Microscopic vision of the essence of sound.

Viktor Orri Árnason is an Icelandic composer, conductor and producer. His particular focus on colliding the worlds of classical composition and studio artistry – along with his unique approach to the viola and violin – has established him as an exceptional voice in today’s musical landscape, and made him a sought-after collaborator for established musicians of many genres.

Viktor studied violin and viola at the Icelandic University of the Arts (Listaháskóli Íslands) and composition and conducting at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin.

He began his musical career playing bass as part of Búdrýgindi, a band he formed with his primary school friends in 1998. They won the Icelandic Music Awards in 2002, the youngest band ever to do so.

Since 2007, Viktor has been an active member of Hjaltalín as a violinist and songwriter. Their releases have been praised by both national and international press and won numerous prizes at the Icelandic Music Awards.

In 2008, Viktor co-founded the Skark string ensemble with focus on contemporary classical compositions, researching the borders of music, art, and science, and ways of combining these in a musical performance with emphasis on audience experience. Skark has collaborated with various artists and curators, including Ólafur Eliasson, Nicolas Dusollier, Anna Gudmundsdottir, Nadim Samman, and Carson Chan.

Viktor’s passion for new textures and sounds led to his collaboration with Ólafur Arnalds on the creation of two of Spitfire Audio’s bestselling sample libraries, Evolutions and Chamber Evolutions.

Viktor’s musical interest spans from modern classical to alternative pop/rock. This versatility, in tandem with his singular approach to arrangement, orchestration, instrumentation, conducting, and recording has seen him collaborate with a diverse range of established musicians over the years. He has played the strings, conducted, and created arrangements for Jóhann Jóhannsson, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Hauschka, Ólafur Arnalds, Of Monsters and Men, Robot Koch, and Björk among many others. His contributions can be heard on multiple movies and TV series, including the BAFTA-winning series Broadchurch and multi-award-winning movie Joker.

VAST, his collaborative debut, created with Yair Elazar Glotman (a.k.a. KETEV) and released by Bedroom Community, captures one evening of unconventional violin, viola, and double bass improvisations.

Eilífur, his solo debut record, is a celebration of life as we know it, and an ode to the things that make it worth living. It was released on June 18th 2021 via the award-winning label PENTATONE.

Myrkvi, his second LP, is an exploration of the shadow self, an electronic opus based on a dance piece he composed in 2014. It was released through his own imprint, Eilífur, on March 3rd 2023.

Poems,  his collaborative DG debut album with soprano and visual artist Álfheiður Erla Guðmundsdóttir, draw on the pair’s shared cultural heritage, setting poems by Icelandic poets past and present. It was released on November 10th, 2023. It was followed up by Piano Poems, made of reinterpretations of that debut but for solo piano, released on April 12th 2024.

Viktor is since fall 2021 the conductor and artistic director for the Reykjavík Orkestra (RO), located at Harpa Hall, and which specialises in ensemble recordings for film, TV, games, media and music of various genres. More information at their website.