Hildur Ingveldardóttir Guðnadóttir (born 4 September 1982) is an Icelandic musician and composer. A classically trained

cellist The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

, she has played and recorded with the bands

Pan Sonic Pan Sonic was a Finnish electronic music group founded in Turku in 1993. The group consisted of Mika Vainio, Ilpo Väisänen, and Sami Salo. Salo left in 1996 leaving Pan Sonic a duo. The group was originally named Panasonic until 1998. In Dec ...

Throbbing Gristle Throbbing Gristle were an English music and visual arts group formed in Kingston upon Hull by Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti, later joined by Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson and Chris Carter. They are widely regarded as pioneers of in ...

Múm Múm (stylized in lowercase) () is an Icelandic indietronica band whose music is characterized by soft vocals, electronic glitch beats and effects, and a variety of traditional and unconventional instruments. History The band was formed in ...

, and Stórsveit Nix Noltes, and has toured with

Animal Collective Animal Collective is an American experimental pop band formed in Baltimore County, Maryland. Its members consist of Avey Tare (David Portner), Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), Geologist (Brian Weitz), and Deakin (Josh Dibb). The band's work is cha ...

and

Sunn O))) Sunn O))) (pronounced "sun") is an American drone metal band formed in 1998 in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington. The band is known for its distinctive visual style and slow, heavy sound, which blends diverse genres including doom metal, ...

. She has received various accolades, including an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

, two

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

, and a

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Owned and operated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the P ...

. Hildur has gained international recognition for her film and television scores, including ''

Journey's End ''Journey's End'' is a 1928 dramatic play by English playwright R. C. Sherriff, set in the trenches near Saint-Quentin, Aisne, towards the end of the First World War. The story plays out in the officers' dugout of a British Army infantry com ...

'' (2017), ''

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cr ...

'' (2018), '' Sicario: Day of the Soldado'' (2018),

Todd Field William Todd Field (born February 24, 1964) is an American filmmaker and actor. He is known for directing '' In the Bedroom'' (2001), '' Little Children'' (2006), and '' Tár'' (2022), which were nominated for a combined fourteen Academy Award ...

's '' Tár'' and

Sarah Polley Sarah Ellen Polley (born January 8, 1979) is a Canadian filmmaker, writer, political activist and actress.Howell, Peter (September 24, 199"Nobody's Starlet: Toronto's Sarah Polley is Only 20 but already a veteran actor so secure in her craft s ...

's '' Women Talking'' (both 2022). For her score for

Todd Phillips Todd Phillips (born Todd Philip Bunzl; December 19, 1970) is an American filmmaker. Phillips began his career in 1993 and directed films in the 2000s such as ''Road Trip'', '' Old School'', ''Starsky & Hutch'', and '' School for Scoundrels''. ...

psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a Film genre, genre combining the thriller (genre), thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting ...

film '' Joker'' (2019), she won the

Academy Award for Best Original Score The Academy Award for Best Original Score is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by ...

, the

BAFTA Award for Best Original Music The BAFTA Award for Best Original Music, formerly known as the Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music, is a film award that is presented to film composers by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. It has been presented annually at the B ...

, and the

Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score The Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score is a Golden Globe Award presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), an organization of journalists who cover the United States film industry, but are affiliated with publications out ...

, making her the first solo female composer to win in all three. She is also known for her work on the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

miniseries ''

Chernobyl Chernobyl, officially called Chornobyl, is a partially abandoned city in Vyshhorod Raion, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. It is located within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, to the north of Kyiv and to the southwest of Gomel in neighbouring Belarus. ...

'' (2019), which won her a

, a

BAFTA TV Award The BAFTA TV Awards, or British Academy Television Awards, are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. They have been awarded annually since 1955. Background The first-ever Awards, given in ...

and a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

Early life

Hildur was born in 1982 in

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

, Iceland, and was raised in

Hafnarfjörður Hafnarfjörður, officially Hafnarfjarðarkaupstaður, is a port town and municipality in Iceland, located about south of Reykjavík. The municipality consists of two non-contiguous areas in the Capital Region (Iceland), Capital Region, on the s ...

. She comes from a family of musicians — her father, Guðni Franzson, is a composer, clarinet player and teacher. Her mother, Ingveldur Guðrún Ólafsdóttir, is an opera singer, and her brother is Þórarinn Guðnason from the band Agent Fresco. Hildur began playing cello at the age of five and performed her first professional gig at 10 alongside her mother at a restaurant. She attended the Reykjavik Music Academy and went on to study composition and new media at the

Iceland Academy of the Arts Iceland University of the Arts ( ) is an Icelandic institution of higher art education, located in Reykjavík, which offers the only university-level degrees in the arts in Iceland.Lisa Z. ValdimarsdottirIceland Academy of the Arts, Department of ...

and the

Berlin University of the Arts The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the second largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research uni ...

