Hildur Guðnadóttir


Hildur Ingveldardóttir Guðnadóttir 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 Journey's End, Mary Magdalene, Sicario: Day of the Soldado, Todd Field's Tár and Sarah Polley's Women Talking. For her score for Todd Phillips' psychological thriller film Joker, 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. She is also known for her work on the HBO miniseries Chernobyl, 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, and was raised in Hafnarfjörður.
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. Hildur began playing cello at the age of five and performed her first professional gig at 10 alongside her mother at a restaurant. 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.

Career

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 could." 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, 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 performed at Iceland's National Theatre. She has also written the score for the Danish film Kapringen , Garth Davis' 2018 film Mary Magdalene, Stefano Sollima's Sicario: Day of the Soldado. 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.
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, becoming the first solo woman composer to win in this category. 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.
She is the first Icelander to win an Oscar. She returned as composer for the 2024 sequel Joker: Folie à Deux.
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.

Personal life

Hildur lives in Berlin with her son. 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. 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.

Discography

Solo

  • Mount A
  • *re-released by Touch Music in 2010, as Hildur Guðnadóttir
  • Without Sinking, with a vinyl version with extra tracks in 2011
  • Leyfðu Ljósinu, with a multi-channel version on USB
  • Saman, with a vinyl version
  • Fólk fær andlit
  • ''Where to From''

Collaboration

Film work

YearTitleDirectorNotes
2011The Bleeding HousePhilip GelattComposer
2012A HijackingTobias LindholmComposer
2012Astro: An Urban Fable in a Magical Rio de JaneiroPaula TrabulsiComposer
2013JînReha ErdemComposer
2013PrisonersDenis VilleneuveSolo cello
2015SicarioDenis VilleneuveSolo cello
2015The RevenantAlejandro G. IñárrituSolo cello
2016The OathBaltasar KormákurComposer
2016ArrivalDenis VilleneuveSolo cello and halldorophone
2017Tom of FinlandDome KarukoskiComposer, with Lasse Enersen
2017Journey's EndSaul DibbComposer, with Natalie Holt
2018Mary MagdaleneGarth DavisComposer, with Jóhann Jóhannsson
2018Sicario: Day of the SoldadoStefano SollimaComposer
2019JokerTodd PhillipsComposer
2021CandymanNia DaCostaCello and vocals
2022TárTodd FieldComposer
2022Women TalkingSarah PolleyComposer
2023A Haunting in VeniceKenneth BranaghComposer, replaced Patrick Doyle
2024Joker: Folie à DeuxTodd PhillipsComposer
2025HeddaNia DaCostaComposer
202628 Years Later: The Bone TempleNia DaCostaComposer
2026The Bride!Maggie GyllenhaalComposer, replaced Jonny Greenwood

Television

YearTitleStudioNotes
2013Graduates – Freedom Is Not For FreeDocumentary filmComposer
2014Så meget godt i venteDanish Documentary ProductionComposer
2014Ming Of Harlem: Twenty One Storeys In The AirComposer
2015–2018TrappedRÚVComposer, with Jóhannsson & Hoedemaekers
2017Strong IslandNetflixComposer
2017The DeparturePandoraComposer, additional music
2018Street SpiritsV71Composer, with Eric Papky
2019ChernobylHBOComposer