Composers
ATLI ÖVARSSON
Raised in the small town of Akureyri in the north of Iceland, Atli Örvarsson relocated to Los Angeles early on to pursue a career in composition. There, Atli worked extensively alongside prolific TV veteran Mike Post and Hollywood legend Hans Zimmer, which launched his career leading him to score over 40 films and countless TV shows.
In 2014, Atli felt a calling to move back to Iceland and reconnect with his roots. Soon after, he started building up a studio complex in Akureyri and began his collaboration with the ‘Sinfonia Nord’ Orchestra, which has performed on many world-renowned films and productions.
Since returning to Akureyri, Atli has felt his most inspired. Once a place he yearned to escape, his hometown has now become a lifeblood for inspiration and inner peace and a catalyst in the inception of his debut album. This notion of having gone ‘full-circle’ led Atli through a process of self-reflection to discover himself and his own musical identity.
His debut solo album You Are Here came out on INNI in Summer 2020.
SIN FANG
Emerging in Iceland’s explosive music scene of the early 2000s, almost entirely by accident, this unassuming but uniquely talented soul got his start in the visual arts.
Through a homemade EP he made more or less on a whim, he has since then been catapulted into international fame, working on everything from his own solo project to film scores and commercials.
He has released six studio albums under his Sin Fang moniker, as well as countless collaborations. He is a founding member of Seabear, Gangly and Team Dreams and has composed extensively for other media in the past few years.
His sixth studio album The Last Shall be First came out on INNI in Fall 2020.
ROSE RIEBL
Rose trained intensively as a classical pianist from the age of five, later studying at Australian National Academy of Music, Sydney Conservatorium and the Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna. Her work as a professional concert pianist has seen her debut at the Melbourne Recital Centre Salon, and tour through some of Asia’s leading concert halls.
Her compositional work extends her intimate relationship with the piano into a realm of more fragile, soulful and transcendent works that guide the listener into vulnerable emotional spaces. She has performed her own compositions in concert halls through Asia, Europe and Australia and has collaborated with multi-disciplinary artists in performances that take her work into open air, or alternate environments that provoke expansive listening experiences for the audience.
She has composed extensively for the moving image and theatre and ‘Do Not Move Stones’ is her debut album of compositions released in June this year, via INNI.
MÚM
Gunnar Örn Tynes and Örvar Smárason, founders of experimental pop collective múm, have long been driven by their curiosity and creative passion. As well as having recorded six full albums, múm have always gravitated towards diverse projects and collaborations with artists such as as Kylie Minogue, the Kronos Quartet, the late Jóhann Jóhannsson, Hauschka and the MDR Sinfonieorchester in Leipzig, to name a few. One of múm’s more recent extracurricular project is a semi- improvised electronic music score to the silent masterpiece Menschen am Sonntag (1930) which they performed all over Europe and was released on a special blu-ray version by the BFI & their critically acclaimed score to Icelandic film 'The Swan'.
SKÚLI SVERRISSON
Skúli Sverrisson has built a unique international career, on one hand as a composer and on the other as a collaborator with a very broad spectrum of international artists.
In the world of film, Skúli has collaborated with many screen composers, notably Jóhann Jóhannsson and Ryuichi Sakamoto. Skúli frequently collaborated with Jóhann, for example on his composition "Virðulegir forsetar" and his scores for Sicario and Mandy. Skúli was also a member of Ryuichi Sakamoto's touring band and co-composed the track "Glacier" featured in Sakamoto's score for The Revenant.
Skúli worked closely with artist Laurie Anderson for over a decade. He has played with free jazz legend Wadada Leo Smith and other revolutionaries like Jon Hassell, David Sylvian and Arto Lindsay, and collaborated with new music composers and performers such as Anthony Burr, Hildur Guðnadóttir, and Sidsel Endresen.
Skúli is known for his bass playing on the records of Blonde Redhead, his work as the producer of records by Ólöf Arnalds, and for his collaborative work with trumpet player Arve Henriksen and vocal group Trio Mediæval. Recently he completed a duo-record with Kjartan Sveinsson (Sigur Rós).