Career

In 2006, Hildur released a solo album, '' Mount A'', under the name Lost In Hildurness, on which she attempted to "involve other people as little as hecould." It was recorded in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and

Hólar Hólar (; also Hólar í Hjaltadal ) is a small community in the Skagafjörður district of northern Iceland. Location Hólar is in the valley Hjaltadalur, some from the national capital of Reykjavík. It has a population of around 100. It is t ...

in the north of

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. 2009 saw the release of her second solo album, ''

Without Sinking ''Without Sinking'' is the second solo studio album by Icelandic musician and composer Hildur Guðnadóttir. It was released in 2009 through Touch Music. Background ''Without Sinking'' is Hildur Guðnadóttir's first solo studio album since ''Mou ...

'', on the U.K.-based audio-visual label,

Touch The somatosensory system, or somatic sensory system is a subset of the sensory nervous system. The main functions of the somatosensory system are the perception of external stimuli, the perception of internal stimuli, and the regulation of bo ...

. As well as playing cello and

halldorophone The halldorophone (; also known as the dorophone, and dórófónn in Icelandic language, Icelandic) is a cello-like electronic instrument created by artist and designer Halldór Úlfarsson. The halldorophone is designed specifically to feedback t ...

, Hildur also sings and arranges choral music, once arranging a choir for performances by Throbbing Gristle in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. As a composer she has written a score for the play ''Sumardagur'' ("Summer Day") performed at Iceland's National Theatre. She has also written the score for the Danish film '' Kapringen '' (2012), Garth Davis' 2018 film ''

'' (in collaboration with Jóhann Jóhannsson), Stefano Sollima's '' Sicario: Day of the Soldado'' (2018). Her work on the 2019 ''Chernobyl'' miniseries was met with critical acclaim, and won her a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited Series, Movie, or Special (Original Dramatic Score) and the first

Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media The Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media is an honor presented to a composer (or composers) for an original score created for a film, TV show or series, or other visual media at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was establishe ...

. She composed the score to the 2019 film '' Joker'', starring

Joaquin Phoenix Joaquin Rafael Phoenix ( ; ; born October 28, 1974) is an American actor. Widely described as one of the most preeminent actors of his generation and known for Joaquin Phoenix filmography, his roles as dark, unconventional and eccentric charact ...

and

Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor, director, and film producer. He is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of List of awards and ...

, and directed by

, for which she won the Premio Soundtrack Stars Award at the

76th Venice International Film Festival The 76th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 28 August to 7 September 2019, at Venice Lido in Italy. Argentine filmmaker Lucrecia Martel was the jury president for the main competition. Alessandra Mastronardi hosted the ...

and the

, becoming the first solo woman composer to win in this category. At the

92nd Academy Awards The 92nd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released in 2019 and took place on February 9, 2020, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, beginning at 5:00 ...

, Hildur won the award for Best Original Score, becoming the first woman to win since the Original Dramatic Score and Original Musical or Comedy Score categories were combined in 2000. She is the first Icelander to win an Oscar. She returned as composer for the 2024 sequel '' Joker: Folie à Deux''. In 2021, Hildur collaborated with her husband, Sam Slater, on the video-game score for '' Battlefield 2042'' by

DICE (company) EA Digital Illusions CE AB (trade name: DICE) is a Swedish video game developer based in Stockholm. The company was founded in 1992 and has been a subsidiary of Electronic Arts since 2006. Its releases include the '' Battlefield'', '' Mirror's E ...

and

EA Games Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted ...

. The soundtrack was released 10 September 2021.

Personal life

Hildur lives in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

with her son (born 2012). She is married to Sam Slater, an English composer, music producer and sound artist, with whom she collaborated on multiple projects including ''Chernobyl '' and ''Joker''. She also used to share a studio with fellow composers

Dustin O'Halloran Dustin O'Halloran (born September 8, 1971) is an American composer and pianist. Aside from releasing music as a recording artist, O'Halloran is a film and TV composer, as well as one half of ambient act A Winged Victory for the Sullen. Early li ...

and the late

Jóhann Jóhannsson Jóhann Gunnar Jóhannsson (; 19 September 1969 – 9 February 2018) was an Icelandic composer who wrote music for a wide array of media including theatre, dance, television, and film. His work is stylised by its blending of traditional orchest ...

, the latter being a frequent collaborator, while residing in Berlin.

Discography

Solo

*'' Mount A'' (as Lost in Hildurness) (

12 Tónar 12 Tónar (, 'twelve tones') is a record shop in Reykjavík, Iceland, and also a record label for Icelandic artists. It is located on Skólavörðustígur 15, in downtown Reykjavík. Founded in 1998 in Reykjavík, 12 Tónar has been well receiv ...

