Background
Olafsson, Kjartan was born on November 18, 1958 in Reykjavik, Iceland. Son of Olafur Palsson and Anna Sigridur Björnsdottir.
Olafsson, Kjartan was born on November 18, 1958 in Reykjavik, Iceland. Son of Olafur Palsson and Anna Sigridur Björnsdottir.
Licentiate in Music, Sibelius Academy, Finland, 1995.
A native of Reykjavík, Kjartan Ólafsson spent from 1976 to 1989 studying music, composition and natural sciences at the Music College of Kópavogur, Hamrahliðar College, Reykjavík College of Music, Utrecht Conservatory and Sibelius Academy. In 2000, in connection with Reykjavík"s status as the millennial and century year"s European Culture City, he served as director of Icelandic Music in 100 Years, which became the largest festival of the country"s music held up to that moment. In 2002, he traveled to the United States to lecture at New York University regarding use of CALMUS for algorithmic composing, a subject he updated with lectures at the 2008 Salzburg Mozarteum.
Having taught music in the early 1990s at the Reykjavik College of Music, Kjartan has held, since 2005, the position of Professor of Composition and Theory at Iceland Academy of the Arts.
Married Arndis Gudmundsdottir, June 9, 1990 (divorced August 9, 1996). Children: Hringur Kjartansson, Vedis Kjartansdottir, Snæbjartur Sölvi Kjartansson, Sunneva Kjartansdottir.