Anna Katrin Øssursdóttir Egilstrøð (b. 1981) is a Faroese composer, vocalist and multidisciplinary performer who weaves field recordings, live electronics, video and classical instrumentation into vivid sonic tableaux. Trained in electronic composition at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus/DIEM and active on both the Nordic new‑music scene and European club circuits, she treats the natural soundscape of the Faroe Islands as raw material—shaping wind, water and human breath into fragile counterpoint with strings, winds and amplified voice.
Her breakout work is the 40‑minute symphonic song‑cycle BEINTA (2016), co‑composed with Allan Gravgaard Madsen and premiered with the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra. Celebrated for its fusion of contemporary classical colour and alternative‑pop lyricism, Beinta earned a Danish Arts Foundation award and multiple Carl Prize and Faroese Music Award nominations. Recent projects extend that hybrid ethos: the multi‑media installation VITI (2021) immerses audiences in Faroese seascapes, while commissions for Århus Sinfonietta, Njyd Ensemble and vocal group Concert Clemens explore whispered text fragments and microtonal folk inflections.
As a singer‑instrumentalist she toured 25 countries fronting the acclaimed folktronica band Valravn and appeared with ensemble SCENATET in Schönberg’s Pierrot Lunaire and Niels Rønsholdt’s Me Quitte. Her Planet Award as Faroese Singer of the Year (2010) underscores a performance presence that bridges folk tradition, avant‑pop and modernist concert ritual. In all contexts, Egilstrøð’s work seeks the point where rough‑hewn Faroese nature, myth and technology ignite a shared, borderless listening space.
Selected works
2022 – From Harbour to Harbour – chamber work for Njyd Ensemble
2022 – Intersection – electro‑acoustic piece for electronics & voice
2021 – VITI – audio‑visual installation for film, electronics and field recordings
2019 – Recollections in the Abandoned Sea – immersive work for Njyd Ensemble & multichannel speaker system
2016 – Beinta – symphonic song cycle for orchestra & amplified voice (with Allan Gravgaard Madsen)
