Guest Artist Masterclass: Gudny Gudmundsdottir, violin

Event description
- Arts and entertainment
- Free
Guðný Guðmundsdóttir was appointed first concertmaster of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in 1974. She has performed under many of the world’s greatest conductors and led the orchestra with some of the greatest musicians of the twentieth century, including the three tenors, Pavarotti, Domingo, and Carreras, soloists Vladimir Ashkenazy, Emil Gilels, Claudio Arrau, Rudolf Serkin, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Itzak Perlman, Mstislav Rostropovich, and the comedian Victor Borge. She left the post in 2010.
Guðný has been Iceland’s leading violin teacher for over four decades, is an honorary professor at the Iceland University of the Arts, and teaches gifted younger students at the Reykjavík College of Music. Many of her former students are among the leading Icelandic violinists and prize-winners of international competitions, such as the Sibelius, Carl Flesch, Carl Nielsen, Leopold Mozart, Corpus Christi, and Johann Sebastian Bach competitions.
Guðný has appeared as soloist with orchestras in Iceland, United States, Mexico, Hong Kong, and Puerto Rico, while she has also premiered in Iceland many of the major 20th century violin concertos, such as those of Stravinsky, Elgar, and Britten. She has given solo recitals in Israel, Japan, China, and throughout Europe, and has been guest professor at the University of Beijing, China, the Universities of Houston Texas, the Logan School of Music in Denver, Astona International in Switzerland, and Barratt Due Institute in Norway, among many others. Guðný is a frequent guest in festivals and workshops in the Nordic countries, focusing on the development of string players. She has been a guest at numerous festivals around the world as a teacher, soloist, and chamber musician. Her many awards for services to music include the Icelandic Order of the Falcon in 1989, the DV Culture Award in 1990, and in 2015, the highest honor from the Icelandic Composers Union for her contribution to Icelandic music.
Guðný holds a BM degree from the Eastman School of Music, Diploma from The Royal College of Music in London, and M.M. from Juilliard 1974. Her main professors were Carroll Glenn and Dorothy DeLay.