2006) **re-released by

Touch Music Touch (sometimes mistakenly written 'Touch Records' and sometimes written Touch Music, which is technically the publishing side of the company) is a British audio-visual organisation, operating the Touch label. Touch was founded in 1982 by Jon ...

in 2010, as Hildur Guðnadóttir *''

'' (Touch, 2009), with a vinyl version with extra tracks in 2011 *''Leyfðu Ljósinu'' (Touch, 2012), with a multi-channel version on USB *''Saman'' (Touch, 2014), with a vinyl version

Collaboration

*Rúnk – ''Ghengi Dahls'' (Flottur kúltúr og gott músik, 2001) *Mr. Schmucks Farm – ''Good Sound'' (Oral, 2005) * Stórsveit Nix Noltes – ''Orkídeur Hawai'' (

/Bubblecore, 2005) *Angel and Hildur Guðnadóttir – ''In Transmediale'' (Oral, 2006) *Hildur Guðnadóttir with

– ''Tu Non Mi Perderai Mai'' (Touch, 2006) *

Nico Muhly Nico Asher Muhly (; born August 26, 1981) is an American contemporary classical music composer and arranger who has worked and recorded with both classical and pop musicians. A prolific composer, he has composed for many notable symphony orchestra ...

– ''Speaks volumes'' (Bedroom Community 2006) *

Valgeir Sigurðsson Valgeir Sigurðsson (born 18 June 1971) is an Icelandic record producer, mixer, composer, audio engineer and musician. Biography Coming from a musical background, Valgeir's fascination with recording technology led to a job in a small recordin ...

– ''Equilibrium Is Restored'' (Bedroom Community, 2007) * Ben Frost – ''Theory of Machines'' (Bedroom Community, 2006) *

Skúli Sverrisson Skúli Sverrisson (born 23 October 1966) is an Icelandic composer and bass guitarist. He has worked with musicians Wadada Leo Smith, Derek Bailey (guitarist), Derek Bailey, Lou Reed, Jon Hassell, David Sylvian, Arto Lindsay, and composers ...

– ''Sería'' (

, 2006) *

– ''Katodivaihe/Cathodephase'' (Blast First Petite, 2007) *

– '' Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy'' (

Fat Cat Fat cat is a slang term for a wealthy person, originally used to describe a rich political donor. Fat Cat may also refer to: * Fat Cat (singer), a South Korean singer, also known as Defconn Girl * Fat Cat, Norwich, a pub in Norwich, England * Fa ...

, 2007) *Hildur Guðnadóttir, BJ Nilsen and Stilluppsteypa – ''Second Childhood'' (Quecksilber, 2007) *Múm - '' Sing Along to Songs You Don't Know'' (

Morr Music Morr Music is an independent record label based in Berlin, Germany, founded in 1999 by Thomas Morr. Most artists on the label fall into the categories of intelligent dance music, electronica and dreampop, but all reflect Thomas Morr's personal ta ...

, 2009) *

The Knife The Knife were a Swedish electronic music duo from Gothenburg, formed in 1999. The group consisted of siblings Karin and Olof Dreijer, who together also run their own record company, Rabid Records. They gained a large international following i ...

– '' Tomorrow, In a Year'' (2010) * Wildbirds & Peacedrums – ''

River A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

s'' ( The Leaf Label, 2010) * Sōtaisei Riron + Keiichirō Shibuya – ''Blue (Strings Edit) feat. Hildur Guðnadóttir'' ( Commmons, 2010) *Skúli Sverrisson – ''Sería II'' (Sería Music, 2010) *

Hauschka Volker Bertelmann (born 11 October 1966) is a German composer, pianist and former rapper who mainly performs and records under the name Hauschka. He is best known for his compositions for prepared piano. He won an Academy Award and a British Ac ...

– ''Pan Tone'' (Sonic Pieces, 2011) *Múm - ''Smilewound'' (Morr Music, 2013) *Craig Sutherland – '' Strong Island'', (2017) *

– '' Life Metal'', (2019) * Sunn O))) – '' Pyroclasts'', (2019) * Sam Slater - '' Battlefield 2042'', (2021)

Film work

Television

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

* *
Post-Romantic Classical Radio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gudnadottir, Hildur 1982 births 21st-century cellists 21st-century classical composers 21st-century women composers Berlin University of the Arts alumni Best Original Music BAFTA Award winners Best Original Music Score Academy Award winners Deutsche Grammophon artists Golden Globe Award–winning musicians Grammy Award winners

Hildur Gudnadóttir Hildur is one of several female given names derived from the name ''Hild'' formed from Old Norse ''hildr'', meaning "battle". Hild, a Nordic-German Bellona, was a Valkyrie In Norse mythology, a valkyrie ( or ; from ) is one of a host of ...

Icelandic women classical composers

Living people

Primetime Emmy Award winners Television composers Video game composers Women classical cellists Women film score composers Women television composers