Halldór Úlfarsson

Halldór Úlfarsson (Iceland, 1977) is an artist and designer, pursuing a practice-based PhD in Music at the University of Sussex (UK) since the fall of 2017. For over a decade, Halldór has been developing the “halldorophone,” an electroacoustic string instrument. Except for his interest in the technical evolution of the instrument, Halldór likes to instigate collaborations with musicians and institutions: in these works, the narrative thread is often a contemplation of the identity of a new musical instrument that aspires to become part of the musical canon. The halldorophone is finding some acceptance in recent years and has been used in awarded film and TV scores and by prominent musical projects such as The Knife, múm and SunnO))). It has also been extensively utilized by classical composers in Northern Europe.

Halldór was previously adjunct to the Design Department of the Iceland Academy of Art (in the field of Product Design), while he was also managing the CAD workshop for the department. Halldór has an MFA from the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki, Department of Time and Space, and a second MFA from the University of Art and Design Helsinki in Applied Art and Design. Halldór speaks Finnish (and he is very proud of this) and lives between Athens, Greece, and United Kingdom. http://www.halldorophone.info