Bára Grímsdóttir commenced her musical studies when she was seven years old. In 1983 she graduated from the department of Music Education at the Reykjavík College of Music. She studied composition with Karólína Eiríksdóttir at the Kópavogur College of Music and with Atli Heimir Sveinsson and Hjálmar H. Ragnarsson at the Reykjavík College of Music, graduating from the department of Theory and Composition in 1989. Postgraduate studies took her to the Conservatory in Utrecht in 1989-1990 and to the Royal Conservatory in Den Haag in 1990-1992. In the Netherlands she studied composition with T. Keuris, L. Andriessen and R. Ford.
Bára Grímsdóttir’s ouvre includes works for solo instruments, voice, choral works, chamber music groups and orchestra. Her music has been performed in Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and in the United States. She was Composer in Residence at the annual Skálholt Summer Music Festival in 1998 and 2000.
Ms. Grímsdóttir has worked as a choral conductor and as a music teacher in Iceland and Norway. Currently she lives in Vestmannaeyjar, islands south of Iceland, where she is active as a music teacher, conductor, composer and performer of folk songs.