Kjartan Ólafsson

Timeline

1. 1984–1986

   Studies in Reykjavík and Utrecht

   He earns a Bachelor of Music degree in composition from the Reykjavík College of Music in 1984. From 1984 to 1986, he studies electronic and computer music at the Utrecht Conservatory and the Institute of Sonology in the Netherlands.

2. 1986–1995

   CALMUS at the Sibelius Academy

   He studies composition with Einojuhani Rautavaara and Paavo Heininen at the Sibelius Academy in Finland from 1986 to 1995. In 1988, while focusing on algorithmic composition with Heininen, he begins building CALMUS (Calculated Music), a composing system based on artificial intelligence techniques with functions written directly for musical problems. He earns a licentiate doctorate in composition there in 1995.

3. 1994–2002

   Festivals and a concerto prize

   He becomes artistic director of ErkiTíð, a festival linking music and technology, at its founding in 1994, and directs Dark Music Days from 1998 to 2016. In 2000, he directs Icelandic Music in 100 Years, the largest festival of Icelandic music up to then, for Reykjavík's year as a European City of Culture. In 2002, he lectures at New York University on CALMUS for algorithmic composition, and his Viola Concerto wins the Icelandic Music Award as composition of the year.

4. 2005–2014

   First composition professor in Iceland

   In 2005, the Iceland University of the Arts appoints him the first professor of composition in Iceland, and he serves as professor and programme director of composition and theory until 2014. He designs the school's first MA programme in composition in 2006, the first MA programme in the arts in Iceland.

5. 2014–2016

   Directing CalmusAutomata

   In 2014, he becomes director of CalmusAutomata, an artistic research project on AI functions for melody construction, harmony and melodic development, supported by the Icelandic Centre for Research. He becomes a lecturer in the University of Iceland's computer department in 2016.

6. 2016

   Calmus 21 and CalmusWaves

   At Dark Music Days in January 2016, he performs Calmus 21 at Harpa, a piece that CalmusComposer composes in real time from artificial intelligence and preset musical ideas, with the notes sent to iPads and the audience following on the CalmusNotation app. In May 2016, the dance work CalmusWaves, with his music, premieres at Reykjavík City Theatre during the Reykjavík Arts Festival; its dancers wear motion sensors that steer the composition.

7. 2019

   TwoTimes for Beethoven

   He composes TwoTimes in 2019, a four-minute piano piece for Susanne Kessel's 250 Piano Pieces for Beethoven project. CalmusComposer builds the piece from short segments of Beethoven's piano sonatas, combining contemporary composing methods under the control of AI functions.

8. As of October 2026

   Artistic director of ErkiTíð

   He is artistic director of ErkiTíð, whose 2026 edition in Reykjavík in October 2026 features real-time composition and Icelandic modernism. He also runs ErkiTónlist sf as CEO and directs the CALMUS Automata research project.