Egill Ólafsson (born 9 February 1953) is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, and actor. He is married to the actress
Tinna Gunnlaugsdóttir
Tinna Gunnlaugsdóttir (born 18 June 1954) is an Icelandic actress. She has appeared in twelve films since 1981. She starred in '' As in Heaven'', which was screened out of competition at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival. She is the sister of dire ...
.
Education
Egill Ólafsson studied playing guitar and piano when he was young and was part of a boys' brass band under the direction of Karl Otto Runólfsson.
While he was a student at
Hamrahlid College from 1970 until 1974, Egill Ólafsson sang in the choir of the school
Kór MH.
1970 he started to study at the Tónlistarskólinn (music school in
Reykjavík
Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...
). The disciplines he was studying were singing and composing. In 1976 Egill Ólafsson graduated at Tónlistarskólinn In Reykjavík.
Professional life
Among his compositions are music for choirs, brass band music and music for strings and trumpets. He has composed around 30 theatrical works. He composed for musicals ''Grettir'', ''Eva Luna'' and ''Come Dance With Me'', the latter having a run on off-Broadway in 1996. His works have been played by various ensembles like
Spilverk þjóðanna,
Stuðmenn,
Hinn íslenski Þursaflokkur, Tríó Björns Thoroddsen, Blái hatturinn, Les Grand Tango and The Icelandic Sound Company. And just recently (2015–16) he's been working with the German group Strom & Wasser as a co-writer and musician. The product has been released by Traumton in Berlin, called "Reykjavik" (Double Album).
He has landed many stage roles in Icelandic Theatre and film roles in Icelandic, German and Scandinavian films.
Under the mononym Egill he released a number of albums mainly with
Stuðmenn /
Spilverk þjóðanna labels.
He also co-wrote materials with Finnish artist Matti Kallio, a resident of Iceland.
Egill Olafsson also is a musical-performer. Several times he was performing leading characters in the Icelandic productions of different musicals at the Icelandic National Theatre, for instance ''Evita'' (Perón), ''Carmen negra'' (Escamillo), ''Three Penny Opera'' (Peachum), ''Kiss me Kate'' (Fred Graham) and also in many of the plays he has written as composer.
He appeared as
Javert
Javert (), no first name given in the source novel, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of Victor Hugo's 1862 novel ''Les Misérables.'' He was presumably born in 1780 and died on June 7, 1832. First a prison guard, and then a polic ...
in ''Vesalingarnir'', the Icelandic adaptation of ''
Les Misérables
''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century.
In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its origin ...
'' at the National Theatre, after having played the role of
Jean Valjean
Jean Valjean () is the protagonist of Victor Hugo's 1862 novel ''Les Misérables''. The story depicts the character's struggle to lead a normal life and redeem himself after serving a 19-year-long prison sentence for stealing bread to feed his ...
in the same musical a quarter of a century earlier.
At
Les Misérables: The Dream Cast in Concert on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the opening of the
Original West End production of
the musical Les Misérables Egill Ólafsson was performing as one of
the Seventeen Valjeans at
the second encore. It was filmed in October 1995 at the
Royal Albert Hall and released on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
,
VHS and
LaserDisc distributed by
Sony Pictures (US/CAN) and
BBC Video
2 Entertain (stylized as 2 , entertain) is a British video and music publisher founded in September 2004 by the merger of BBC Video and Video Collection International in 2004. Under CEO Richard Green, the company operated as a joint venture b ...
(UK).
Personal life
He is married to the actress and former artistic director at the National Theatre in Iceland (2005-2015)
Tinna Gunnlaugsdóttir
Tinna Gunnlaugsdóttir (born 18 June 1954) is an Icelandic actress. She has appeared in twelve films since 1981. She starred in '' As in Heaven'', which was screened out of competition at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival. She is the sister of dire ...
.
Before the
Icelandic loan guarantees referendum, 2010 Egill Ólafsson was one of the Icelandic celebrities, who spoke out to vote "no".
At the elections for the Icelandic parliament
Althing
The Alþingi (''general meeting'' in Icelandic, , anglicised as ' or ') is the supreme national parliament of Iceland. It is one of the oldest surviving parliaments in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at (" thing fields" or "assemb ...
in April 2013, Egill Ólafsson was a candidate of Lýðræðisvaktin (
Iceland Democratic Party).
In October 2013 his work was honored by FTT (Society Of Songwriters In Iceland).
On 17 June 2015 his work was honored by the President of Iceland. Egill Ólafsson was awarded with the
Falcon Order Medal.
Information at "Iceland Review On Line"
In October 2022, it was revealed that Egill had been diagnosed with
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...
.
Work
Discography
Albums
*1991: ''Tifa tifa''
*1992: ''Blátt blátt''
*2001: ''Angelus Novus / Nýr engill''
*2003: ''Brot...Músík úr leikhúsinu''
*2006: ''Miskunn dalfiska''
*2007: ''Hymnalög''
*2012: ''Vetur''
*2013: ''Örlög mín''
*2018: ''Fjall''
Singles
*2013: "Ekkert þras" (with
Moses Hightower,
Lay Low and Högni Egilsson)
Filmography
Compositions
(Music composed for theatre)
*''The City Of Crooks'' 1976 The Theatre School Of Iceland
*''The Beginners'' 1977 The National Theatre of Iceland
*''Mr. Klemensson'' 1978 (Ballet) NT (Icel)
*''The Cheery´s On The North - Mountain'' (Kabuki – Play) 1979 NT (Icel) /Det Norske Teater
*''The Saga Of Grettir'' 1980 City Theatre in Iceland
*''Schocklate For Silja'' 1982 NT (Icel)
*''Ich tanze mit dir'' (Ballet) NT (Icel) 1987
*''The Steamship'' 1990 / The Theatre School Of Iceland
*''Platanov'' 1992 City Theatre in Reykjavík/Malmö Statsteater
*''Uncle Vanja'' 1992 City Theatre in Reykjavík
*''Eva Luna (The Musical)'' 1994 (The Musical) City Theatre in Reykjavík
*''Tears And Endearment'' (original Icelandic title: ''Þrek og tár'') 1995 NT (Icel)
*''As You Like It'' 1996 NT (Icel)
*''Come Dance With Me'' 1997 Cernucini Teatre (Off – BRDW)
*''Mice And Man'' Loftkastalinn 1998
*''Anna Karenina'' NT (Icel.) 1999
*''Day Of Hope'' City Theatre in Reykjavík 2006
*''Four Jews On Parnassus'' Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin - 3 November 2008
''FOUR JEWS ON PARNASSUS — A CONVERSATION'' by arl Djerassi - Performance Schedule:
in English)
*''Viva la Vida/Frida Kahló'' NT (Icel) 2009
*''The Women Of The Parlament'' NT (Icel) 2013
References
External links
Official website
*
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Egill Olafsson
Egill Olafsson
Egill Olafsson
Egill Olafsson
Egill Olafsson
1953 births
Living people