Atli Örvarsson

Atli Örvarsson blends keyboards and electronics with frequently tense orchestral writing as a composer for film and television, where his output centers on crime and thriller material. A keyboardist and percussionist, the Icelandic native earned early recognition at home as a past participant in the platinum-selling rock outfit Sálin Hans Jóns Míns. After entering film work in the early 2000s, he contributed to pictures such as Babylon A.D. (2008), Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013), and The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017), plus numerous episodes across the Law & Order and Chicago Fire franchises, ahead of issuing his first solo album You Are Here, a comparatively serene collection of wistful instrumentals. Örvarsson then put out a duo project with Sin Fang (Flóra) and his next solo album (7 Cycles) before claiming his initial BAFTA TV Award for the dystopian series Silo (2023), whose score additionally secured him an Emmy nomination.

Following stints with several bands during the 1990s, Örvarsson moved to the United States to pursue film-scoring studies at Boston’s Berklee College of Music. Later credits encompass the features …Or Forever Hold Your Peace (2001) and Dead Above Ground (2002), together with installments of the police procedural NYPD Blue and Dick Wolf’s brief Dragnet revival (2003-2004). Subsequent additional music for prominent releases including the romantic comedy The Holiday (2006), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007), and Iron Man (2008) preceded the 2008 Varèse Sarabande issuance of his own score for the crime film Vantage Point. The same label later released his music for Vin Diesel’s Babylon A.D. and for The Fourth Kind (2009), while Silva Screen issued his score for the 2011 Roman Empire action picture The Eagle. During this period he also began supplying music to Law & Order: LA (2010-2011) and joined the production team of Chicago Fire in 2012. Among his 2013 soundtracks were Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (La-La Land Records) and Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (Milan). In 2015 his work appeared in the thriller The Perfect Guy and the Icelandic drama Rams (Hrútar), the latter awarded the Cannes Film Festival Prix Un Certain Regard. The coming-of-age film The Edge of Seventeen followed in 2016 with a Sony Masterworks soundtrack that paired licensed songs with roughly six minutes of Örvarsson’s score. A similar blend of songs and original music accompanied the 2017 Milan release of The Hitman's Bodyguard soundtrack. By then he had begun contributing to Chicago P.D., Chicago Med, Chicago Justice, Law & Order: True Crime, and FBI. Over the ensuing two years his music featured in the apocalyptic Netflix film How It Ends, the Icelandic documentary Skandall, and the 2019 horror title Jacob's Ladder.

In July 2020 Örvarsson issued his debut solo album You Are Here on the Icelandic imprint INNI; the atmospheric keyboard-driven instrumentals leaned toward the gentler, more wistful register of his scoring. That October he released another instrumental set, Flóra, recorded as a duo with fellow Icelander Sin Fang. He opened the decade with scoring duties on the Apple TV+ murder mystery Defending Jacob (2020), the musical comedy Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (featuring Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams as Icelandic contestants), the 2021 sequel Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard, and ongoing episodes of FBI and Chicago Fire along with their spin-offs. The solo album 7 Cycles appeared in October 2022. In 2023 Örvarsson was enlisted as composer for the Apple TV+ dystopian drama Silo. By the premiere of its second season in late 2024 he had received the BAFTA TV Award for Best Original Music, Fiction and an Emmy nomination, both recognizing his frequently ominous contributions to the first season. Early 2025 saw Lakeshore Records release his soundtrack for the Prime Video series On Call.