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Geirþrúður Anna Guðmundsdóttir

Praised for her "technical mastery" and "extraordinarily musical" performances (Morgunbladid, Iceland) Icelandic-American cellist Geirþrúður Anna Guðmundsdóttir is carving a distinctive artistic voice, combining sensitivity with a bold and fiery stage presence. 

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© 2024 Benjamin Ealovega

Geirþrúður has performed at venues across the world, including Carnegie Hall, the Southbank Centre, the Warsaw Philharmonic, Lincoln Center, and the Banff Centre, and appeared as soloist a with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra, among others. Her performance in Reykjavík's Harpa Concert Hall of the six Bach Cello Suites, was hailed as "an awe-inspiring experience” (Frettabladid, Iceland).

Geirþrúður has been a prize winner at numerous competitions, including the Anton Rubinstein International Cello Competition, Hellam Young Artist Competition, the New York International Artists Association Competition, the Philharmonic Society of Arlington Young Artist Competition, and the Thaviu String Competition. Most recently, she was a semi-finalist at the Lutoslawski International Cello Competition and was selected as a 2024 City Music Foundation Artist. Additionally, she has received fellowships from the Jean-Pierre Jaquillat Memorial Foundation, the American-Scandinavian Foundation and the American-Scandinavian Society. She is a fellow of the Leifur Eiríksson Foundation and a former scholar of the Drake Calleja Trust.

 

A life-long lover of chamber music, she spent a formative year as the cellist of the Terra String Quartet in New York. With them, she performed and toured across the United States, won the Gold Medal and Grand Prize at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and appeared as a semi-finalist at the Banff International String Quartet Competition. Since refocusing her attentions on her work as a recitalist and soloist, she brings with her the experiences of her time as a quartet-cellist, which have helped shape her into an artist who prizes collaboration, spontaneity, and an openness to audiences and other musicians. Other notable chamber music prizes include the Prix musique de chambre from the Ecole d'Art Américains de Fontainebleau, and top prizes at the Dover String Quartet and WDAV Young Chamber Musicians Competitions. She has performed at festivals across the United States and Europe, including IMS Prussia Cove, Kneisel Hall, the International Holland Music Sessions, Hvide Sande Masterclasses, the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival, and the Harpa International Music Academy.

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© 2024 Benjamin Ealovega

Geirþrúður grew up in a musical and multicultural family in Reykjavik and began her musical education at a young age, studying cello with her uncle and music theory, analysis and ear training with her father. She quickly showed a very intense and expressive relationship with the cello and made her orchestral debut at age 18 with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. She graduated with honors from the Reykjavik College of Music in 2013 before going on to complete her undergraduate studies with Hans Jensen at Northwestern University in Chicago. She received a master's degree from The Juilliard School, where she studied with and served as Teaching Assistant to Natasha Brofsky, and holds an Advanced Diploma at the Royal Academy of Music in London. 

Her own deep connection to her homeland has influenced her programming. As a musician, she focuses on telling stories about the relationships between people and places, subtly subverting audiences’ expectation of a traditional recital by including rarely heard pieces, transcriptions, and newly written music alongside established standards.

 

In addition to her work as a modern cellist, Geirþrúður has a keen interest in period performance and conducting. She has studied baroque cello with Phoebe Carrai and Tanya Tompkins and appeared at the Valley of the Moon Music Festival for period performance in California. She made her conducting debut with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in 2023 as a member of the orchestra's Conducting Academy.

Get to know Geirþrúður...

Auk tónlistar hefur Geirþrúður heilan helling af spekingslegum áhugamálum. Hún er mikill lestrarhestur og er einkum hrifin af verkum Jane Austen, George Eliot og J.R.R. Tolkien. Hún er skákáhugamaður og keppti fyrir hönd Íslands á Norðurlanda- og Evrópumeistaramótum sem táningur.

 

Hún hefur einnig gaman að ljósmyndun, bakstri og íþróttum. Sem barn langaði hana gerast atvinnufólboltakona en með árunum urðu draumar hennar aðeins raunhæfari og þessa dagana stundar hún helst hlaup og jóga. Hún hefur alltaf haft gaman að stærðfræði, vísindum og heimspeki og reynir að sinna þeim áhugamálum með því að hlusta á hlaðvörp á meðan hún hleypur og bakar.

 

Geirþrúður býr í Cambridge í Englandi en deilir einnig tíma sínum milli New York City, London og heimahaga sinna á Íslandi.

 

Hægt er að fylgjast með ferðalögum hennar á Instagram @geirthruduranna

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