Composer Prize 2024
Bára Gísladóttir
Biography
Bára Gísladóttir is an Icelandic composer and double bass player. She studied composition at the Iceland Academy of the Arts in Reykjavík, at the Conservatorio di Musica “Giuseppe Verdi” in Milan and at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen.
She is an active performer and regularly plays her own music, solo or with her long-time collaborator Skúli Sverrisson. She is also a double bass player in the Elja Ensemble. Occasionally she performs as a soloist with ensembles and orchestras, most recently with her own double bass concerto Hringla with Copenhagen Phil and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. In recent years, Gísladóttir has increasingly focussed on interdisciplinary productions, working primarily with Ben J. Riepe.
Her music has been performed by ensembles and orchestras such as Athelas Sinfonietta, Collectif Love Music, Copenhagen Phil, The Danish National Symphony Orchestra, The Danish National Vocal Ensemble, Elektra Ensemble, Ensemble Adapter, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble New Babylon, Ensemble recherche, Esbjerg Ensemble, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, loadbang, Marco Fusi, Mimitabu, NJYD, Nordic Affect, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Riot Ensemble, Siggi String Quartet, Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop and WDR Sinfonieorchester.
Gísladóttir’s pieces have been selected for festivals such as the CPH Jazz Festival, the Dark Music Days, the Darmstadt Summer Courses, the Festival Musica, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, the International Rostrum of Composers, the KLANG Festival, MaerzMusik, the Nordic Music Days, the SPOR Festival, the TRANSIT Festival, the Warsaw Autumn and the Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik.
She has been honoured with the Carl Nielsen and Anne Marie Carl Nielsen Foundation Talent Prizes, the Gladsaxe Music Prize, the Léonie Sonning Talent Prize and the Reykjavík Grapevine Music Prizes. In 2021, she was one of three artists to receive a three-year working grant from the Danish Arts Foundation.
Gísladóttir has released several albums, most recently SILVA via Sono Luminus/ESP-disk. Her works have been published by Edition-S. She lives in Copenhagen.