Ólafur Arnalds is a BAFTA-winning multi-instrumentalist and producer from Mosfellsbær, Iceland. Ólafur Arnalds mixes strings and piano with loops and beats crossing over from ambient/electronic to pop.

"As strongly influenced by his native country’s idiom yet also undeniably informed by classical training and the world of academic new music — a healthy balance." -SF Classical Voice

Born in 1981 in Tehran, Iran, Aminikia studied music composition in Russia at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory under Boris Ivanovich Tishchenko, a post-graduate student of Dimitri Shostakovich. In his homeland, Aminikia studied under renowned Iranian pianists Nikan Milani, Safa Shahidi and Gagik Babayan. He was perhaps most influenced by work with his first teacher and renown composer , Dr. Mehran Rouhani, a post-graduate of Royal Academy of Music and former student of Sir Michael Tippett.

He received his Bachelor of Music and his Master of Music with honors from San Francisco Conservatory of Music under Dan Becker, David Garner and David Conte where he was the proud recipient of Phyllis Wattis Foundation scholarship. He has also received lessons from Conrad Susa, Richard Danielpour, John Corigliano, Oswaldo Golijov and John Adams. Aminikia is currently a faculty member at San Francisco Academy of Art University while maintaining his career as a freelance composer.

He is the recipient of many various commissions from theatre troops to contemporary classical ensembles, film scores, Persian traditional music groups to jazz bands including Kronos Quartet, Symphony Parnassus, San Francisco Conservatory of Music New Music Ensemble, Mobius Trio, Delphi Trio and Living Earth Show and has collaborated with artists such as Rashin Fahandej and Taraneh Hemami and sees these as opportunities to further establish a unique communication between himself and international audiences.

His third string quartet ,"A Threnody for Those Who Remain", commissioned by Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and Kronos Performing Arts Association was described by Financial Times as “An experience not to be easily forgotten”.

One of his most recent projects was a second commission for Kronos Quartet called “Tar o Pood” (Warp and Weft) which was based on actual recordings of Persian carpet-weavers work songs. Aminikia was recently appointed as the 2014 Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival’s Fellow Artist Composer through which his most recent piece, "Shabo Meh" (Night and Fog) was commissioned and was world-premiered by the SF-based piano trio, Delphi Trio.

More info: www.nilsfrahm.com

Management: 
felix(at)agentur-grimm(dot)com


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