Einar Torfi Einarsson - biography
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Einar Torfi Einarsson (1980) was born in Iceland and studied initially composition at Reykjavik College of Music with Hróðmar I. Sigurbjörnsson, Kjartan Ólafsson and Guðmundur Hafsteinsson. He received his Ph.D. in composition from the University of Huddersfield where he studied with Aaron Cassidy on the Jonathan Harvey Scholarship. Previous composition studies were with Fabio Nieder at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, where he also studied with Richard Ayres and Willem Jeths, graduating with a MMus degree in 2009. Einar did also study with Beat Furrer at the Kunstuniversität in Graz. In 2008, he was a composer in residence at the Ligeti Academy in Amsterdam organized by Asko/Schönberg Ensemble. He has attended masterclasses and private lessons from a.o. Salvatore Sciarrino, Brian Ferneyhough, Jonathan Harvey, and Peter Ablinger. His music has been performed by ensembles such as Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Intercontemporain, ELISION Ensemble, Nieuw Ensemble, Asko Ensemble, Caput Ensemble, Iceland Symphony Orchestra and Holland Symfonia. And performed on festivals such as: Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Transit Festival, impuls festival, Dutch Music Days, Nordlichter (Berlin), Gaudeamus Music Week, Time of Music, Dark Music Days, Ung Nordisk Musik and Nordic Music Days. His music was featured on the International Rostrum of Composers and has been performed and broadcasted throughout the world. A multiple recipient of Artists' Salary Fund from Ministry of Education, Science and Culture (Iceland) and other grants such as Musica Nova foundation Iceland, Composers Fund 365, RÚV Composer Fund, and Reykjavik City Culture Fund. During the Dutch Music Days festival 2008 his piece Nine Tensions was awarded the Henriëtte Bosmans Prize. Also a finalist for the Buma Toonzetters Prize 2009, winner in the category: "best ensemble piece". His orchestra piece Apertures was selected for the Young Composers Project 2009 organized by Holland Symfonia and premiered during the Gaudeamus Music Week 2009. A winner in the impuls Composition Competition 2009, which awarded him a commission to write a piece for Klangforum Wien (premiere on impuls 2011). In 2010 Einar was commissioned by the Ensemble Intercontemporain / IRCAM (Tremplin Commission programme) to write a piece for Ensemble Intercontemporain (premiered in Centre Pompidou in 2012). During 2010-11 he worked as a part-time lecturer in Composition at the University of Huddersfield. He was a Research Fellow at the Orpheus Research Centre in Music (ORCiM) at the Orpheus Institute in Ghent in 2013-2014, and is currently Professor of Composition at the Iceland University of the Arts. His recent music focuses experimentally on notation, performance physicality and nonlinear and non-teleological structures. In general his music focuses on intensity, difference, and instability, either as sonic structure, performative challenge, or conceptual struggle (see research). www.einartorfieinarsson.com |