Halldór Bjarki Arnarson is a young Icelandic musician exploring the many sides of the European music scene. In 2012 he moved to the continent (DE & NL) and emerged in 2020 with 2 Bachelor’s degrees, covering both French horn and harpsichord. Halldór is currently working on a master’s degree in historical keyboards at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, CH under the guidance of Andrea Marcon.
Halldór plays the harpsichord, organ, piano, modern horn, and natural horn even-handedly, besides being skilled on various Icelandic folk-instruments as a member of the family band Spilmenn Ríkínís. Along with Spilmenn he has published two CD’s in 2009 and 2021. Halldór has also been active as a composer throughout his life, and his extensive list of compositions includes electronic and acoustic music, spanning from solo to orchestral pieces.
Halldór has received scholarships from various Icelandic memorial funds. His ensemble Amaconsort was awarded a.o the Bavarian Radio’s special prize in Deutscher Musikwettbewerb 2019 and along with Barrokkbandið Brák he received the Icelandic Music Awards for the Concert of the year in 2020. Halldór has performed all across Europe on occasions such as the Lucerne Festival, Listahátíð í Reykjavík and the Festival d’Ambronay. Stages include the Berliner Philharmonie, Helsinki Musiikkitalo and Tivoli Vredenburg, Utrecht.
Photo: ©Leonardo Bortolotto