Hildur Guðnadóttir

Available for over a year

Before Hildur Guðnadóttir was born, her mother determined that she would be a cellist. And Hildur's first and enduring love is the cello - but as a musician, she has branched out from her early days in Iceland to become one of the world's most sought-after composers for film, TV and theatre productions. She won an Oscar for her music for the film Joker, and an Emmy for the equally affecting score for the TV series Chernobyl. Susan Marling meets Hildur in her home studio in Berlin as she demonstrates her unique instrument, the Halldorophone - a kind of electrified cello - and her audio mixing desk. Her music is carefully layered with both traditional instruments, but also electronic and 'found' sounds. One current project for Hildur is composing the music for a play at the National Theatre in London, starring Cate Blanchett, with whom she worked on the film Tar. Susan follows Hildur to London to find out how her music is embedded in the production.