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Egill Ólafsson (born 9 February 1953) is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, and actor. He is married to the actress
Tinna Gunnlaugsdóttir Tinna Gunnlaugsdóttir (born 18 June 1954) is an Icelandic actress. She has appeared in twelve films since 1981. She starred in '' As in Heaven'', which was screened out of competition at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival. She is the sister of dire ...
.


Education

Egill Ólafsson studied playing guitar and piano when he was young and was part of a boys' brass band under the direction of Karl Otto Runólfsson. While he was a student at Hamrahlid College from 1970 until 1974, Egill Ólafsson sang in the choir of the school Kór MH. 1970 he started to study at the Tónlistarskólinn (music school in Reykjavík). The disciplines he was studying were singing and composing. In 1976 Egill Ólafsson graduated at Tónlistarskólinn In Reykjavík.


Professional life

Among his compositions are music for choirs, brass band music and music for strings and trumpets. He has composed around 30 theatrical works. He composed for musicals ''Grettir'', ''Eva Luna'' and ''Come Dance With Me'', the latter having a run on off-Broadway in 1996. His works have been played by various ensembles like Spilverk þjóðanna, Stuðmenn, Hinn íslenski Þursaflokkur, Tríó Björns Thoroddsen, Blái hatturinn, Les Grand Tango and The Icelandic Sound Company. And just recently (2015–16) he's been working with the German group Strom & Wasser as a co-writer and musician. The product has been released by Traumton in Berlin, called "Reykjavik" (Double Album). He has landed many stage roles in Icelandic Theatre and film roles in Icelandic, German and Scandinavian films. Under the mononym Egill he released a number of albums mainly with Stuðmenn / Spilverk þjóðanna labels. He also co-wrote materials with Finnish artist Matti Kallio, a resident of Iceland. Egill Olafsson also is a musical-performer. Several times he was performing leading characters in the Icelandic productions of different musicals at the Icelandic National Theatre, for instance ''Evita'' (Perón), ''Carmen negra'' (Escamillo), ''Three Penny Opera'' (Peachum), ''Kiss me Kate'' (Fred Graham) and also in many of the plays he has written as composer. He appeared as Javert in ''Vesalingarnir'', the Icelandic adaptation of '' Les Misérables'' at the National Theatre, after having played the role of Jean Valjean in the same musical a quarter of a century earlier. At Les Misérables: The Dream Cast in Concert on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Original West End production of the musical Les Misérables Egill Ólafsson was performing as one of the Seventeen Valjeans at the second encore. It was filmed in October 1995 at the
Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...
and released on DVD, VHS and
LaserDisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...
distributed by
Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio Conglomerate (company), conglom ...
(US/CAN) and BBC Video (UK).


Personal life

He is married to the actress and former artistic director at the National Theatre in Iceland (2005-2015)
Tinna Gunnlaugsdóttir Tinna Gunnlaugsdóttir (born 18 June 1954) is an Icelandic actress. She has appeared in twelve films since 1981. She starred in '' As in Heaven'', which was screened out of competition at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival. She is the sister of dire ...
. Before the Icelandic loan guarantees referendum, 2010 Egill Ólafsson was one of the Icelandic celebrities, who spoke out to vote "no". At the elections for the Icelandic parliament Althing in April 2013, Egill Ólafsson was a candidate of Lýðræðisvaktin (
Iceland Democratic Party Iceland Democratic Party ( is, Lýðræðisvaktin, , Democracy Watch) was a political party in Iceland, founded 16 February 2013. It was founded with the primary goal of passing the new constitution formulated by the constitutional assembly appoint ...
). In October 2013 his work was honored by FTT (Society Of Songwriters In Iceland). On 17 June 2015 his work was honored by the President of Iceland. Egill Ólafsson was awarded with the Falcon Order Medal.
Information at "Iceland Review On Line"
In October 2022, it was revealed that Egill had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.


Work


Discography


Albums

*1991: ''Tifa tifa'' *1992: ''Blátt blátt'' *2001: ''Angelus Novus / Nýr engill'' *2003: ''Brot...Músík úr leikhúsinu'' *2006: ''Miskunn dalfiska'' *2007: ''Hymnalög'' *2012: ''Vetur'' *2013: ''Örlög mín'' *2018: ''Fjall''


Singles

*2013: "Ekkert þras" (with Moses Hightower,
Lay Low Lovísa Elísabet Sigrúnardóttir (born 10 September 1982), better known by her stage name, Lay Low, is an Icelandic musician and singer. Biography Lovísa was born to a Sri Lankan father and an Icelandic mother. She moved to Iceland at a ...
and Högni Egilsson)


Filmography


Compositions

(Music composed for theatre) *''The City Of Crooks'' 1976 The Theatre School Of Iceland *''The Beginners'' 1977 The National Theatre of Iceland *''Mr. Klemensson'' 1978 (Ballet) NT (Icel) *''The Cheery´s On The North - Mountain'' (Kabuki – Play) 1979 NT (Icel) /Det Norske Teater *''The Saga Of Grettir'' 1980 City Theatre in Iceland *''Schocklate For Silja'' 1982 NT (Icel) *''Ich tanze mit dir'' (Ballet) NT (Icel) 1987 *''The Steamship'' 1990 / The Theatre School Of Iceland *''Platanov'' 1992 City Theatre in Reykjavík/Malmö Statsteater *''Uncle Vanja'' 1992 City Theatre in Reykjavík *''Eva Luna (The Musical)'' 1994 (The Musical) City Theatre in Reykjavík *''Tears And Endearment'' (original Icelandic title: ''Þrek og tár'') 1995 NT (Icel) *''As You Like It'' 1996 NT (Icel) *''Come Dance With Me'' 1997 Cernucini Teatre (Off – BRDW) *''Mice And Man'' Loftkastalinn 1998 *''Anna Karenina'' NT (Icel.) 1999 *''Day Of Hope'' City Theatre in Reykjavík 2006 *''Four Jews On Parnassus'' Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin - 3 November 2008''FOUR JEWS ON PARNASSUS — A CONVERSATION'' by arl Djerassi - Performance Schedule:
in English) *''Viva la Vida/Frida Kahló'' NT (Icel) 2009 *''The Women Of The Parlament'' NT (Icel) 2013


References


External links


Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Olafsson, Egill Egill Olafsson Egill Olafsson Egill Olafsson Egill Olafsson Egill Olafsson 1953 births Living people