Ólafur Arnalds

About the artist

Ólafur Arnalds is a BAFTA-award winning artist and musician from Iceland, celebrated for his haunting musical style, combining ambient, classical and electronic music. Ólafur's five solo albums and his numerous other projects and collaborative albums, including electronic duo Kiasmos with Janus Rasmussen, have garnered immense praise and cemented his place as one of the most influential composers of modern times.  Ólafur’s career is full of milestones, including three Grammy nominations for his 2020 album, some kind of peace. Ólafur has also been praised for his extensive soundtrack work, including the Emmy-nominated main theme for Defending Jacob and Broadchurch, for which he won the 2014 BAFTA for Best Original Music.  Collaboration and exploration play a big role in Ólafur’s work: His extensive work with Nils Frahm; SAGES, a collaborative project with Swedish artist Loreen – and the album A Dawning, a collaboration with the late Irish musician Talos, finished by Ólafur after his passing. Furthermore, Ólafur enforces collaborations through his record label/travelling festival series/community hub, OPIA Community, which serves as a space for curiosity, connection and creativity to thrive. Ólafur’s live performances are captivating, often unorthodox and have sold out many of the most prestigious live venues in the world, including The Royal Albert Hall, Sydney Opera Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall and Elbphilharmonie.