Borgar Magnason

Borgar Magnason is an Icelandic composer, multi instrumentalist and producer. His prolific career has earned him a place as one of one of Iceland's leading musical figures. Known for his experimental and often cinematic output he has collaborated with a diverse group of artists like Nico Muhly, Ben Frost, Howie B, Sigurrós and Damien Rice

As a composer Magnason has written music for plays, dance performances, films and television, pieces for chamber ensembles of various combinations as well as the award winning music-theater piece ‘Blink Of An Eye’. In 2018 his music for The Nationals Theater production of Florian Zeller´s play The Father was nominated as composition of the year at the Icelandic Music Awards.

Initially trained in classical double bass playing, Magnason started his career performing with various orchestras and ensembles on both sides of the Atlantic in addition to holding a position as teaching assistant in contemporary performance at both the Julliard School and Mannes College, NYC. His love for the sonic capabilities of the double bass led him towards experimentation and composition on that instrument mainly in collaborations within the realm of contemporary dance, theater and visual arts. His soft spot for creating sound tracks for visual art has led to work with a.o. film maker Guy Maddin, Dutch video artists 33 1/3, Húbert Nói, the Italian art duo Masbedo and Gabríela Friðriksdóttir.