Anna Thorvaldsdottir

Composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir (b. 1977 in Iceland) is Composer in Residence for the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra during the 2025–2026 season. Throughout the HPO’s season, music by Thorvaldsdottir will be performed, including AION symphony, the cello concerto Before we fall, Aeriality, and Catamorphosis.
Thorvaldsdottir’s “detailed and powerful” (Guardian) orchestral writing has garnered her awards from the New York Philharmonic, Lincoln Center, the Nordic Council, and the UK’s Ivors Academy, as well as commissions by the world’s top orchestras. Among the many other orchestras and ensembles that have performed her music include the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Danish String Quartet and Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. 
Thorvaldsdottir regularly teaches and gives presentations on composition at institutions such as Stanford, Columbia, Cornell, New York and Northwestern Universities, the University of Chicago, the Sibelius Academy, and the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Writing for the orchestra is a deep passion of mine, organically reflecting how I hear music and work with combinations of materials.  

"It is such a pleasure to be Composer-in-Residence with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and to be a part of the orchestra’s devotion to bringing the audience a carefully curated combination of new and recent music along with the older repertoire. Writing for the orchestra is a deep passion of mine, organically reflecting how I hear music and work with combinations of materials.  

The season offers an exciting constellation of pieces from various times and genres, each concert providing a unique experience for the audience. A large number of performers working collectively to carry the music and breathing together as one is a powerful force. I am very much looking forward to working with the orchestra on a concentration of my music throughout the season, such as AION symphony, the cello concerto Before we fall, Aeriality and Catamorphosis."

Read more about Anna Thorvaldsdottir here.