Tour Dates: 19 May - 30 May, 2011

Pianist Nína Margrét Grímsdóttir has established a fine reputation as a performing and recording soloist and chamber musician. Her most recent CD released on Naxos in 2007...

Biography

Pianist Nína Margrét Grímsdóttir has established a fine reputation as a performing and recording soloist and chamber musician. Her most recent CD released on Naxos in 2007 includes a world premiere recording of selected solo and chamber works by Iceland´s first composer Sveinbjörn Sveinbjörnsson (1847-1927). The CD received an excellent review in The Classical Music Guide Forums and was awarded four stars and chosen as one of the top ten CDs of 2007 by Morgunbladid.

Nína Margrét performs regularly in concerts and festivals in Iceland and internationally, and appears frequently on Icelandic National Television and Radio. She gives master classes and lecture-recitals on a regular basis and holds a D.M.A. performance degree from the City University of New York´s Graduate Center. Her doctoral dissertation is a study of the piano works of composer Páll Ísólfsson. Furthermore, Nína Margrét is a graduate of the soloist division of the Reykjavík College of Music´s class of 1985.

Nína Margrét has promoted Icelandic music actively throughout her career. She has also initiated and coordinated several innovative projects outside the conventional repertoire of classical music, which aim at reaching out to wider audiences in the community.

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Performing career

Nína Margrét performs regularly in concerts and festivals in Iceland and appears frequently on Icelandic National Television and Radio. She has also concertized widely in the United States and Canada. This includes thirteen American States (California, Connecticut, Washington D.C., Massachusetts, Minnesota, Michigan, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Ohio, New York, Virginia, Washington State, Wisconsin) and five Canadian Provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Yukon); Her concert tours have furthermore included China (Peking, Ninbo, Hangzhou, Zhoushan, Quindao, Guichi, Anqin), Japan (Tokyo, Yokohama) and Europe (England, Scotland, France, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Germany).

United States concert venues include the Nordic Heritage Museum in Seattle (2005), the National Gallery of Arts in Washington D.C. (2002), Scandinavia House in New York (2002), the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk (2000) and Steinway Hall in New York (1999). Canada concert venues include Leacock Theatre of the Mount Royal College in Calgary (2009), Yukon Arts Center in Whitehorse (2000), University of Winnipeg (1999), the Unitarian Church in Toronto (1996) and University of Alberta (1995). Japan concert venues include Dai-ichi Seimei Hall and Sumida Triphony Hall in Tokyo (2004). In Europe Nína Margrét has performed at the Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh (2009), the Church of St. Agnese in Rome (2009), the Icelandic Embassy in Berlin (2008), the Kulturhuset Islandsbrygge (2006), the Nordic House in Thorshavn (2005), the Dunkers Culture Center in Helsingborg (2003), the Purcell Room of the Royal Festival Hall (1989), the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris (1989) and at the St. Giles Church of the Barbican Center in London (1988).

CD Recordings and broadcasts

Nína Margrét´s solo and chamber music performances can be heard on 4 internationally distributed CD´s: (NAXOS 8.570460) Sveinbjörn Sveinbjörnsson: Piano Trios and Violin Sonata in F Major; (BIS 1139) Páll Ísólfsson: Complete Original Piano Music issued in 2001; (NAXOS 8.554725) F. Mendelssohn: Complete Works for Violin and Piano with Nicholas Milton issued in 2001 and (SKREF 008) debut solo CD for Icelandic label SKREF issued in 1996. All CD´s have received glowing reviews in international music magazines such as Gramophone, High Fidelity, Fanfare, American Record Guide and Piano News.

Nína Margrét´s recorded solo and chamber music performances are broadcast on radio stations around the world. This includes in the United States WNYC, WPKT, WWFM, WVIA, CJRT, WFMR and MPR, in Germany Kulturradio hr2, in Sweden Sveriges Radio P2, in Canada CBC Radio, in the Faroe Islands Faroese National Radio, on Denmarks National Radio DR and on Australia´s ABC Classic FM.

