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Valgeir Sigurðsson
Valgeir Sigurðsson performing at PopTech in Reykjavík, Iceland in 2012
Background information
Born	(1971-06-18) 18 June 1971 (age 53)
Origin	Iceland
Genres	Electronic, experimental, alternative, soundtrack
Occupation(s)	Producer, composer, musician, audio engineer
Labels	Bedroom Community
Website	Official Website

Valgeir Sigurðsson (born 18 June 1971) is an Icelandic record producer, mixer, composer, audio engineer and musician.

Biography

Coming from a musical background, Valgeir's fascination with recording technology led to a job in a small recording studio at the age of 16. He plays keyboards, bass, percussion, electronics/programming and studied classical guitar, graduating with a Tonmeister degree from London's SAE Institute. In 1998 Valgeir was hired by fellow countrywoman Björk as engineer and programmer on the soundtrack for Lars von Trier's Dancer in the Dark. A song from the film, I've Seen It All (a duet with Radiohead's Thom Yorke) was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song but lost to Bob Dylan's Things Have Changed. Valgeir created the distinctive train-rhythm that runs through the song. His working relationship with Björk continued beyond the film project and was consistent from early 1998 until 2006, during which time Valgeir was one of her main studio collaborators.

Valgeir is the founder of Greenhouse Studios, Iceland's top recording facility established in 1997, where in addition to Björk, he has collaborated with artists such as Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Feist, Damon Albarn, Camille, CocoRosie, Ben Frost, Sam Amidon, múm, Hilary Hahn & Hauschka, Brian Eno, Sigur Rós, Emel Mathlouthi, and many others. In 2005 he founded the Bedroom Community record label launching the recording career of Nico Muhly and producing and releasing albums by Ben Frost and Sam Amidon. He has composed music for TV, film and theatre and his debut solo album Ekvílibríum was released by Bedroom Community in 2007, followed by a release of his soundtrack for Dreamland (Draumalandið) in 2009. The score of Dreamland was performed live in 2011 by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in 2012, and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Ilan Volkov, in 2013. His first conventional classical commission, Nebraska Quartet was premiered by the Chiara String Quartet at the Lincoln Center during NYC's Ecstatic Music Festival in 2011. Valgeir's third LP Architecture of Loss was released in September 2012 to critical acclaim. Ghosts, for chamber ensemble, was the result of a commission the Crash Ensemble, and launched in Dublin in November 2013. The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Alexander Mickelthwate premiered Eighteen Hundred and Seventy-Five, for orchestra and electronics, as part of its annual New Music Festival in January 2014.

Selected works

Stage works

• 2009 Green Aria, (co-composed with Nico Muhly), for chamber orchestra and electronics
• 2012 Architecture of Loss, ballet for chamber ensemble of 3 players and electronics
• 2014 Wide Slumber for lepidopterists, music-theatre piece for 3 singers, 4 musicians and electronics
• 2018 Woman Undone, music-theatre work for five singers/instrumentalists

Orchestral

• 2011 Dreamland, for large orchestra and electronics
• 2013 Dreamland, for chamber orchestra and optional electronics
• 2013 Eighteen Hundred and Seventy-Five, for orchestra and electronics
• 2014 No Nights Dark Enough, for chamber orchestra and electronics

Ensemble

• 2011 Past Tundra, for chamber ensemble of 9 players with electronics
• 2011 Nebraska, for string quartet
• 2012 Architecture of Loss, ballet for chamber ensemble of 3 players and electronics
• 2013 Ghosts, for chamber ensemble of 10 players with electronics
• 2014 The Crumbling (from Architecture of Loss), for chamber ensemble of 6 players
• 2014 Raindamage, for string trio and electronics
• 2014 Dissonance, for viola da gamba and electronics
• 2015 Veej, for chamber ensemble of 18 players
• 2015 For Love of Her (do but kill me), for voice, chamber ensemble of 10 players and electronics
• 2018 Remnant, for viola and electronics
• 2018 Dust, for violin and electronics

Electronics Only

• 2016 Antigravity, electronic track

Discography

Solo

• 2007 Ekvílibríum
• 2010 Draumalandið
• 2012 Architecture of Loss
• 2017 Dissonance

Production

Film and TV

Other

• 2009 Green Aria, composed by Valgeir Sigurðsson and Nico Muhly for Scent Opera, Guggenheim Museum, NYC

References

1. O'Dair, Marcus (2015-08-17). Different Every Time: The Authorized Biography of Robert Wyatt. Counterpoint LLC. pp. 296–. ISBN 9781619026766. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
2. Tsioulcas, Anastasia (8 November 2018). "Emel Mathlouthi Is The 21st Century's Catalyst For Change". npr.org. Retrieved 8 November 2020.

External links

• Official website
• Artist page on Bedroom Community
• Valgeir Sigurðsson at IMDb
• Myspace
• Valgeir Sigurdsson: Björk's right-hand man takes centre stage The Independent, 21 September 2007

• 1971 births
• Living people
• Icelandic musicians
• Icelandic male musicians