Valgeir Sigurðsson

Valgeir Sigurðsson launched the Bedroom Community imprint and sustained a lengthy partnership with fellow Icelander Björk while building a career as producer and composer. Classical guitar instruction marked the start of his musical path during childhood, yet his focus soon shifted toward studio work, leading him to secure employment at a modest neighborhood facility by the time he reached sixteen. After earning a Tonmeister qualification at London’s SAE institute, he founded Greenhouse Studios in Reykjavik in 1997. That facility became the setting where he refined his approach to contemporary and neo-classical recording methods, eventually hosting sessions for Brian Eno, Feist, the XX, Owen Pallett, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, and Björk. Collaboration with Björk brought wider recognition, encompassing her albums Selmasongs, Vespertine, and Medúlla plus the soundtrack for Lars von Trier’s Dancer in the Dark. Ensembles and orchestras of international stature have interpreted his compositions, which blend electronic and acoustic elements, while his music-theater work Wide Slumber for Lepidopterists received the Music Theater Now award in 2016. His first solo album, Ekvílibríum, appeared in 2007 and included contributions from Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Ólöf Arnalds, Dawn McCarthy, and múm drummer Samuli Kosminen. The 2010 score for the environmental documentary Draumalandið, also known as Dreamland, earned acclaim for its forceful themes, inventive construction, and the involvement of fellow Bedroom Community artists. Architecture of Loss, released in 2012 as the accompaniment to Stephen Petronio’s ballet, placed Nico Muhly at the piano and drew praise for fusing expressive chamber writing with microtonal electronics. Sigurðsson issued the solo album Dissonance in 2017.