Born and raised in the Faroe Islands and now based in Malmö, Alvi Joensen is a Faroese guitarist and composer whose artistic work is rooted in the encounter between musical heritage, contemporary creation and the distinctive cultural landscape of the North Atlantic. As a performer, he moves between the established guitar repertoire, rarely heard works and an ever-growing body of contemporary music written specifically for him and his collaborators.
Joensen’s artistic identity is shaped by a continuous search for music that lies beyond the familiar. He has a particular interest in bringing overlooked repertoire back to the concert stage, while at the same time working closely with living composers to expand the possibilities of the classical guitar. His debut album, Lost Gems, released in 2021, was devoted to rarely performed works at risk of disappearing from the repertoire and established a principle that continues to inform his work: looking both backwards and forwards in order to discover music that deserves to be heard.
A defining moment in Joensen’s career came with his diploma concert at Malmö Academy of Music, where he commissioned Swedish composer Staffan Storm to write Distant Fires, a concerto for guitar, percussion and string orchestra. The work was premiered by Joensen with the Swedish string orchestra Musica Vitae and internationally acclaimed percussionist Johan Bridger. The commission marked the beginning of a sustained engagement with new repertoire and collaborative artistic processes.
Since then, Joensen has developed an extensive career as a soloist and chamber musician, performing throughout the Nordic region. His concert activity has taken him to major concert venues, festivals and cultural institutions in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, the Faroe Islands, Norway and the Baltic region, including Malmö Live, Nordens Hus in Tórshavn, Baltic Music Days in Riga, Båstad Chamber Music Festival, INN, Odeum at Lund University, Inter Arts Center in Malmö and KoncertKirken in Copenhagen. His performances also regularly bring him back to the Faroe Islands, where he remains closely connected to the Faroese musical community.
Chamber music lies at the centre of Joensen’s artistic practice. He is the co-founder of HΛV, a flute and guitar duo with Finnish-Sámi flutist Marianne Sihvonen. Together they have established a distinctive Nordic voice through ambitious programmes centred on contemporary music, ecology and the relationship between humanity and the natural world. HΛV has commissioned and premiered numerous works by composers from across the Nordic region, including Sunleif Rasmussen, Ylva Fred, Lil Lacy, Lauri Supponen and others. The duo has performed at venues and festivals across Scandinavia and the Baltic region and was selected as Ensemble-in-Residence at Musik i Syd for the 2026–2027 season.
Joensen is also active in a number of other chamber music projects, including Talos Guitar Duo and Trio Vilse. Through these collaborations he has developed a repertoire that extends from historical and established works to experimental contemporary music and interdisciplinary performance. His concert activity includes appearances with the Faroese Symphony Orchestra, Musica Vitae and Cappella Lundensis, as well as performances with a wide range of Nordic musicians and ensembles.
His relationship with the Faroe Islands remains a fundamental part of his artistic identity. The islands are not simply his place of birth, but an important point of departure for his understanding of sound, landscape and cultural belonging. Growing up in the Faroese musical environment and subsequently establishing his professional life in Sweden has given Joensen a perspective that moves naturally between the North Atlantic and the wider Nordic cultural sphere. His work is consequently both distinctly Faroese and deeply embedded in the contemporary Nordic music scene.
This connection was particularly evident in 2026, when Joensen returned to the Faroe Islands for a series of solo concerts at the Summartónar festival. Across three performances in Tórshavn, Fuglafjørður and Hósvík, he presented music by Faroese and Nordic composers alongside the world premiere of a new guitar sonata of his own composition.
Joensen’s work as a composer has become an increasingly important dimension of his artistic practice. He completed his composition studies at Malmö Academy of Music in 2025, during which his music was performed by established ensembles including GAGEEGO!, Messiaen Quartet Copenhagen, Petri Sångare and Jönköping Sinfonietta. His orchestral work RAM was premiered by the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra in 2025, adding a new dimension to a musical practice that now encompasses performance, composition and artistic collaboration.
As a composer, Joensen is drawn towards the space between tonality and atonality, familiar structures and unfamiliar sonorities. His music explores timbre, texture and physicality, often approaching instrumental sound as a material to be transformed rather than simply a vehicle for musical language. This same curiosity informs his work as a performer, creating a close relationship between the music he writes and the music he chooses to perform.
His music and performances have reached audiences across the Nordic countries as well as Switzerland and Italy, while his work has also been presented within the international contemporary music community. His compositions Fantasie and Paisaje faroese con niebla were among the Faroese works presented in connection with the ISCM World New Music Days in the Faroe Islands.
At the heart of Alvi Joensen’s artistic practice is a fascination with the meeting of places, traditions and musical languages. From the isolated landscapes of the North Atlantic to the contemporary concert halls of Scandinavia, his work seeks to create connections between the inherited and the unexplored. Whether performing a forgotten work from the guitar repertoire, premiering a newly commissioned composition or presenting music of his own, Joensen approaches the guitar not as a fixed historical instrument, but as a living and continually evolving medium for artistic expression.
A distinctly Faroese voice within the Nordic contemporary music scene, Alvi Joensen is an artist equally committed to preserving musical discoveries and creating new ones.