Hildur Ingveldardóttir Guðnadóttir (born 4 September 1982) is an Icelandic musician and composer. A classically trained cellist, she has played and recorded with the bands Pan Sonic, Throbbing Gristle, Múm, and Stórsveit Nix Noltes, and has toured with Animal Collective and Sunn O))). She has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, two Grammy Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award.
Hildur has gained international recognition for her film and television scores, including Journey's End (2017), Mary Magdalene (2018), Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018), Todd Field’s Tár and Sarah Polley’s Women Talking (both 2022). Her score for Todd Phillips’ Joker (2019), won the Academy Award for Best Original Score, the BAFTA Award for Best Original Music, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, making Hildur the first solo female composer to win in all three. She is also known for her work on the HBO miniseries Chernobyl (2019), which won her a Primetime Emmy Award, a BAFTA TV Award and a Grammy Award.
Early life Hildur was born in 1982 in Reykjavík, Iceland, and was raised in Hafnarfjörður. She comes from a family of musicians — her father, Guðni Franzson, is a composer, clarinet player and teacher. Her mother, Ingveldur Guðrún Ólafsdóttir, is an opera singer, and her brother is Þórarinn Guðnason from the band Agent Fresco. Hildur began playing cello at the age of five and performed her first professional gig at 10 alongside her mother at a restaurant. She attended the Reykjavik Music Academy and went on to study composition and new media at the Iceland Academy of the Arts and the Berlin University of the Arts.
Career
In 2006, Hildur released a solo album, Mount A, under the name Lost In Hildurness, on which she attempted to "involve other people as little as [she] could."Stubbs, D. "Against the Grain" in The Wire 283 (September 2007), p.12 It was recorded in New York City and Hólar in the north of Iceland. 2009 saw the release of her second solo album, Without Sinking, on the U.K.-based audio-visual label, Touch.
As well as playing cello and halldorophone, Hildur also sings and arranges choral music, once arranging a choir for performances by Throbbing Gristle in Austria and London. As a composer she has written a score for the play Sumardagur ("Summer Day") performed at Iceland's National Theatre. She has also written the score for the Danish film Kapringen (2012), The 2018 Garth Davis film Mary Magdalene (in collaboration with Jóhann Jóhannsson), Stefano Sollima’s Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018). Her work on the 2019 Chernobyl miniseries was met with critical acclaim, and won her a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited Series, Movie, or Special (Original Dramatic Score) and the first Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media.Grammy Award Winners 2020 by Zoe Haylock, Vulture.com, 26 January 2020.
She composed the score to the 2019 film Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Robert De Niro, and directed by Todd Phillips, for which she won the Premio Soundtrack Stars Award at the 76th Venice International Film Festival and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, becoming the first solo woman composer to win in this category. At the 92nd Academy Awards, Hildur won the award for Best Original Score, becoming the first woman to win since the Original Dramatic Score and Original Musical or Comedy Score categories were combined in 2000. She is the first Icelander to win an Oscar. She returned as composer for the 2024 sequel Joker: Folie à Deux.
In 2021, Hildur collaborated with her husband, Sam Slater, on the video-game score for Battlefield 2042 by DICE (company) and EA Games. The soundtrack was released 10 September 2021.Battlefield 2042 Reveals Official Soundtrack Details GamingLyfe.com, 10 September 2021.
Personal life Hildur lives in Berlin with her son (born 2012). She is married to Sam Slater, an English composer, music producer and sound artist, with whom she collaborated on multiple projects including Chernobyl and Joker. She also used to share a studio with fellow composers Dustin O'Halloran and the late Jóhann Jóhannsson, the latter being a frequent collaborator, while residing in Berlin.
