Composers

Elín Gunnlaugsdóttir began her musical studies at the age of nine with the piano. She later studied at the Reykjavík College of Music where she graduated with a Diploma in Music Education in 1987 and a Diploma in Composition in 1993. Her teachers in composition were Thorkell Sigurbjörn...

If one disregards composers such as Sveinbjörn Sveinbjörnsson, Jón Leifs and Þórarinn Jónsson who mostly worked abroad, one can argue that Icelandic instrumental music was not born before the Second World War. Instrumental ensembles, often small wind orchestras, had existed in differ...

Hródmar I. Sigurbjörnsson´s music career began at 15 when he joined the pop-band Melchior, performing a sort of non-electrified pop/rock melange with a touch of the classical tradition. Later, Mr. Sigurbjörnsson studied guitar and graduated from the Sigursveinn College of Music in 1982...

In recent years, Jón Leifs (1899-1968) has become recognized as the most important and original composer of Icelandic music in the twentieth century. A controversial figure in his own lifetime, Leifs´s most important contribution to Icelandic music was his attempt to integrate elements ...

Páll Ragnar Pálsson was born in 1977 in Reykjavík, Iceland. For most of his youth he played the guitar in a rock band called Maus. When Maus quit in 2004, he found his musical identity through electronic music studies that led into classical composition.

Jón Thórarinsson studied music at the Reykjavík College of Music. He studied composition with Paul Hindemith at Yale University, and at Juilliard School of Music in the U.S. He received his Master of Music degree in 1947. Later he also studied in Germany and Austria. Between 1947 and ...

Studied Composition and Theory at Reykjavik College of Music under Atli Heimir Sveinsson and Thorsteinn Hauksson. He continued his studies at the Vienna Conservatorium under Reinhold Portisch with emphasis on compostion and renaissance-counterpoint. Baldvinsson is now head of the departmen...

Hafdís Bjarnadóttir was born in Reykjavik, Iceland, on 17 August 1977. She started playing electric guitar at the age of 12 with the focus on rock and folk music, playing with bands and writing her own music. She graduated in jazz guitar performance from the FÍH School of Music, Icela...