Páll Ísólfsson

Icelandic composer Páll Ísólfsson (1893-1974).
A major figure in the history of music in Iceland. He devoted his fifty-year-long career to bringing classical music the the Icelandic nation on all levels. This included performing and organiazing regular concert series, composing, and founding the nation's first concervatory, the Reykjavik College of Music in 1930, of which he became the principal. Furthermore, he was one of the founders of the Reykjavik Philharmonic Society in 1932, which had tremendous influence on the development of music in Iceland around the middle of the century. In 1945 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Oslo, and he was elected member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in 1954.