Discography Solo Mount A (as Lost in Hildurness) (12 Tónar 2006) re-released by Touch Music in 2010, as Hildur Guðnadóttir Without Sinking (Touch, 2009), with a vinyl version with extra tracks in 2011 Leyfðu Ljósinu (Touch, 2012), with a multi-channel version on USB Saman (Touch, 2014), with a vinyl version Fólk fær andlit (Single, Deutsche Grammaphon, 2020) Where to From (Deutsche Grammophon, 2025)
Collaboration Rúnk – Ghengi Dahls (Flottur kúltúr og gott músik, 2001) Mr. Schmucks Farm – Good Sound (Oral, 2005) Stórsveit Nix Noltes – Orkídeur Hawai (12 Tónar/Bubblecore, 2005) Angel and Hildur Guðnadóttir – In Transmediale (Oral, 2006) Hildur Guðnadóttir with Jóhann Jóhannsson – Tu Non Mi Perderai Mai (Touch, 2006) Nico Muhly – Speaks volumes (Bedroom Community 2006) Valgeir Sigurðsson – Equilibrium Is Restored (Bedroom Community, 2007) Ben Frost – Theory of Machines (Bedroom Community, 2006) Skúli Sverrisson – Sería (12 Tónar, 2006) Pan Sonic – Katodivaihe/Cathodephase (Blast First Petite, 2007) Múm – Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy (Fat Cat, 2007) Hildur Guðnadóttir, BJ Nilsen and Stilluppsteypa – Second Childhood (Quecksilber, 2007) Múm – Sing Along to Songs You Don't Know (Morr Music, 2009) The Knife – Tomorrow, In a Year (2010) Wildbirds & Peacedrums – Rivers (The Leaf Label, 2010) Sōtaisei Riron + Keiichirō Shibuya – Blue (Strings Edit) feat. Hildur Guðnadóttir (Commmons, 2010) Skúli Sverrisson – Sería II (Sería Music, 2010) Hauschka – Pan Tone (Sonic Pieces, 2011) Múm – Smilewound (Morr Music, 2013) Craig Sutherland – Strong Island, (2017) Sunn O))) – Life Metal, (2019) Sunn O))) – Pyroclasts, (2019) Sam Slater – Battlefield 2042, (2021)
Film work
Year Title Director Notes2011The Bleeding HousePhilip GelattComposer2012A HijackingTobias LindholmAstro: An Urban Fable in a Magical Rio de JaneiroPaula Trabulsi2013JînReha ErdemPrisonersDenis VilleneuveSolo cello2015SicarioThe RevenantAlejandro G. Iñárritu2016The OathBaltasar KormákurComposerArrivalDenis VilleneuveSolo cello and halldorophone2017Tom of FinlandDome KarukoskiComposer, with Lasse EnersenJourney's EndSaul DibbComposer, with Natalie Holt2018Mary MagdaleneGarth DavisComposer, with Jóhann JóhannssonSicario: Day of the SoldadoStefano SollimaComposer2019JokerTodd Phillips2021 Candyman Nia DaCostaCello and vocals, 1st collaboration with DaCosta2022 Tár Todd FieldComposer Women Talking Sarah Polley 2023 A Haunting in Venice Kenneth BranaghComposer, replaced Patrick Doyle 2024 Joker: Folie à Deux Todd PhillipsComposer 2025 Hedda Nia DaCosta2026 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple The Bride! Maggie GyllenhaalComposer, replaced Jonny Greenwood TBA Henry DunhamComposer
Television
Year Title Studio Notes2013Graduates – Freedom Is Not For FreeDocumentary filmComposer2014Så meget godt i venteDanish Documentary ProductionMing Of Harlem: Twenty One Storeys In The Air2015–2018Trapped RÚVComposer, with Jóhannsson & Hoedemaekers 2017Strong IslandNetflixComposerThe DeparturePandoraComposer, additional music2018Street Spirits V71Composer, with Eric Papky2019Chernobyl HBOComposer
Awards and nominations Associations Year Category Work Result Academy Awards2020Best Original ScoreJoker Asia Pacific Screen Awards2018Best Original ScoreMary Magdalene 2018Best Original Music Score Beijing International Film Festival2018Best MusicJourney's End British Academy Film Awards2020Best Original MusicJoker British Academy Television Awards2020Best Original MusicChernobyl Critics' Choice Movie Awards2020Best ScoreJoker 2023Tár Women Talking Golden Globe Awards2020Best Original Score – Motion PictureJoker 2023Women Talking Grammy Awards2020Best Score Soundtrack for Visual MediaChernobyl 2021Joker Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella"Bathroom Dance" Hollywood Critics Association Awards2020Best ScoreJoker Hollywood Music in Media Awards2019Best Original Score in a Feature Film 2022 Women Talking 2023 Best Original Score in a Horror Film A Haunting in Venice Houston Film Critics Society Awards2020Best Original ScoreJoker Nordic Music Prize2020Best Nordic Album Of The YearChernobyl Primetime Emmy Awards2019Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited Series, Movie, or SpecialChernobyl Robert Awards2013Best ScoreA Hijacking Satellite Awards2020Best Original ScoreJoker 2023Women Talking Venice International Film Festival2019Soundtrack Stars AwardJoker 2024Joker: Folie à Deux World Soundtrack Awards2019Television Composer of the YearChernobyl; Trapped 2020Film Composer of the YearJoker
Notes
References
External links
Post-Romantic Classical Radio