TEHRAN, Iran — In December, when acclaimed Icelandic composer Olafur Arnalds stood alongside his band on a Tehran stage, lined with Persian carpet and decorated with candles, things felt “strange and surreal.”
Arnalds had no idea that he had such a large fan base in Iran — so large that all his December concerts in the country sold out. Arnalds sat down with Al-Monitor for an interview before his performance at Tehran's central Andisheh Hall. Just an hour later he would change from his white T-shirt into a casual button-down shirt and take the stage with his band — cellist Hallgrimur Jonas Jensson and violinist Viktor Orri Arnason — for his fifth and final Tehran show, before heading to the southern city of Shiraz for another concert.
