Guðmundur Steinn Gunnarsson Explained

Guðmundur Steinn Gunnarsson
Birth Date:1982
Birth Place:Reykjavík, Iceland
Nationality:Icelandic
Occupation:Composer

Guðmundur Steinn Gunnarsson (born 1982) is an Icelandic composer, performer and a founding member of S.L.Á.T.U.R., an experimental arts organization in Reykjavík. In his compositions he has developed a rhythmic language devoid of regular beat or metre, and he has created a new musical notation to represent his music.

Biography

Guðmundur Steinn was born in Reykjavík, Iceland in 1982. He studied at the Iceland Academy of the Arts, graduating in 2005, and then at Mills College in Oakland, California, where he gained an M.A. degree with a thesis entitled "An Approach to Rhythm". His teachers have included Atli Ingólfsson, Úlfar Haraldsson, Hilmar ór Arson and Hilmar Jensson in Iceland, and Alvin Curran, Fred Frith and John Bischoff at Mills College. He also attended Karlheinz Stockhausen’s courses in Kürten in 2004, went to the Darmstädter Ferienkurse in 2008 and has had masterclasses with Helmut Lachenmann, Tristan Murail, Pauline Oliveros and Clarence Barlow.

He has given lectures at the ONPIP conference in the University of Oxford,[1] at Cornell University,[2] Iceland University of the Arts,[3] Winter Akademie in Schloss Benrath[4] and at the ISSTC in Maynooth, Ireland 2014 where he was a keynote speaker.[5]

Music

Guðmundur Steinn's musical style combines sound patterns without using a rigid rhythmic grid structure or pulse. This approach has led to the development of his animated notation, or '', instead of using traditional musical scores. During the performance, the musicians follow specific instructions that move across a computer screen. This rhythmic language and animated notation and the structural methods he uses in composition were the subject of his M.A. thesis in Mills College. As Guðmundur Steinn explains, "By intently focusing on small differences, both in rhythm and pitch, the ear gets tuned to a microscopic mode of listening. When things then open up, a new sense of variety is gained."

Works have been performed at events in both Scandinavia and the US, including the Reno Interdisciplinary Arts Festival, Music for People and Thingamajigs, MATA Festival, U.N.M. (Ung Nordisk Musik), Time of Music, Dark Music Days and Nordic Music Days (2009 and 2010). Performers of his works have included Quartet San Francisco, The Zapolski Quartet Ensemble Adapter, Defun, Duo Harpverk, Shayna Dunkelman, Tinna Þorsteinsdóttir, Quartet Opabinia and Atón/Njútón. Guðmundur Steinn also participates in improvisatory performances, and has performed with Steve Hubback, Fred Frith, Andrew D'Angelo, Ad Peijnenburg, Hilmar Jensson and Skúli Sverrisson

Guðmundur Steinn is a founding member of the S.L.Á.T.U.R. ("samtök listrænt ágengra tónsmiða umhverfis Reykjavík" or "The Association of Artistically Obtrusive Composers around Reykjavík"), an experimental composers collective in Iceland,[6] and he is co-curator of the festival Sláturtíð. He also a co-curates the concert series Jaðarber at the Reykjavík Art Museum.

Awards

Recordings

Works

Guðmundur Steinn's works include:

All use Guðmundur Steinn's "animated notation" except Icelandic: Grafgata.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Gunnarsson . Gudmundur . ONPIP . storage.googleapis.com . 15 March 2024.
  2. Web site: Gunnarsson . Gudmundur . Cornell . events.cornell.edu . 15 March 2024.
  3. Web site: Gunnarsson . Gudmundur . Iceland University of the Arts . www.lhi.is . 10 April 2018 . 15 March 2024.
  4. Web site: Staebler . Gerhard . Schloss Benrath . Earport . 15 March 2024.
  5. Web site: Langlois . Tony . ISSTA 2014 . ISSTA . 15 March 2024.
  6. Book: Ólafsdóttir . Margrét Elísabet . S.L.Á.T.U.R. – The Obtrusive Composers' Collective . 2022 . 433–446 . Brill . 10.1163/9789004515956_030 . 978-90-04-51595-6 . 15 March 2024.
  7. Web site: Pinsent . Ed . Sound Projector . Sound Projector . 15 March 2024.