Haraldur Vignir Sveinbjörnsson is an Icelandic composer and arranger.
Education
He studied piano with Árni Harðarson at the Kopavogur Music School where he graduated in 1997. He finished his BA degree in composition at Reykjavik Music College 2001 with Hilmar Þórðarson, and MMus degree in composition at Lund University where he studied with Kent Olofsson and Prof. . Haraldur also studied recording technique and Electroacoustic music through various courses in Iceland and Sweden.
Compositions
His orchestra piece, Seven Songs of the Insomniac, won the Morgondagens tonsättare prize in Helsingborg, Sweden 2003. A year later, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra premiered two pieces by Haraldur, 7 Songs of the Insomniac in February, and Hraun in May. 7 Songs of the Insomniac was also nominated as best contemporary music at the Icelandic Music Awards 2005. Other notable pieces include Memento Mei for mixed choir Piece & Harmony for string orchestra Duel for solo contrabass and electronics Dawn for percussion duo Hodie for women's choir Forget-me-not for flute, violin and piano Painting for harp & percussion & Dots, commas, lines for wind octett. His pieces have been performed all over Europe, in the USA and Australia. Along with classical compositions, Haraldur has been playing with various rock and pop groups, including Dead Sea Apple, Red Barnett and Menn Ársins. Hit songs include "Sick of Excuses", "A Yeah Yeah Love Song", "Dear God", "Bearer of Bad News", "Þakklæti", "12 Steps to the Liquor Store", "Gefst ekki upp" and "Life Support". In 2010, he produced and arranged Regína Ósk's Christmas album "Regína Ósk um gleðileg jól". Haraldur also did orchestral arrangements for sold-out concerts in Iceland including Pink Floyd's The Wall with Dúndurfréttir and Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Lennon tribute concert in Dec 2006 & Sgt.Peppers Orchestral Tribute concert in 2008, Páll Óskar & Iceland Symphony Orchestra 2011 and Skálmöld & Iceland Symphony Orchestra's award winning Metal Symphony concert in 2013 & 2018.
