Composers

Jon Nordal was born in 1926. He studied piano and composition at the Reykjavik College of Music with Arni Kristjansson, Jon Thorarinsson and Victor Urbancic. He pursued further studies in Zürich with Walter Frey and Willy Burkhard in 1949-1951. Later came years of study in Copenhagen, Par...

John A. Speight was born in England in 1945. He studied singing and composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London from 1964 - 1972. During this time he also studied composition privately with Richard Rodney Bennett. In 1972 he moved to Iceland and has lived there since, ...

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.

Árni Hardarson studied the piano at the Kópavogur Music School, graduating in 1976. He continued his studies at the Royal College of Music in London during 1978 -1983, studying piano with Kendall Taylor and Alan Rowlands, and composition with John Lambert.

Composer Thurídur Jónsdóttir explores new soundscapes in her compositions. She creates various types of both orchestral pieces and chamber music. Many of her compositions include electronics, or multimedia, others might include extended techniques, theatrical performances, nature sounds...

Belonging to the younger generation of Icelandic composers, Thordur Magnusson bears the fresh and audacious qualities of his generation, whilst unafraid to maintain ties with tradition, with his Icelandic as well as international musical heritage. Magnusson feels that the word traditional...

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...

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...