Ingibjörg Þorbergs

Ingibjörg Þorbergs (full name Ingibjörg Kristín Þorbergsdóttir, also spelled Thorbergs; 25 October 1927 – 6 May 2019) was an Icelandic composer, singer, and program director. She was among the first women songwriters in Iceland, writing songs that have remained popular and been recorded many times by various artists.

Career Ingibjörg Þorbergs was born in Reykjavík. As a child, she sang in children's choirs and first sang publicly on national radio aged 12. She began clarinet studies at the Reykjavík College of Music, graduating in 1952 with a soloist diploma. She was the first female wind player to graduate with a diploma in Iceland. She also studied music theory, music history, and piano, and in 1957 she completed a teacher's diploma at the Reykjavík Teacher's College. Another widely popular song in Iceland is Aravísur, to a poem by Stefán Jónsson about a curious boy named Ari.

Ingibjörg Þorbergs began working at the Icelandic National Radio in 1946, and worked there until 1985. In 1949, she became a producer in the music department, and was for a long while the presenter of the radio children's program. From 1981–85, she was Assistant Program Director, and later Program Director, of the National Radio, which at that time only broadcast on one channel. She was also a music critic for the Icelandic newspapers Tíminn and Vísir.

Selected recordings

Hin fyrstu jól. Ingibjörg Þorbergs and orchestra, 1954. Ingibjörg Þorbergs syngur Aravísur. Íslenzkir tónar, 1954. Hvít er borg og bær. Björk Guðmundsdóttir, Egill Ólafsson, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, et al. Hljóðaklettur, 1987. Hin fyrstu jól. On Ljósin heima. Páll Óskar Hjálmtýsson and Monika Abendroth. Skífan, 2003. Útvarpsperlur: Ingibjörg Þorbergs (radio performances by Ingibjörg Þorbergs). RÚV, 2005.