Haukur Þór Harðarson’s work probes the physicality of the space in which listening occurs. Through the delicate and morphological transformation of sounds and resonances, he explores the possibility of bringing the listener into closer contact with the acoustic space and time in which they find themselves.
His music, comprising both acoustic and electro-acoustic works, has been described as fragile, delicate, intense, focused and physical.
Haukur studied composition with Atli Ingólfsson at the Icelandic Academy of the Arts and with Richard Ayres and Wim Henderickx at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, followed by a Sonology course at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague. After that took private lessons with Rebecca Saunders in Berlin. Alongside his studies, he has participated in workshops and festivals including
Voix Nouvelles (Royaumont Abbey, 2014), Musiikin Aika (Vitasaari, 2015), Mixtur (Barcelona, 2016) and the International Young Composers Academy (Tchaikovsky City, 2016). He has had lessons with with composers including Brian Ferneyhough, Carola Bauckholt, Chaya Czernowin, Dmitri Kourliandski, Fabien Levy, Johannes Schöllhorn, Mark André, Peter Ablinger, Oscar Bianchi and Rebecca Saunders.
His works have been performed by ensembles and musicians such as Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Mosaik, Trio Abstrakt, Elektra Ensemble, Ensemble Adapter, Departure Duo, Caput, Neon, Ensemble Recherche, Neue Vocalsolisten, Asko/Schönberg, Nieuw Ensemble, TAK, Quatuor Diotima, Siggi String Quartet, Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble, Marco Fusi, Jack Adler McKean, Sophie Fetokaki, Una Sveinbjarnardóttir, Sarah Saviet and Loadbang and has been featured in festivals and concert series including Acht Brücken (DE), Dark Music Days (IS), Reykjavík Art festival (IS), Iceland in New York (U.S.), An Evening of Today (NL), Cluster (DE), 15:15 (IS), Sonic festival (DK) and Ung Nordisk Musik (Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland), of which he was also the co-organiser in 2017.
Some of his upcoming projects include a premiere of a new piece for Ensemble Mosaik at Klangwerkstatt in Berlin and a new chamber opera as a part of Neue Szenen at the Deutsche Oper.
Haukur is a co-artistic director of Active Listening concert series as well as a member and co- founder of the composers collective Errata.
He is currently based in Berlin where he works as a freelance composer.
Contact: Haukur.tr (at) gmail.com