Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir

Cellist Sæunn Þorsteinsdóttir often performs chamber music and has a strong commitment to contemporary works. She has made several recordings for the Sono Luminus label. Þorsteinsdóttir was born in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1984. In anglophone contexts, the English spelling of her name, Saeunn Thorsteinsdóttir, is often used. She moved with her family to the U.S. and was mostly trained there, but she retained close ties to Iceland, frequently traveling between the two countries and developing an interest in Iceland's vibrant new music scene. Þorsteinsdóttir attended the Cleveland Institute of Music, graduating in 2006 with highest honors in cello and chamber music and winning several of the school's awards. She went on to the Juilliard School in New York, earning a master's degree there in 2008. That year, she won the Naumburg Competition in New York; other major awards included a top prize at the Antonio Janigro International Cello Competition in Zagreb, Croatia, and a Brightest Hope nomination at the 2010 Icelandic Music Awards. In 2010, she appeared on the album Daniel Bjarnason: Processions, and the following year, she released her solo debut on the Centaur label, featuring Benjamin Britten's Three Suites for cello. Þorsteinsdóttir rounded out her education with a doctoral degree at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Her principal teachers included Richard Aaron, Tanya L. Carey, Colin Carr, and Joel Krosnick. Þorsteinsdóttir has appeared as a soloist with such major orchestras as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the NDR Elbphilharmonie in Germany, the BBC Symphony, and the Toronto Symphony, performing in such top venues as Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, and London's Barbican Center. She is especially well known as a chamber musician, collaborating with such A-level performers as Itzhak Perlman, Mitsuko Uchida, the Cavani Quartet, and members of the Guarneri Quartet. She is a former member of Philadelphia's Ensemble ACJW and has worked with The Academy, a consortium of musical venues that works to bring performances to New York City schools. Þorsteinsdóttir has premiered many new works, including those by Bjarnason, Nicholas Csicsko, Páll Ragnar Pálsson, and Halldór Smárason. She appeared on various albums, mostly devoted to contemporary music, and in 2019, she released the solo album Vernacular on the Sono Luminus label, featuring contemporary Icelandic works. Þorsteinsdóttir returned on Sono Luminus in 2023 with Marrow: The 6 Suites for Solo Cello by J.S. Bach. Þorsteinsdóttir has taught cello and chamber music at the University of Washington in Seattle, and in the early 2020s, she moved to the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
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