Anna Thorvaldsdottir

Composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir (born 1977 in Iceland) is Composer in Residence for the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra during the 2025–2026 season. Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s “seemingly boundless textural imagination” (NY Times) and striking sound world has made her “one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary music” (NPR). Her music is composed as much by sounds and nuances as by harmonies and lyrical material – it is written as an ecosystem of sounds, where materials continuously grow in and out of each other, often inspired in an important way by nature and its many qualities, in particular structural ones, like proportion and flow.

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.