When: 8.30pm on Thursday 26 February 2015
Where: Royal Northern College of Music, 124 Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9RD

We’re delighted to be bringing Ólafur Arnalds back to Manchester.

Born in 1986, Icelandic composer/performer Ólafur Arnalds has always enjoyed pushing boundaries with both his studio work and live shows. Since the release of his debut album Eulogy for Evolution in 2007 he has built up a dedicated international following and is well established for his genre-crossing compositions blending classical, pop and ambient/electronica influences to a unique musical language.

Starting out as drummer for a metal band, Ólafur was asked to write instrumental intros and outros for German metal band Heaven Shall Burn. This led to more work in the field of neo-classical strings and piano based music, and ultimately to the release of Eulogy for Evolution.

In 2009 he started a week-long project of composing one track by day, making it immediately available online to his fans. The collection was later officially released under the title Found Songs. He repeated the same experiment in 2011 under the title Living Room Songs. Also in 2009 the ballet Dyad 1909 premiered with a score composed by Ólafur. In April 2010 Ólafur released his second full-length album entitled …And They Have Escaped The Weight Of Darkness, which was backed up with an extensive world tour.

His third album, For Now I Am Winter, is released in February 2013. Expanding on his previous work the new album features a full orchestra and – for the first time – introduce vocals to his soundworld. Icelandic singer Arnór Dan is heard on four tracks of the album.

More recently Ólafur has been venturing into the world of films, writing Hollywood film scores to Another Happy Day (starring Ellen Barkin, Demi Moore) and Gimme Shelter (starring Vanessa Hudgens and Brendan Fraser). He also had music in the hit films Hunger Games and 300 – Rise Of An Empire, and has been featured several times on popular american television show So You Think You Can Dance.

For 2013 his scores include the music to ITV thriller series Broadchurch, which won a few BAFTA awards, including a personal one for him for Best Music. In October 2014 he released the debut album of his critically acclaimed techno side project KIASMOS. Further on he has recorded a collaboration album with Japanese pianist Alice Sara Ott (to be released in May 2015). Currently he is finishing the score for Broadchurch, season two. It will be televised in January on ITV again and accompanied by soundtrack release on Mercury Classics, followed by a selected number of headline shows through out England, Scotland and Ireland.

This show, which is part of FutureEverything 2015, will take place in the RNCM’s newly refurbished Concert Hall. Please note doors open at 8.30pm, and Olafur will play from 9pm.

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