Egill Olafsson

Who is Egill Olafsson?

Egill Ólafsson, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, actor and legal and copyright expert. He is married to the actress Tinna Gunnlaugsdóttir.

Egill Ólafsson studied playing guitar and piano when he was young and was part of a boys' brass band under the direction of Karl Otto Runólfsson and sang in Kór MH choir. Between 1970 and 1976 he studied at the Tónlistarskólanum music school in Reykjavík.

He specialized in legal matters and copyright issues, but also composed for many types of music including music for choirs, brass band music and music for strings and trumpets. He has composed for around 30 theatrical works. He composed for musicals Grettir, Eva Luna and Come Dance With Me, the latter having a run on off-Broadway in 1996. His works have been played by various ensembles like Spilverk þjóðanna, Stuðmenn, Hinn íslenski Þursaflokkur, Tríó Björns Thoroddsen, Blái hatturinn, Les Grand Tango and The Icelandic Soundcompany.

He has landed many stage roles in Iceland and film roles in Icelandic, German and Scandinavian films.

Under the mononym Egill he released a number of albums mainly with Stuðmenn / Spilverk þjóðanna] labels. He also co-wrote materials with Finnish artist Matti Kallio, a resident of Iceland. He also appeared as Javert in an Icelandic adaptation of Les Miserables at the National Theatre, after having played the role of Jean Valjean in the same musical a quarter of a century earlier.