MOONBOW is Gunnar Andreas Kristinsson’s second album, the first to be released on a major label. The music, performed by leading members of the Icelandic contemporary music scene, was recorded in Kaldalón and Norðurljós, the two recital halls of Harpa Reykjavik Concert Hall. While Gunnar’s first album, Patterns, contains pieces from his study and freelance years in The Hague, MOONBOW is a selection of more mature works from a fruitful period in the composer’s life after moving back to Iceland in 2009, with all the experience from the Netherlands in his pocket. The album features a trio, a quartet and a quintet, flanked by two larger ensemble pieces. The works are diverse, not only in terms of instrumentation but also in terms of musical subject and give a good insight into Gunnar’s distinctive and personal sound-world.

With his sensitive insight, Gunnar Andreas Kristinsson has developed a unique and personal style through the years. Typical for his music are unfolding processes, passages that transform smoothly from one texture to another, shifting between contrasting moods. Another characteristic is strictly constructed, multi-layered, continuous movements with musical elements being drawn in and out of the foreground through instrumentation and articulation. Textures woven out of rhythmic and melodic patterns, like patchwork, is yet another distinctive feature.

Gunnar has been described as a ‘strong Icelandic voice with a fresh and bold imagination’. His music has been praised for being vivid and inventive, highly original, pleasantly coherent, purposefully constructed, filled with mystique and magical power.

Gunnar Andreas Kristinsson was born in Reykjavik in 1976. He holds a BA degree from the Reykjavik College of Music and an MA from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. During his studies in the Netherlands he received a scholarship from NUFFIC (Netherlands Universities Foundation for International Cooperation). His teachers through the years have included Kjartan Ólafsson, Atli Heimir Sveinsson, Krzysztof Meyer, Martijn Padding, Diderik Wagenaar and Clarence Barlow. Gunnar’s works have been featured at music festivals and major venues worldwide such as Nordic Music Days, Gaudeamus Festival, ISCM World Music Days, Ultima Festival and Darmstadt Summer Course. Gunnar has worked with many renowned ensembles and music groups in Iceland and abroad, including Nieuw Ensemble, De Ereprijs, The Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Modelo62, Stockholm Saxophone Quartet, Nordic Affect, The Hamrahlid Choir, Schola Cantorum Reykjavicensis and Orkiestra Muzyki Nowej.

Gunnar’s first album, Patterns, received a Kraumur Award in 2013 and two of his pieces have been nominated for The Icelandic Music Awards; his orchestral work Angelic Mechanisms in 2013 and his string quartet Moonbow in 2017.