Hildur Guðnadóttir | |
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![]() Guðnadóttir in 2007 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Hildur Ingveldardóttir Guðnadóttir |
Born | Reykjavík, Iceland | 4 September 1982
Genres | |
Occupations |
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Instruments |
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Years active | 2001–present |
Labels | Touch Music/Deutsche Grammophon/Universal Classics |
Website | hildurness |
Hildur Ingveldardóttir Guðnadóttir [a] (born 4 September 1982) is an Icelandic musician and composer. A classically trained cellist, she has played and recorded with the bands Pan Sonic, Throbbing Gristle, Múm, and Stórsveit Nix Noltes, and has toured with Animal Collective and Sunn O))). She has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, two Grammy Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award.
Hildur has gained international recognition for her film and television scores, including Journey's End (2017), Mary Magdalene (2018), Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018), Todd Field's Tár and Sarah Polley's Women Talking (both 2022). For her score for Todd Phillips' psychological thriller film Joker (2019), she won the Academy Award for Best Original Score, the BAFTA Award for Best Original Music, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, making her the first solo female composer to win in all three. [1] [2] She is also known for her work on the HBO miniseries Chernobyl (2019), which won her a Primetime Emmy Award, a BAFTA TV Award and a Grammy Award.
Hildur was born in 1982 in Reykjavík, Iceland, [3] and was raised in Hafnarfjörður. [4] 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. [4] Hildur began playing cello at the age of five and performed her first professional gig at 10 alongside her mother at a restaurant. [5] She attended the Reykjavik Music Academy and went on to study composition and new media at the Iceland Academy of the Arts and the Berlin University of the Arts. [3]
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 [she] could." [6] It was recorded in New York City and Hólar in the north of Iceland. 2009 saw the release of her second solo album, Without Sinking , on the U.K.-based audio-visual label, Touch.
As well as playing cello and halldorophone, [7] Hildur also sings and arranges choral music, once arranging a choir for performances by Throbbing Gristle in Austria and London. As a composer she has written a score for the play Sumardagur ("Summer Day") performed at Iceland's National Theatre. [8] She has also written the score for the Danish film Kapringen (2012), [9] [10] Garth Davis' 2018 film Mary Magdalene (in collaboration with Jóhann Jóhannsson), [11] 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. [12]
She composed the score to the 2019 film Joker , starring Joaquin Phoenix and Robert De Niro, and directed by Todd Phillips, for which she won the Premio Soundtrack Stars Award at the 76th Venice International Film Festival and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, [13] becoming the first solo woman composer to win in this category. [14] At the 92nd Academy Awards, 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. [15] [16] She is the first Icelander to win an Oscar. [17] She returned as composer for the 2024 sequel Joker: Folie à Deux . [18]
In 2021, Hildur collaborated with her husband, Sam Slater, on the video-game score for Battlefield 2042 by DICE (company) and EA Games. The soundtrack was released 10 September 2021. [19]
Hildur lives in Berlin with her son (born 2012). [5] [20] 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. [4] [21] [22] [23] She also used to share a studio with fellow composers Dustin O'Halloran and the late Jóhann Jóhannsson, the latter being a frequent collaborator, while residing in Berlin. [4]
Year | Title | Director | Notes |
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2011 | The Bleeding House | Philip Gelatt | Composer |
2012 | A Hijacking | Tobias Lindholm | |
Astro: An Urban Fable in a Magical Rio de Janeiro | Paula Trabulsi | ||
2013 | Jîn | Reha Erdem | |
Prisoners | Denis Villeneuve | Solo cello | |
2015 | Sicario | ||
The Revenant | Alejandro G. Iñárritu | ||
2016 | The Oath | Baltasar Kormákur | Composer |
Arrival | Denis Villeneuve | Solo cello and halldorophone | |
2017 | Tom of Finland | Dome Karukoski | Composer, with Lasse Enersen |
Journey's End | Saul Dibb | Composer, with Natalie Holt | |
2018 | Mary Magdalene | Garth Davis | Composer, with Jóhann Jóhannsson |
Sicario: Day of the Soldado | Stefano Sollima | Composer | |
2019 | Joker | Todd Phillips | |
2021 | Candyman | Nia DaCosta | Cello and vocals |
2022 | Tár | Todd Field | Composer |
Women Talking | Sarah Polley | ||
2023 | A Haunting in Venice [26] | Kenneth Branagh | Composer, replaced Patrick Doyle |
2024 | Joker: Folie à Deux | Todd Phillips | Composer |
TBA | Hedda | Nia DaCosta | |
Year | Title | Studio | Notes |
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2013 | Graduates – Freedom Is Not For Free | Documentary film | Composer |
2014 | Så meget godt i vente | Danish Documentary Production | |
Ming Of Harlem: Twenty One Storeys In The Air |
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2015–2018 | Trapped | RÚV | Composer, with Jóhannsson & Hoedemaekers |
2017 | Strong Island | Netflix | Composer |
The Departure | Pandora | Composer, additional music | |
2018 | Street Spirits | V71 | Composer, with Eric Papky |
2019 | Chernobyl | HBO | Composer |
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 submitting composer. Some pre-existing music is allowed, though, but a contending film must include a minimum of original music. This minimum since 2021 is established as 35% of the music, which is raised to 80% for sequels and franchise films. Fifteen scores are shortlisted before nominations are announced.
