Gyða Valtýsdottir

Gyða Valtýsdottir has been active as a musician since her early teens as a founding member of the experimental pop-group múm.

Classically trained, Gyda has made music for films, theater & dance, among many other creative ventures, possessing a rare range of musical experiences which creates a unique alchemical compound.

Her music emerges from the fluidity of time & genres, dissolving any boundaries by simply not sensing their existence.

Her cello playing always inventive and highly personal, underlines a dignified craftsmanship while flirting with sensitivity & strength.

Her list of collaborators is extensive & includes a wide palette of musician & other artist including Kronos Quartet, Aaron & Bryce Dessner, Josephine Foster, Damien Rice, Dustin O´Halloran, Colin Stetson, Kjartan Sveinsson & visual artist Ragnar Kjartansson, just to name few. She also received the prestigious Nordic Council Music Price 2019 for her music & performance, calling her distinct vocals & instrumental inventiveness ”highly unique & captivating”.

Her first solo album Epicycle came out in 2017 & received prestigious prizes at the Iceland Music Awards. Epicycle is a constellation of written music spanning from ancient to avant garde. A year later she released her first album with her own work called Evolution. The record was nominated for the Nordic Music Prize & won “album of the year” at the Icelandic Music Awards. Same year, her first movie soundtrack came out on the legendary Smekkleysa label & was nominated as the soundtrack of the year both at the Icelandic Music Award & EDDA, the Icelandic Film Award & the Nordic Film Composer.

In 2020 her third solo album Epicycle II came out on her own label DiaMond, which is a “genre-fluid” ode to collaboration & interconnection. On the album is a Gyða works with musicians who shaped her musical journey, such as; Sigurrós members Kjartan Sveinsson & Jónsi, who also mixed the album, composers Anna Thorvaldsdottir & Daníel Bjarnason & other of Iceland most unique creatives. Her fourth solo album Ox came out late 2021. It is both visceral & wildly sublime transcendental dance between inner & outer realms of existence, With its rich arrangements & intricate soundscapes, it celebrates the embodiment of both darkness & light trough open-heartness which gives birth to writing that bursts with effortless originality.

The concert took place on 10 August 2023 in Łódź as part of LDZ Alternatywa Festival.