Þóra Kristín Gunnarsdóttir

Þóra Kristín Gunnarsdóttir, pianist, moved back to Iceland in 2021 after studying and working in Switzerland for ten years. Since then, she has performed in many of the country’s leading concert series and festivals, including the concert series Tíbrá, the Kammermúsíkklúbburinn series, Velkomin heim in Harpa, Klassík í Salnum, Sígildir sunnudagar, and the music festivals Reykholtshátíð, Seigla, and Klassík á eyrinni. She is a member of the piano quartet Negla, founded in 2023, which has received considerable attention for its refined performances and exciting repertoire.

Þóra also has a deep passion for lied and has performed in numerous song recitals in recent years, often with singers from “Kammeróperan“ but also with Hanna Dóra Sturludóttir, María Sól Ingólfsdóttir, Hildigunnur Einarsdóttir and others. While in Switzerland, she appeared at the Chesa Planta Musiktage festival and in concerts organized by Liedrezital Zürich. In 2018, she premiered a new song cycle by Valentin Villard with mezzo-soprano Béa Droz on a concert tour throughout Switzerland. She has served as a collaborative pianist in masterclasses for both singers and string players, in Iceland and abroad, and currently works as a collaborative pianist at the Reykjavík College of Music (Menntaskóli í tónlist) and Söngskólinn í Reykjavík.

Þóra began her music studies in Akureyri with Dýrleif Bjarnadóttir and later studied with Peter Máté at the Reykjavík College of Music. She earned a master’s degree in piano pedagogy and piano performance with a minor in chamber music from the Lucerne School of Music in 2017. Her main teachers there were Yvonne Lang and Edward Rushton. In 2020, she completed a second master’s degree in chamber music and song accompaniment from the Zurich University of the Arts, where her main teacher was pianist Friedemann Rieger. Throughout her studies she also took regular Liedduo classes with Christoph Berner, and piano trio classes with Eckart Heiligers from Trio Jean Paul among others. She has participated in masterclasses with Thomas Hampson, Simon Lepper, Joseph Breinl and Ewa Kupiec.