“Johann Johannsson, an Icelandic composer who blended elements of electronic and classical music to create acclaimed soundtracks for films including ‘The Theory of Everything’ and ‘Arrival,’ died on Friday in Berlin,” writes Anna Codrea-Rado in Tuesday’s (2/13) New York Times. The cause of death is being investigated. “Best known for his movie soundtracks, Mr. Johannsson won a Golden Globe in 2015, as well as Grammy and Academy Award nominations, for his score for ‘The Theory of Everything’ (2014).… He was also nominated for an Oscar for scoring Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Sicario’ (2015).” Other film scores included The Miners’ Hymns (2010), Prisoners (2013), and The Mercy (2018). In April 2017 he performed at Walt Disney Concert Hall as part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Reykjavik Festival. “Johann Gunnar Johannsson was born on Sept. 19, 1969, in Reykjavik, Iceland…. He … played in indie-rock and electronic groups in the late 1980s [and was] a founding member of Kitchen Motors, an Icelandic arts collective and record label…. It was orchestral music that brought Mr. Johannsson international recognition, and he came to be known as part of a group of composers—among them Nils Frahm, Max Richter and Hauschka—whose music, often described as neoclassical, blends classical elements with electronica.”
Posted February 13, 2018
