Saeunn Thorsteinsdottir, Cello

Biography

“Charismatic” (New York Times) cellist, Sæunn Thorsteinsdottir is a soloist, chamber musician, teaching artist and classical music advocate. Recently she premiered Daníel Bjarnason´s “Bow to String” for Cello and Orchestra with the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by John Adams, which the LA Times praised for her “emotional intensity”.  Following the release of her recording of Britten´s Suites for Solo Cello on the Centaur Label, this season she performs in some of the world´s greatest halls including Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall and Disney Hall.

An avid chamber musician, Ms. Thorsteinsdottir has collaborated in performance with Itzhak Perlman, Mitsuko Uchida, Richard Goode and members of the Emerson, Guarneri and Cavani Quartets. She regularly performs in venues such as Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Museum of Art and has participated in numerous chamber music festivals, including Prussia Cove and Marlboro.  She is a committed advocate of new music. In addition to Bjarnason´s “Bow to String”, she has premiered dozens of works, including commissions by Peter Schikele, Paul Schoenfield, Nicholas Csicsko and Kendall Briggs.  

She is a graduate of The Academy, a collaboration of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and The Weill Music Institute in partnership with the New York City Department of Education, performing chamber music at Carnegie Hall and bringing classical music to students in the New York City Public Schools.   As an outgrowth of her work in The Academy, she and her colleagues have formed a new ensemble, The Declassified, a group that seeks to revitalize the world of chamber music through refreshing concert experiences, creative education, and community engagement. 

Ms. Thorsteinsdottir has garnered numerous top prizes in international competitions, including the 2008 Naumburg Competition and the Antonio Janigro Competition in Zagreb, Croatia. She received a BM from the Cleveland Institute of Music with highest honors, the Ellis A. Feiman Memorial Award in Cello and the Bennett Levine Memorial Award in Chamber Music.   She secured a Masters from The Juilliard School, her principal teachers including Richard Aaron, Tanya L. Carey and Joel Krosnick.  Born in Reykjavik, Iceland, Ms. Thorsteinsdottir plays on a cello made in Milan, Italy circa 1790.