 05, 2020

Hallfríður Haffi Ólafsdóttir, principal flute of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, has died of cancer. She
trained at the Royal Academy of Music in London and was widely admired and loved.

Comments

Tristan WIllems says:

September 6, 2020 at 5:48 pm

Bless, elskan mín. Það var gaman að vinna með þér.

TuttiFlutie says:

September 6, 2020 at 9:53 pm

WIBB Bennett was her teacher at the Royal Conservatory & he’s posted a moving tribute to Haffi on his Facebook page. Haffi was especially appreciated in the orchestra world as the author of books about “Maximus Musicus”, a musical mouse who helped children learn about the orchestra. Haffi’s books evolved into a series of children’s music programs which have been presented with orchestras around the world. WIBB refers to Haffi’s musical mouse in his tribute:

“Today we were greatly saddened by learning of the passing of “Haffi “.
” Haffi ” was a sensible shortening of her long and difficult Nordic Name ” Hallifridur Olafsdottir”.
She was a wonderful flutist, and used her happy imagination to create ” Maximus Musicus ” the orchestral mouse, who has been quite a big hit in this world.
Her departure is far too early, but we are hoping that she will bring continuous happiness to those of the next world with her optimism and smile. With millions of thanks from all those who have really enjoyed her presence and creativity in this world.
We all miss you!