Úlfar Ingi Haraldsson

Úlfar Ingi Haraldsson began his musical studies in his native Iceland in the early 1980s. Initially focusing on double bass performance and jazz studies, he attended the jazz program at FÍH School of Music. He later enrolled in the Composition and Theory Department at the Reykjavík College of Music, where he completed a B.A. degree in 1990. His teachers in Iceland included Karólína Eiríksdóttir, Snorri Sigfús Birgisson, and Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson.

From 1992 to 1999, Haraldsson pursued graduate studies in composition and music theory at the University of California, San Diego. His principal teachers were Brian Ferneyhough, Rand Steiger, and Bertram Turetzky, and he also studied with George Lewis, Roger Reynolds, Joji Yuasa, and Harvey Sollberger.

He completed his Ph.D. in 2000. His dissertation, Developing Methodological Strategies for the Documentation and Treatment of Multi-Structural Elements in Modern Musical Composition as Relating to DUAL CLOSURE, an Original Composition for Clarinet and Chamber Ensemble, explored compositional methodologies and their application in contemporary music.

A member of the Icelandic Composers' Society, Haraldsson has worked as a composer, double bassist, teacher, and conductor in both Iceland and California. His catalog includes works for orchestra, chamber ensembles, and solo performers, and his music has been presented throughout Scandinavia, the United States, Mexico, and Italy.

His compositions have been performed by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Caput Ensemble, the UCSD Wind Quintet, percussionist Steven Schick, and the Bertram and Nancy Turetzky Duo. As both composer and performer, he has appeared at numerous international festivals, including several Young Nordic Music Festivals, the International University Music Festival, the Darmstadt Revisited Festival in San Diego, the Reykjavík Arts Festival, and events associated with the designation of European Capital of Culture 2000.