Anna Thorvaldsdóttir
| Anna Thorvaldsdóttir | |
|---|---|
| Biography | Born in 1977, composer Anna Thorvaldsdóttir’s «seemingly boundless textural imagination» (NY Times) and striking sound world has made her «one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary music» (NPR). Her music is composed as much by sounds and nuances as by harmonies and lyrical material – it is written as an ecosystem of sounds, where materials continuously grow in and out of each other, often inspired in an important way by nature and its many qualities, in particular structural ones, like proportion and flow. Anna’s «detailed and powerful» (Guardian) orchestral writing has garnered her awards from the New York Philharmonic, Lincoln Center, the Nordic Council, and the UK’s Ivors Academy, as well as commissions by many of the world’s top orchestras. «CATAMORPHOSIS» was premiered by the Berlin Philharmonic and Kirill Petrenko in January 2021 and received its UK premiere by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Ludovic Morlot in June 2022, with the US premiere with the New York Philharmonic and Santtu-Matias Rouvali taking place in January 2023. According to Gramophone Magazine, «while [she] has made the symphony orchestra her own, her chamber music is cut from the same cloth and somehow sounds with much the same combination of immensity and intimacy.» Anna’s music is widely performed internationally and has been commissioned by many of the world’s leading orchestras, ensembles, and arts organizations. Portrait concerts with her music have been featured at several major venues and music festivals. In 2023 she was in residence at the Aldeburgh Festival and the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music. In 2024-2025, she is the Tonhalle Orchestra’s Creative Chair. Anna is currently based in the London area. She regularly teaches and gives presentations on composition, in academic settings, as part of residencies, and in private lessons. She holds a PhD from the University of California in San Diego. |
| Link | |
| Photo Credit | Saga Sigurdardottir |
| go back | |