User:Tonskald/Gísli Jóhann Grétarsson

Gísli Jóhann Grétarsson (born 1983) is a composer and conductor from Iceland. His music has primarily been performed in Scandinavia, and solely in classical music.

Biography
Gísli Jóhann Grétarsson was born and raised in Akureyri, Iceland. He studied the classical guitar at the Akureyri music school, and graduated in 2003. He moved to Piteå, Sweden in 2007 and started his bachelor studies in composition at the Luleå University of Technology's Piteå School of Music, graduating in 2010, with a thesis titled "?". He gained an M.A.degree from the same school in 2012, with a thesis titled "?". There his main teacher was prof. Jan Sandström in composition, but he also took privat lessons with prof. Hans-Ola Ericsson in organ composition, prof. Jan-Olof Eriksson in guitar composition. During his studies he also took minor in orchestral conducting, with prof. Petter Sundkvist as his main teacher.

Music
His examination project, together with the Icelandic contralto Margrét Brynjarsdóttir, was a short chamber opera (mini opera) called Dimmalimm: Create your own destiny (2010). The premier of the opera was on the 23rd of april in Blackbox, Piteå. A CD was recorded and sold after the premier and during the turné. The opera is inspired by an Icelandic children's book by Muggur (Guðmundur Thorsteinsson, an Icelandic artist and film actor) about a lonely princess, and a prince who has been turned into a swan, but is saved because of the princes. The story in the opera is more evolved, and has a new added character, Turannos Grim, who is the evil magician who changed the prince into a swan.

In 2010, Hymnodia vocal ensemble performed Gísli's work Upplifun for mixed choir, percussion and harmonium at the international modern music festival Dark Music Days.

Recordings

 * 2010 – Dimmalimm: Create your own destiny – an album released by Vocalista music productions