Join us for a performance by Icelandic cellist and ASF Fellow Geirþrúður Anna Guðmundsdóttir! Accompanied by pianist Antoine Préat, she’ll perform a cello recital featuring two Scandinavian works from Jean Sibelius and Icelandic composer Jón Nordal. The program will include Ludwig van Beethoven’s 7 Variations on ‘Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen,’ WoO 46; Jean Sibelius’s 4 Pieces, Op. 78; Claude Debussy’s Cello Sonata; Jón Nordal’s ‘Pictures on Panel Wall’; and Johannes Brahms’s Cello Sonata No. 1 in E minor, Op. 38.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
GEIRÞRÚÐUR ANNA GUÐMUNDSDÓTTIR
Praised for her “technical mastery” and “extraordinarily musical” performances (Morgunbladid, Iceland) Icelandic-American cellist Geirþrúður Anna Guðmundsdóttir is carving a distinctive musical voice, combining sensitivity with a bold and fiery stage presence. She 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, and the New York International Artists Association Competition. She was recently a semi-finalist at the Lutoslawski International Cello Competition and was selected as a 2024 City Music Foundation Artist. A passionate chamber musician, she won the Gold Medal and Grand Prize at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and performed as a semi-finalist at the 2022 Banff International String Quartet Competition with the Terra String Quartet. In addition to her work as a modern cellist, Geirþrúður has a keen interest in period performance and conducting. She has appeared at the Valley of the Moon Music Festival for period performance in California and made her conducting debut with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in 2023 as a member of the orchestra’s Conducting Academy.
ANTOINE PRÉAT
A Naïve Records Exclusive Artist and multi-award winner, Franco-Belgian pianist Antoine Préat is being noticed for his “distinctive voice” and strong musical convictions. Antoine has performed in locations including the Wigmore Hall, St John’s Smith Square, Salle Gaveau, Salle Cortot, Paris Beaux Arts Museum, Frederyk Chopin Insitute, as well as festivals such as the Nohant Chopin Festival, Lisztomanias, Chopin à Bagatelle, Les Nuits du Piano in Paris, IMS Open Chamber Music at Prussia Cove and Encuentro de Santander. He has appeared on BBC Radio 3, France Musique, Scala Radio and RTBF Musiq3. He performed alongside leading artists and orchestras including Maté Szücs, Miclen LaiPang, Margarita Balanas, Manuel Blanco, Sinfonietta Lausanne, Lesley Hatfield, Robin Ireland, the Centre de Musique de Chambre de Paris, Sainsbury Soloists, Academy Festival Orchestra, University Orchestra of Alicante and London Student Orchestra. He graduated with honors from the Ecole Normale de Paris where he studied with Liudmila Berlinskaia and Guigla Katsarava, and later studied at the Royal Academy of Music and at the Guildhall School of Music under the tutelage of Tatiana Sarkissova and Ronan O’Hora, while studying harpsichord and fortepiano under the guidance of Carole Cerasi.
Antoine was awarded the first prize of the Concours international d’Ile de France and the Los Angeles Colburn Piano Festival Competition, the honour prize at the New York Début Piano Competition and most recently was a semifinalist at the Clara Haskil Competition 2021. Passionate about education, Antoine has also been teaching for several years and has been invited several times to teach at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. Antoine is generously supported by the City Music Foundation, Talent Unlimited, the Munster Derek Butler Award, Hattori Foundation and the Winifred Christie Trust Award.