One of Iceland's biggest composers conducts his music today

Composer Atli Örvarsson

Composer Atli Örvarsson Photo: Iceland Monitor//Skapti Hallgrímsson

Atli Örvarsson is one of Iceland’s most successful composers. Last year he decided to move from Los Angeles, back to his old hometown Akureyri, North Iceland.

Today Örvarsson will be conducting the North Iceland Symphony Orchestra in Hof culture house in Akureyri, performing his own music.  North Iceland Chamber Choir will also be performing along with Þórhildur Örvarsdóttir, Örvarsson’s sister, violinist Gréta Salóme and English Caroline Dale on cello.

Örvarsson has composed music for many Hollywood movies

Even though his name is not well known in Iceland, Örvarsson is one of Iceland’s most successful composers. He has created music over 40 movies and hundreds of TV shows. Movies such as Stu­art Little, Han­sel & Gretel: Witch Hun­ters, The Eagle, Vanta­ge Po­int, The Per­fect Guy and awarded Icelandic film Hrútar. In addition to that he composed music for TV series Chicago Fire.

He has worked much with Hans Zimmer, one of the most respected composers in the world. As a part of Zimmer‘s team he took part in creating musiv for movies The Holi­day, Pira­tes of the Caribb­e­an, The Simp­sons Movie, Ang­els & Demons, Man of Steel and Mortal Instruments.

Tricky choosing music from a 18 year long career

“Yes it was tricky, but it was also interesting to go through it all,” says Örvarsson when asked how he chose the music for tonight. “When push comes to shove I had to choose something that worked well for a concert. It’s not the same as composing a “score” for a movie.”

The programme tonight offers music from movies such as Hrútar and Mortal Instruments. “We’ll also perform music from two movies I recorded here in Akureyri with the Symphony Orchestra, an American film calledThe Per­fect Guy and the Icelandic Fyr­ir fram­an annað fólk. In terms of music, it will be all over the place. Everything from big, epic choire music to folk music.“

Composing for a Ryan Reynolds movie

Örvarsson is keeping busy, even though he‘s not living in USA anymore. These days he‘s working on the Hollywood movie The Hit­man's Bo­dygu­ard directed by Pat­rick Hug­hes, starring Ryan Reynolds and Samu­el L. Jackson.

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