Nína Margrét gives master classes and lecture-recitals on a regular basis, this has included the Iceland Academy of Arts; University of Calgary; ANMA annual conference at the Royal Danish Academy of Music; the Masterclass in the Vestmann Islands 2002-2005, the Millennium Celebrations in Connecticut in 2000 and the Stephan G. Stephanson conference in Alberta 1995. Her commitment to music education is furthermore manifested in the over 200 school concerts she has performed around Iceland (2000-2006) and in Japan and the United States: (Miyagaya Elementary School, Yokohama, 2004; Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music, NY, 1998; Emerson Jr. High School, CA, 1998). In 2004 she organized a competition and masterclass together with her colleagues for young advanced music students from the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Iceland which took place in Reykjavík City Hall. The event was sponsored by the Nuuk-Thorshavn-Reykjavik Fund.

Academic qualifications

Nína Margrét holds a D.M.A. performance degree from the City University of New York´s Graduate Center; an MA music performance degree from the City University of London, an LGSM performance diploma from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and a professional studies post- graduate diploma from the Mannes College of Music in New York. Her doctoral dissertation is a study of the piano works of composer Páll Ísólfsson. Furthermore she is a graduate of the soloist division of the Reykjavík College of Music´s class of 1985.

Grants, honors, professional memberships

Her grants and honors include the British Council, the American-Scandinavian Foundation, the Iceland Ministry of Culture and Education, the American Scandinavian Society in New York, the Helena Rubinstein Foundation, the Dr. Gunnar Thoroddsen Memorial Society, the 1974 Icelandic National Celebration Fund and the Icelandic Composer´s Fund of the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service. In 2001 Nína Margrét was nominated for the Icelandic Music Awards in two categories: Best Performer and Best Recording for herBIS CD recording of dr. Páll Ísólfsson´s works for solo piano. She has an entry in the 2003 edition of "Contemporary Icelanders – the life and work of well- known people" (Vaka-Helgafell 2003). Nína Margrét was selected a finalist in the 1997 Simone Belsky piano competition in Connecticut and in the chamber music section of the 1999 Concert Artists Guild Competition in New York.

Nína Margrét is a member of the Icelandic Society of Professional Musicians (FÍT) in which she served as a board member during 2002-5; the Icelandic chapter of the European Piano Teacher´s Association (EPTA) and the Icelandic Association of University Academics (BHM). She is currently on the piano and chamber music faculties of the Iceland Academy of Arts and the Reykjavík College of Music. Additionally she has served on the jury committee for the Icelandic Music Schools´ Examination Board since 2004.

Promotion and premieres of Icelandic music

Nína Margrét has promoted Icelandic music actively throughout her career and among the composers she has premiered and performed in the US and Canada are: Thorkell Sigurbjörnsson (New York, 1999); John Speight (New York, 1997); Fjölnir Stefánsson (New Hampshire, 1997); Jónas Tómasson (Toronto, 1996, San Diego, 1991); and Atli Heimir Sveinsson (New York & Washington D.C., 2002; New York, 1994). Further premieres include Jón Ásgeirsson (Japan 2004), Hugi Guðmundsson (Kó pavogur, 2004), Áskell Másson Sonata premiere with the concert master of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra Guðný Guðmundsdóttir (2004).

Alternative music projects

Nína Margrét has initiated and coordinated several innovative projects outside the conventional repertoire of classical music which aim at reaching out to wider audiences in the community. This includes for instance shopping mall concerts, hospital concerts and retirement homes concerts. Highlights have included a television appearance at the 2006 annual Icelandic Music Awards with pop-artist Mugison; an honorary concert with singer Eivør Pálsdóttir at the Faroe Islands´ Nordic House in presence of the Royal Danish Family and members of the Danish and Faroese Governments in June 2005; a historic concert of Icelandic film music as a part of the annual Reykjavík Art Festival 2004 and a concert together with teenage rock band Búdrýgindi in Salurinn (2004).