Sandur, Faroe Islands – (MA.MUS) – born in Tórshavn, Faroe Islands, on Feb. 27th, 1968.
Bassist since 1980 and composer since 1991, Arnold started playing with the iconic Faroese progressive jazz-rock band, Plúmm, in 1984 and began playing jazz in the late 80’s. His first 3 jazz compositions were released with Plúmm & Holger Laumann, in 1991. Arnold studied jazz at FÍH in Reykjavik, Iceland from 1990-93 and received a scholarship in 1992, for Best Student, and furthered his jazz studies at McGill University, Montreal, Canada, from 1993-95. He earned his living as a much in demand, free-lance musician in Montreal, from 1995-2003. Geraldine Hunt (US) & The Arnold Ludvig Trio played 4 nights weekly at Biddle’s Jazz Club in Montreal between 1999-2003, performed at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, and toured Quebec extensively.
Arnold moved back to the Faroe Islands in 2003 and was the bass player of GoGo Blues, winning the 2005 AME Music Awards for Best Bassist and Best Band. He taught bass, improvisation, small-band and big-band courses at Tórshavnar Musikkskúli between 2004-2007. Arnold lived in Copenhagen, between 2007-2014, where he recorded his debut jazz album, “VOYAGES”, as composer, with Arnold Ludvig Sextet released in 2013 to great reviews from JazzSpecial (Dk) and KvF National Radio (Fo). In Copenhagen, Arnold also co-founded the funk band, MonkeyRat, with his wife, lyricist and vocalist, Anna Iachino releasing the albums “Fuck The Jante Law” in 2010 and “Sunshine” in 2012, both with #1 hits on KvF National Radio (Fo) and a great review from Kieron Gene Tyler, from The Arts Desk magazine in the UK.
Back in the Faroe Islands, since 2014, Arnold started being commissioned to compose new music for performances at the annual Summartónar Festival in the Faroe Islands, upon request from Felagið Føroysk Tónaskøld (The Association of Faroese Composers), for various classical ensembles, including his compositions “KNÚKUR” on the album "SNJÓLÝSI" in 2015. He has since then composed new music for Summartónar annually, including “Influential Halucination” for the renowned PASSEPARTOUT DUO in 2018. Arnold released his 2nd jazz album “ICELAND” with Arnold Ludvig Sextet, in 2016 to great reviews from GAFFA (Dk) and JazzSpecial (Dk), which he received 2 nominations at the 2017 FMA Music Awards, for Soloist of the Year: Arnold Ludvig and Band of the Year: Arnold Ludvig Sextet. Also, in 2016, MonkeyRat & The Hentze Horns released 4 singles, to great reviews, with hit singles that received radio airplay in the UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Greenland, Denmark, and the Faroe Islands.
On September 1st, 2017, Arnold began his first semester, a 2 year NAIP European Master of Music degree, at IUA (Iceland University of the Arts), as one of only four international students admitted to the NAIP programme. In mid-September 2017, he founded the Arnold Ludvig Quintet in Reykjavík, with four of the finest, award winning jazz musicians in Iceland. His Quintet held their first concert at Múlinn Jazz Club at HARPA in Reykjavík on November 15th 2017, and held 3 concerts in Reykjavík in March 2018. The Quintet then performed 5 concerts in only 3 days during a tour of the Faroe Islands in June, whereby 3 of the concerts were for the 2018 Summartónar Festival. The 5th concert took place on June 14th at Maggie’s in Nólsoy, it was filmed and recorded on multi-track and published on Maggie’s YouTube channel on July 28th, 2018. ECU (Estonian Composers’ Union) received over 500 submissions in total, from all over the world, of which Arnold Ludvig´s composition, “Gróthúsvatn” was selected for performance from the Faroe Islands for the yearly ISCM (International Society for Contemporary Music) World New Music Days 2019, which took place this year, from the 2nd – 10th of May, in Tallinn, Estonia.
Arnold wrote the thesis “The Fragility of Faroese Jazz” in the spring of 2019, and graduated with his MA.MUS degree at IUA in Reykjavík, Iceland in June 2019. Arnold Ludvig Quintet performed at the Garðabæ Jazz Festival in Iceland in the spring, and were back in the Faroes in July and August 2019, where they performed three concerts at the 2019 Summartónar Festival.