Emiliana Torrini at the Berlin x Reykjavík Festival

"In Berlin, there will be more focus on music from Reykjavik, and in Reykjavik, the focus will be more on music from Berlin. It's a jazz and electronic fusion festival," explains Pan Thorarensen, one of the organisers of the new Berlin x Reykjavik festival which takes place in Reykjavik from February 26th - 28th and in Berlin from March 5th to 7th. The festival in Reykjavik takes place at Kex Hostel and at Húrra and 23 bands altogether will perform. The highlight is undoubtedly Emiliana Torrini at Húrra on Saturday night. 

"In 2014 Iceland was the partner country of the XJAZZ Festival in Berlin. This collaboration set the start for the idea to work on an annual exchange between the music scene from Reykjavik and Berlin," explains Thorarensen. " A lot of artists from both cities are already well connected and it was easy to set up an amazing line up including bands like Emiliana Torrini with Ensemble X from Berlin, Christian Prommer, Jazzanova DJ's, ADHD, Stereo Hypnosis, Epic Rain and many others." 

He explains that there's a deep connection between Reykjavik and Berlin today, with many Icelandic artists living in Berlin. "We're going to try selling passes to the events in both cities.

Pan Thorarensen, one of the organisers of the new Berlin x Reykjavik festival.

Emiliana Torrini's concert at Húrra on Saturday will be a pretty unique one as she will appear with Ensemble X. "That band is full of geniuses. Emiliana will be performing songs from her new album in a new version."

Single tickets are available to the Emiliana Torrini concert at midi.is or you can purchase a pass to the Berlin x Festival here.