Hildur Guðnadóttir

This is an Icelandic name. The last name is patronymic, not a family name; this person is referred to by the given name Hildur.

Hildur Guðnadóttir
Guðnadóttir in 2007
Background information
Birth name	Hildur Ingveldardóttir Guðnadóttir
Born	(1982-09-04) 4 September 1982 (age 42) Reykjavík, Iceland
Genres	Film score soundtrack experimental drone ambient
Occupations	Composer musician
Instruments	Vocals cello halldorophone keyboards percussion
Years active	2001-present
Labels	Touch Music/Deutsche Grammophon/Universal Classics
Website	hildurness.com

Hildur Ingveldardóttir Guðnadóttir^[a] (born 4 September 1982) is an Icelandic musician and composer. A classically trained cellist, she has played and recorded with the bands Pan Sonic, Throbbing Gristle, Múm, and Stórsveit Nix Noltes, and has toured with Animal Collective and Sunn O))). She has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, two Grammy Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award.

Hildur has gained international recognition for her film and television scores, including for Journey's End (2017), Mary Magdalene (2018), Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018), Todd Field's Tár and Sarah Polley's Women Talking (both 2022). For her score for Todd Phillips' psychological thriller film Joker (2019), she won the Academy Award for Best Original Score, the BAFTA Award for Best Original Music, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, making her the first solo female composer to win in all three.^[1][2] She is also known for her work on the HBO miniseries Chernobyl (2019), which won her a Primetime Emmy Award, a BAFTA TV Award and a Grammy Award.

Early life

Hildur was born in 1982 in Reykjavík, Iceland,^[3] and was raised in Hafnarfjörður.^[4] She comes from a family of musicians — her father, Guðni Franzson, is a composer, clarinet player and teacher. Her mother, Ingveldur Guðrún Ólafsdóttir, is an opera singer, and her brother is Þórarinn Guðnason from the band Agent Fresco.^[4] Hildur began playing cello at the age of five and performed her first professional gig at 10 alongside her mother at a restaurant.^[5] She attended the Reykjavik Music Academy and went on to study composition and new media at the Iceland Academy of the Arts and the Berlin University of the Arts.^[3]

Career

Hildur in 2009

In 2006, Hildur released a solo album, Mount A, under the name Lost In Hildurness, on which she attempted to "involve other people as little as [she] could."^[6] It was recorded in New York City and Hólar in the north of Iceland. 2009 saw the release of her second solo album, Without Sinking, on the U.K.-based audio-visual label, Touch.

As well as playing cello and halldorophone,^[7] Hildur also sings and arranges choral music, once arranging a choir for performances by Throbbing Gristle in Austria and London. As a composer she has written a score for the play Sumardagur ("Summer Day") performed at Iceland's National Theatre.^[8] She has also written the score for the Danish film Kapringen (2012),^[9][10] Garth Davis' 2018 film Mary Magdalene (in collaboration with Jóhann Jóhannsson),^[11] Stefano Sollima's Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018). Her work on the 2019 Chernobyl miniseries was met with critical acclaim, and won her a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited Series, Movie, or Special (Original Dramatic Score) and the first Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media.^[12]

She composed the score to the 2019 film Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Robert De Niro, and directed by Todd Phillips, for which she won the Premio Soundtrack Stars Award at the 76th Venice International Film Festival and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score,^[13] becoming the first solo woman composer to win in this category.^[14] At the 92nd Academy Awards, Hildur won the award for Best Original Score, becoming the first woman to win since the Original Dramatic Score and Original Musical or Comedy Score categories were combined in 2000.^[15][16] She is the first Icelander to win an Oscar.^[17] She returned as composer for the 2024 sequel Joker: Folie à Deux.^[18]

In 2021, Hildur collaborated with her husband, Sam Slater, on the video-game score for Battlefield 2042 by DICE (company) and EA Games. The soundtrack was released 10 September 2021.^[19]

Personal life

Hildur lives in Berlin with her son (born 2012).^[5][20] She is married to Sam Slater, an English composer, music producer and sound artist, with whom she collaborated on multiple projects including Chernobyl and Joker.^{[4][21][22][23]} She also used to share a studio with fellow composers Dustin O'Halloran and the late Jóhann Jóhannsson, the latter being a frequent collaborator, while residing in Berlin.^[4]

Discography

Solo

• Mount A (as Lost in Hildurness) (12 Tónar 2006)
  • re-released by Touch Music in 2010, as Hildur Guðnadóttir
• Without Sinking (Touch, 2009), with a vinyl version with extra tracks in 2011
• Leyfðu Ljósinu (Touch, 2012), with a multi-channel version on USB
• Saman (Touch, 2014), with a vinyl version

