Swiss Global Artistic Foundation

Praised by the New York Times as "a charismatic cellist", Saeunn Thorsteinsdottir has appeared as recitalist and chamber musician across the U.S., Germany, Poland, Italy, France and her native Iceland and has performed concerti with the Des Moines Symphony (Iowa), the Silesian Philharmonic (Poland) among others. She has garnered numerous top prizes, including most recently, the Zara Nelsova Award at the 2008 Naumburg Competition in New York City and the Janigro Family and Romanini Foundation Awards at the Antonio Janigro International Cello Competition in Zagreb, Croatia.

An avid chamber musician, Ms Thorsteinsdottir has collaborated in performance with Itzhak Perlman, Kim Kashkashian, the Cavani Quartet, Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players and members of the Guarneri Quartet in venues such as Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Currently, she is a member of Ensemble ACJW and a fellow 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.

An advocate of new music, Ms Thorsteinsdottir has premiered dozens of works, including most recently, commissioned works for cello by Daníel Bjarnason and Nicholas Csicsko and through her work with Ensemble ACJW, she has worked closely with such composers as Marc-Andre Dalbavie and Matthias Pintscher. She performs new music frequently in venues in New York City such as The Stone and Le Poisson Rouge. Along with the masterpieces of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, she is constantly inspired by the works composed in our time.

Ms Thorsteinsdottir has performed in master classes for Zara Nelsova, Anner Bylsma, Bernard Greenhouse, Lynn Harrell and Steven Isserlis, and was a featured soloist on NPR's "From the Top" and PBS's "Sunday Arts". She has been invited to festivals including the Perlman Music Program Chamber Music Workshop, Kneisel Hall, Kronberg Masterclasses in Germany, Villefavard Masterclasses in France, International Musician's Seminar and Open Chamber Music in Prussia Cove, England as well as the Sarasota and Marlboro Music Festivals.

In 2006, Ms Thorsteinsdottir received a Bachelor of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music with the highest honors for accomplishments in both cello and chamber music, the Ellis A. Feiman Memorial Award in Cello and the Bennett Levine Memorial Award in Chamber Music. She continued her studies at The Juilliard School and completed a Master of Music in 2008. Her principle teachers included Richard Aaron, Tanya Carey and Joel Krosnick.

This upcoming season includes the premier of Daníel Bjarnason's work for solo cello and chamber orchestra and a solo recital at Við Djúpið Music Festival, concerto appearances in Iceland and Amsterdam, duo recitals with pianist Alexandra Joan in New York City and Reykjavik, and chamber music at Carnegie Hall with Ensemble ACJW. During the summer, she will be collaborating with Mitsuko Uchida and other world class musicians at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont.

Born in 1984 in Reykjavik, Iceland, Saeunn now lives in New York City. She plays on a cello made in Milan, Italy circa 1800.

For more information, please visit her personal website, www.saeunn.com.