Hailing from the peripheries of Iceland, Bergrún Snæbjörnsdóttir “elemental style” (Steve Smith, The New Yorker) follows inner logics when approaching composition, often integrating sound and other phenomena into an indivisible whole - creating mutable, breathing, living structures through experimental performance practices and notation.
Her works have been commissioned by some of the world’s leading ensembles and festivals/venues, including Ina GRM, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, International Contemporary Ensemble, National Sawdust, Prototype Festival, Sequences Art Biennal, Tectonics Festival, SPOR Festival, Nordic Music Days and Klang Festival among others. Other ensembles that have presented Bergrún’s music include the Oslo Philharmonic, Ensemble Musikfabrik, Esbjerg Ensemble, Norrbotten NEO, Avanti Chamber Ensemble, Distractfold, Cikada, KNM Berlin, Decibel and more. Her works have also been featured at prestigious festivals and venues such as Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart, ISCM’s World New Music Days, Ultima Festival, Only Connect, Heroines of Sound, Arctic Arts Festival, Sound of Stockholm and many other events.
Bergrún holds a master’s degree in composition from Mills College, California, and currently resides in Reykjavík, Iceland, where she has been appointed assistant professor of composition at the Iceland University of the Arts since 2022.
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