Following his studies at Reykjavik College of Music, Brandeis University in Boston and Uppsala University, Sweden, Jóhann G. Jóhannsson (b. 1955) was appointed music director for The Reykjavik City Theatre (1980-’91) and for The National Theatre of Iceland (1991-2010). His compositions include songs, choral pieces and music for chamber groups as well as piano and orchestral works, and many of his works carry the air of the theatre. In recent years he has collaborated as orchestrator with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra on several concert programs for children, e.g. a concert version of his fairy-tale musical “The Message Pouch” and his ‘musical adventure’ “The Boy and the Sweet-Shop”. His most recent work, Concerto for Coloratura Soprano and Orchestra, “Be not afeard”, composed to Shakespeare’s monologue “Caliban’s Speech” from The Tempest, was commissioned by his daughter Ragnheiður Ingunn who premiered the work at Reykjavik Opera Days in 2022 and recorded it in August 2024 as a singing conductor with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.