Bára Gísladóttir


Bára Gísladóttir is an Icelandic musician and composer. Her works have been performed by both chamber groups and symphony orchestras, including the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. She has played the double bass with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and has sung in the Hamrahlíð Choir. Bára lives in Copenhagen where she is studying for a master's degree in composition at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. In January 2018, she won The Reykjavík Grapevine magazine's "Shout Out" award. In March 2018, she won a Leonie Sonning Award.

Biography

Born on 21 November 1989, Bára played the violin from an early age. She went on to study composition under Hróðmar Ingi Sigurbjörnsson at the Iceland Academy of the Arts, earning a bachelor's degree in 2013. She also completed a double bass course under the cellist Hávarður Tryggvason. After working as a composer in residence for Boyes Musikkompani in Oslo, she continued her composition studies at the Milan Conservatory under Gabriele Manca. As of early 2018, she is studying for a master's degree in composition at the Danish Academy under Niels Rosing-Schow and Hans Abrahamsen.
In 2016, Bára composed "Vape", a 12-minute piece for symphony orchestra which was premiered by the Danish Symphony Orchestra in March 2017. Bára's Mass for Some was released as an album. Based on the Latin mass, it contains disturbing titles such as "I nostri dei sono morti". On a more personal note is "Afi", inspired by memories of her deceased grandfather in his now empty house where she recorded the music. Bára both plays the bass and sings on this album. For Iceland's "Dark Music Days" in January 2018, Bára composed "Seven heavens ". In an interview for the RIOT Ensemble, she explains the piece "deals with seven layers of different dimensions, both time-wise and texture-wise – that is – both vertical and horizontal ".