Among professional accolades, Skúli has won the Icelandic Music Awards seven times for his compositions and performances. Skúli has performed on over 150 records and played all over the world. His latest release is a duo-record with the legendary Bill Frisell, where they play Skúli's compositions.
KJARTAN HOLM
Kjartan Holm is a Reykjavík based composer and musician with a diverse background in music, having composed music for films, TV, theatre and video games as well as performing music under his own name.
He’s released one album under his own name, Amusics (2020) and has been commissioned to write bigger pieces for classical ensembles, soloists and various installations.
He’s worked closely with acts such as Sigur Rós, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Ólafur Arnalds and Hildur Guðnadóttir on numerous projects, everything from being a performer to a composer and arranger.
He’s currently working on many different projects - both for media and live performance as well as recording a new album.
INKI / Ingibjörg Friðriksdóttir
Inki (Ingibjörg Friðriksdóttir) is an Icelandic sound artist who merges visual elements with music. She believes in creating music without the limitations of a predetermined specific genre or space, allowing each project to develop organically.
She earned a master’s degree in Electronic music and Recording media in 2017 in California at the Mills College Center for Contemporary Music, receiving an award for outstanding composition upon graduation. She had previously completed her BA in composition from Iceland University of the Arts and diploma in voice from the Reykjavik Academy of Singing and Vocal Arts.
Ingibjörg’s compositions have been performed widely in The United States and Europe, featured in festivals and events such as The Nordic Music Days (Iceland), The Young Nordic Music Days (Denmark [2015], Norway [2016], Iceland [2017]), The Berkeley Arts Festival (USA) and The Podium Festival (Germany [2018]) Norway [2019])
Kári Einarsson
A multi-instrumentalist producer and a sound engineer, Kári Einarsson surfaced into the Icelandic music scene in 2016 with his enigmatic electro band aYia. aYia became an overnight sensation and have since grown to prestige and international recognition. Before aYia, Kári toured the world as a guitarist in the shoegaze quintet Oyama. Nowadays Kári focuses on his solo work alongside his emerging into the world of film- scoring, starting with scoring a documentary about one of Iceland’s most famous and loved visual artists
Úlfur Hansson
Úlfur Hansson is a Reykjavik via Brooklyn-based solo musician, film composer and sound artist. He has released three albums—2008’s ‘Sweaty Psalms,’ followed by ‘White Mountain’ (2013) and ‘Arborescence’ (2017). He has also performed and collaborated with Gyða Valtýsdóttir, Nordic Affect, Kronos Quartet, and Jónsi, among others. He is also the creator of the Segulharpa (electromagnetic harp, in English)—an electromagnetically powered acoustic instrument he invented and built—which is currently in use as part of Björk’s ‘Cornucopia’ show.
Some of his works have been written for classical ensembles, such as the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France, and the Kronos Quartet. In 2013 he was named Young Composer of the Year at the International Rostrum of Composers.
SNORRI Hallgrímsson
Surely one of music’s best-kept secrets, composer and producer Snorri Hallgrímsson boasts an impressive list of credits as a solo artist, film composer and as a collaborator on a wide variety of projects, including the BAFTA-award winning score for ‘Broadchurch’ alongside Ólafur Arnalds.
Growing up in a strong Icelandic choral tradition, Snorri began his career as a classical guitarist before falling in love with film music in his teens and going on to study composition at the Iceland Academy of the Arts and at Berklee College of Music.
His debut solo album, ‘Orbit’, was released in 2018 — two years after he returned to Iceland having lived away in Spain and Mexico — and traces the journey of living in such vastly different environments. Nevertheless, it’s characterized by a healthy dose of Icelandic melancholy, fed with electronic undercurrents.
The double EP 'Landbrot': an introspective and personal collection of instrumental pieces for piano and strings, was released in 2020-2021. Snorri’s 2nd full length album, ‘I Am Weary, Don’t Let Me Rest’ was released in June 2023 and received 3 nominations at the Icelandic Music Awards - winning 1 award for Production of the Year.
In 2024, Snorri signed with renowned record label Deutsche Grammophon. His debut release with the famous yellow label is the upcoming EP ‘Longer shadows, softer stones’, out on October 4th.