At only 21 years of age, �lafur Arnalds is Iceland's latest export. Having already sold out The Barbican Hall in London, toured major European festivals and having opened for Sigur Rós on their most recent European tour, the future seems bright for this young, extraordinary talent.
The music of Ã?lafur Arnalds can only be described as achingly beautiful. He creates a world of delicate symphonic compositions.
His music scales the heights perfected by the romantics. Yet by mixing strings and piano with loops and edgy beats it remains equally engaging to the contemporary ear.
Succeeding in making the cross-over from classical to pop, Ã?lafurâ??s motivations are clear:
â??The classical scene is kind of closed to people who haven't been studying music all their lives. I would like to bring my classical influence to the people who don't usually listen to this kind of musicâ?¦open people's mind. Especially young people, who seem to be the biggest part of my audience...â??
Minds have been opened at sold out concerts around the world. For the past year, Ã?lafur has been playing unique venues and festivals across Europe and North America delivering an oasis of calm in a frenzied world. Accompanied by a string quartet, Ã?lafur takes the audience on a dreamy, almost meditative, journey. The magical atmosphere he creates attracts an audience who wouldn't usually expect to find themselves at a concert including a string quartet and piano.
Following the great success of his début album, Eulogy for Evolution, and the follow-up EP, Variations of Static, �lafur took his remodelling of classical music one step further. In April 2009 he created Found Songs, a series of songs written and recorded, one per day, for a whole week and then released for free through his Twitter and Facebook pages. The songs were downloaded over 40.000 times in the first week alone.