Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir continued her winning streak last night in Los Angeles, taking home a Grammy award in the category of Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media for the series Chernobyl. Hildur won an Emmy for the score in September, and was named Television Composer of the Year at the World Soundtrack Awards last October. Hildur is currently nominated for an Oscar for her film score for Joker.
Emmy win, Oscar and BAFTA nominations
The Chernobyl score was created using field recordings from a nuclear power plant. It beat out four other nominees in the category, including Alan Silvestri’s Avengers: Endgame, and Hans Zimmer’s score for The Lion King. Hildur’s statue collection could receive a couple more additions next month: she has been nominated for a BAFTA Award and an Oscar for her score for the acclaimed Joker. The BAFTAs will be presented on February 2 and the Oscars on February 9.
First solo Icelander to win a Grammy?
Only one Icelander has previously won a Grammy award: violinist Sigurbjörn Bernharðsson, who won as part of Pacifica Quartet for the group’s 2008 recording of Elliott Carter’s String Quartets No. 1 & 5. In 2018, both the band Kaleo and Hildur’s former collaborator Jóhann Jóhannsson were nominated for Grammy awards. Björk, unsurprisingly, also belongs to the group of Icelandic Grammy nominees – she holds the distinction of being the female artist with the most Grammy nominations without a win: 15.
Iceland Review interviewed Hildur about her work on both Joker and Chernobyl.
Note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Hildur was the first Icelander to win a Grammy.
