He has had a number of works commissioned and debuted by Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has garnered widespread acclaim for his debut album, Processions (2010), with Time Out New York declaring that Bjarnason "create(s) a sound that comes eerily close to defining classical musics undefinable brave new world.".
He has twice won awards at the Icelandic Music —Best Composer/Best Composition, 2010 for Processions and Composer of the Year, 2013 for his works The Isle Is Full of Noises and Over Light Earth. Also in 2013, he and Ben Frost won the Edda Award for best soundtrack for their score to film The Deep, directed by Baltasar Kormákur.
