Leifur Þórarinsson (1934–1998) began violin studies at the Reykjavík School of Music, later studying theory and composition there with Jón Þórarinsson, who had recently returned to Iceland from studies with Paul Hindemith at Yale. Þórarinsson left Iceland in 1954 to pursue further studies in Vienna and Munich, under the supervision of Hanns Jelinek and others. In 1959, Þórarinsson studied with Wallingford Riegger and Gunther Schuller in the United States. Þórarinsson’s oeuvre includes a number of large symphonic works, a Violin Concerto, and chamber music. He was a pioneer of serialism in Iceland, moulded in the Schoenberg tradition in Vienna and the USA, but his later works show a variety of styles and influences.