Iceland Music is going to the Sónar music festival in Barcelona June 13 to 15, 2024.

Sónar is a festival that has been celebrating electronic music and digital culture since their first edition back in 1994.

This year Iceland Music is bringing various participants from Iceland:

• Hildur Maral, Co-founder of OPIA community, OPIA Community is a new travelling festival series, a record label and a community hub made up of creators, thinkers, art lovers and everything in-between. Built around an idea by artist Ólafur Arnalds, we aim to create platforms and spaces that bring people together, inspiring curious people through creativity and collaboration.

• Thor Magnusson, Principle investigator at IIL, Intelligent instruments LAB designs instruments embedded with creative AI for musical performance. New instruments for new music! IIL’s aim is to build new expressive music technologies and apply those to understand ourselves as users of intelligent instruments.

• Óli Dóri, Promoter at KEX Hostel, Ólafur Halldór Ólafsson, better known as Óli Dóri, is an experienced event manager at Kex Hostel, agent, radio host, and DJ in Reykjavík. He is excited about the prospect of networking with industry peers, professionals, and innovators at Sonar Barcelona. He believes that connecting with individuals from diverse backgrounds will broaden his understanding of the event management landscape and present opportunities for collaborations. 

•  Leifur Björnsson, advisor at Iceland Music, With the new expanded role of Iceland Music, the whole of music in Iceland has found a permanent home where education, support, and information is available in one place. The mission is to promote Icelandic music at home and abroad with focused development of our music industry.

The festival includes a conference for professionals in the music and creative industries alongside its music events. The conference and forum also has something called the Project Area which is the beating heart of Sónar+D, a forum, exhibition area and testing ground open to all attendees at Sónar by Day, where creative technology and innovative art meet eye-opening research, AI-generated visuals, and experimental video games. This is where Intelligent Instruments will be set up with.

After Iceland Music´s first participation in 2023 with six Icelandic professionals, this year sees 3 individuals representing different music companies and venues in Iceland and one very interesting musical university project. The festival is an excellent platform for developing a network for electronic music projects from Iceland and offers valuable insights into the international scene with deeper notes towards the spanish industry. 

If you are heading to Sónar we would love to see you there!

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