Performers & composers

Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson

Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson was born in Reykjavík in 1938.  He studied the piano at the Reykjavík College of Music.  Graduate studies took him to the United States, where he studied composition, first at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota and later at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. Among his teachers were R. G. Harris, Kenneth Gaburo and Lejaren Hiller. Þorkell attended seminars in composition at Darmstadt in Germany and Nice, France. Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson is one of the best known and most prolific of Icelandic composers today and his catalog is extensive.Beside composing, he is a teacher of theory and composition at the Reykjavík College of Music.  Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson has appeared as a pianist, both in concert and in recordings. He was a music critic for the Morgunblaðið newspaper and has also been a program host at the National Broadcasting Service. From 1983-88 Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson was president of the Society of Icelandic Composers. On returning from abroad in 1962, Þorkell participated in Musica Nova, a society for the promotion and performance of new music, and played an active role in the creation of modern Icelandic music culture. Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson's music is extremely varied. In his extensive catalog one finds orchestral works, solo concertos, a variety of chamber works, electronic and computer music, solo pieces, chamber operas, songs and choral music,- both sacred and secular.   His hymns are among his best known and most beloved works. Þorkell's contribution to Icelandic music life is vast. This is clearly confirmed in his output of brilliant music, but also in his influence in many other ways. Since Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson came home from his studies abroad, he has been the teacher of the majority of Icelandic composers and professional musicians.