Bryndís Halla Gylfadóttir

A cellist who began at six and, after study at music schools in Iceland and Canada, took her soloist's diploma at Tónlistarskólinn í Reykjavík under Gunnar Kvaran. She went on to the New England Conservatory in Boston, where she studied with Colin Carr and Laurence Lesser and took her bachelor's degree in 1987 and her master's in 1989. When she had finished she became principal cello of the Iceland Symphony, a post she held until 2014, and she still plays in its cello section. She has played as a soloist and in chamber music in Iceland and abroad and can be heard on a great many recordings. She has won the Icelandic Music Awards three times and RÚV's Tónvaki award, and in 2011 she was made a Knight of the Order of the Falcon for her contribution to Icelandic music.