Jóhann Gunnar Jóhannsson 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 orchestration with contemporary electronic elements.
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Skúli Sverrisson is an Icelandic composer and bass guitarist.
This is a list of winners and nominees for the BAFTA Award for Best Original Music, formerly known as the Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music, which is presented to film composers, given out by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts since 1968.
Natalie Ann Holt is a British composer who has worked on numerous film and television projects. She is primarily recognised for her work on several notable productions, including Paddington (2014) and Loki (2021–2023). She trained at the Royal Academy of Music and then the National Film and Television School and had a career as a classical violinist before becoming a film composer. Holt's distinction in her field was recognised by being made an associate of the Royal Academy of Music in 2017.
Yair Elazar Glotman is a composer and musician based in Berlin.
Joker: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the original soundtrack album to the 2019 film Joker, based on the DC Comics character of the same name, starring Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, and Frances Conroy. The record consists of seventeen tracks from a film score written and composed by Hildur Guðnadóttir which received critical acclaim from the film industry. Hildur's score was released digitally by WaterTower Music on September 27, 2019, with a vinyl edition later released on December 13.
The halldorophone is a cello-like electronic instrument created by artist and designer Halldór Úlfarsson. The halldorophone is designed specifically to feedback the strings, making use of the phenomena of positive feedback to incite the strings to drone. The instrument gained some recognition in early 2020 when composer Hildur Guðnadóttir won the Academy Award for her original soundtrack to the movie Joker, some of which was composed with a halldorophone.
1917 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the album to the Sam Mendes-directed war film 1917 featuring original score composed by Thomas Newman. The film marked Thomas' seventh collaboration with Mendes after American Beauty (1999), Road to Perdition (2002), Jarhead (2005), Revolutionary Road (2008), Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015).
Events in the year 2020 in Iceland.
Chernobyl: Music from the Original TV Series is the soundtrack album to the historical drama miniseries Chernobyl, based on the aftermath of Chernobyl disaster that occurred during 1986. The musical score was composed by Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir, which was created using sound recordings from an actual nuclear power plant. The score album features thirteen tracks, and was released under Deutsche Grammophon and WaterTower Music labels on May 31, 2019. A vinyl edition of the soundtrack was released by Decca Records on September 6, 2019.
The Society of Composers & Lyricists is an organization founded in 1983 to represent composers and lyricists working in visual media, such as television and film. It sought union status in 1984 after the dissolution of the Composers and Lyricists Guild of America, but the National Labor Relations Board denied the bid on the basis that songwriters were independent contractors. Another attempt to become a union in the 1990s was also unsuccessful. Members of the organization also include orchestrators, arrangers, music supervisors, music agents, music attorneys, music editors, copyists, and audio engineers.
Women Talking (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the score album composed by Hildur Guðnadóttir for the 2022 film of the same name, directed by Sarah Polley, based on the 2018 novel of the same name by Miriam Toews. The film stars Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Judith Ivey, Ben Whishaw, and Frances McDormand, who also serves as the producer. Hildur described the score as one of the optimistic music, she composed for a horrific subject which is relevant in the current period, referring to sexual assault against women. Hildur collaborates with Skúli Sverrisson who provides guitar solos.
A Haunting in Venice (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album composed by Hildur Guðnadóttir for the 2023 film A Haunting in Venice by Kenneth Branagh. It was released by Hollywood Records on September 15, 2023.
Joker: Folie à Deux is the film score soundtrack to the 2024 film Joker: Folie à Deux, composed by Hildur Guðnadóttir. The album featured 19 tracks which was released under the WaterTower Music label on September 27, 2024. It was preceded by the lead single "There Is No Joker" released on September 9.