Composers

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 ...

Jórunn Vidar graduated from the Reykjavik College of Music in 1936 where her main teacher was pianist Árni Kristjánsson. For the next two years she studied in Berlin at the Hochschule für Musik. She continued her studies at the Juilliard School of Music in New York during 1943-1945, s...

Egill Ólafsson studied voice and music theory at the Reykjavík College of Music 1970-1976. He has also attended various courses in Scandinavia related to theatre music. In recent years Egill has composed incidental music for theatre, motion pictures as well as musicals. Of his musica...

Hjálmar has been active as a composer in Iceland since his return in 1980 from studies in the US and the Netherlands. His work ranges from shorter solo compositions to larger symphonic works, from lieder and choir works to musicals and opera. Also, he has composed music for dance and thea...

Hugi Gudmundsson (Iceland, 1977) studied composition at Reykjavik College of Music with Thorkell Sigurbjörnsson and Úlfar Ingi Haraldsson. In 2005 he finished a Masters degree in composition from the Royal Danish Academy of Music where he studied with Bent Sørensen, Hans Abrahamsen and ...

Páll P. Pálsson was born in Graz, Austria. He began his musical studies at the Conservatory in Graz with trumpet, violin, piano, composition and later on conducting. He joined the trumpet section of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Graz at the age of 17. In 1948 he was offered the princi...

Finnur Torfi Stefánsson graduated from the University of Iceland in 1972 as Cand.Jur, and received a degree in political science from the University of Manchester, England in 1974. He worked as a lawyer and was active on the political scene in Iceland as a municipal council member, and a...