Collaboration

• Rúnk – Ghengi Dahls (Flottur kúltúr og gott músik, 2001)
• Mr. Schmucks Farm – Good Sound (Oral, 2005)
• Stórsveit Nix Noltes – Orkídeur Hawai (12 Tónar/Bubblecore, 2005)
• Angel and Hildur Guðnadóttir – In Transmediale (Oral, 2006)
• Hildur Guðnadóttir with Jóhann Jóhannsson – Tu Non Mi Perderai Mai (Touch, 2006)
• Nico Muhly – Speaks volumes (Bedroom Community 2006)
• Valgeir Sigurðsson – Equilibrium Is Restored (Bedroom Community, 2007)
• Ben Frost – Theory of Machines (Bedroom Community, 2006)
• Skúli Sverrisson – Sería (12 Tónar, 2006)
• Pan Sonic – Katodivaihe/Cathodephase (Blast First Petite, 2007)
• Múm – Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy (Fat Cat, 2007)
• Hildur Guðnadóttir, BJ Nilsen and Stilluppsteypa – Second Childhood (Quecksilber, 2007)
• Múm - Sing Along to Songs You Don't Know (Morr Music, 2009)
• The Knife – Tomorrow, In a Year (2010)
• Wildbirds & Peacedrums – Rivers (The Leaf Label, 2010)
• Sōtaisei Riron + Keiichirō Shibuya – Blue (Strings Edit) feat. Hildur Guðnadóttir (Commmons, 2010)^[24]
• Skúli Sverrisson – Sería II (Sería Music, 2010)
• Hauschka – Pan Tone (Sonic Pieces, 2011)
• Múm - Smilewound (Morr Music, 2013)
• Craig Sutherland – Strong Island, (2017)^[25]
• Sunn O))) – Life Metal, (2019)
• Sunn O))) – Pyroclasts, (2019)
• Sam Slater - Battlefield 2042, (2021)

Film work

Year	Title	Director	Notes
2011	The Bleeding House	Philip Gelatt	Composer
2012	A Hijacking	Tobias Lindholm
	Astro: An Urban Fable in a Magical Rio de Janeiro	Paula Trabulsi
2013	Jîn	Reha Erdem
	Prisoners	Denis Villeneuve	Solo cello
2015	Sicario
	The Revenant	Alejandro G. Iñárritu
2016	The Oath	Baltasar Kormákur	Composer
	Arrival	Denis Villeneuve	Solo cello and halldorophone
2017	Tom of Finland	Dome Karukoski	Composer, with Lasse Enersen
	Journey's End	Saul Dibb	Composer, with Natalie Holt
2018	Mary Magdalene	Garth Davis	Composer, with Jóhann Jóhannsson
	Sicario: Day of the Soldado	Stefano Sollima	Composer
2019	Joker	Todd Phillips
2021	Candyman	Nia DaCosta	Cello and vocals
2022	Tár	Todd Field	Composer
	Women Talking	Sarah Polley
2023	A Haunting in Venice[26]	Kenneth Branagh	Composer, replaced Patrick Doyle
2024	Joker: Folie à Deux	Todd Phillips	Composer
TBA	Hedda	Nia DaCosta

Television

Year	Title	Studio	Notes
2013	Graduates – Freedom Is Not For Free	Documentary film	Composer
2014	Så meget godt i vente	Danish Documentary Production
	Ming Of Harlem: Twenty One Storeys In The Air	Big Other Films The Wellcome Trust Picture Palace Pictures Michigan Films
2015–2018	Trapped	RÚV	Composer, with Jóhannsson & Hoedemaekers
2017	Strong Island	[[Netflix]	Composer
	The Departure	Pandora	Composer, additional music
2018	Street Spirits	V71	Composer, with Eric Papky
2019	Chernobyl	HBO	Composer

Awards and nominations

Associations	Year	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
Academy Awards	2020	Best Original Score	Joker	Won	[27]
Asia Pacific Screen Awards	2018	Best Original Score	Mary Magdalene	Won	[28]
AACTA Awards	2018	Best Original Music Score		Nominated	[29]
Beijing International Film Festival	2018	Best Music	Journey's End	Won	[30]
British Academy Film Awards	2020	Best Original Music	Joker	Won	[31]
British Academy Television Awards	2020	Best Original Music	Chernobyl	Won	[32]
Critics' Choice Movie Awards	2020	Best Score	Joker	Won	[33]
	2023		Tár	Won	[34]
			Women Talking	Nominated
Golden Globe Awards	2020	Best Original Score – Motion Picture	Joker	Won	[35]
	2023		Women Talking	Nominated
Grammy Awards	2020	Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media	Chernobyl	Won	[36]
	2021		Joker	Won
		Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella	"Bathroom Dance"	Nominated
Hollywood Critics Association Awards	2020	Best Score	Joker	Won	[37]
Hollywood Music in Media Awards	2019	Best Original Score in a Feature Film		Won[b]	[38]
	2022		Women Talking	Nominated	[39]
	2023	Best Original Score in a Horror Film	A Haunting in Venice	Won	[40]
Houston Film Critics Society Awards	2020	Best Original Score	Joker	Nominated	[41]
Nordic Music Prize	2020	Best Nordic Album Of The Year	Chernobyl	Won	[42]
Primetime Emmy Awards	2019	Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited Series, Movie, or Special	Chernobyl (for episode "Please Remain Calm")	Won	[43]
Robert Awards	2013	Best Score	A Hijacking	Nominated	[44]
Satellite Awards	2020	Best Original Score	Joker	Won	[45]
	2023		Women Talking	Nominated	[46]
Venice International Film Festival	2019	Soundtrack Stars Award	Joker	Won	[47]
	2024		Joker: Folie à Deux	Won	[48]
World Soundtrack Awards	2019	Television Composer of the Year	Chernobyl; Trapped	Won	[49]
	2020	Film Composer of the Year	Joker	Won

Notes

1. Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈhɪltʏr ˈkvʏðnaˌtouʰtɪr̥] ^ⓘ
2. tied with Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders for Ford v Ferrari

References

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6. Stubbs, D. "Against the Grain" in The Wire 283 (September 2007), p.12
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External links

• Official website
• Hildur Guðnadóttir at IMDb