Programme
Sonata for violin and piano, L. 140 – Claude Debussy
Four Pieces for violin and piano, op. 7 – Anton Webern
A new piece for violin and piano by Elena Postumi
Nocturne for violin and piano – John Cage
Violin Sonata in E-flat major op. 18 – Richard Strauss
Pétur Björnsson was born in Akranes in West-Iceland in 1994. He began playing the violin at the age of 4 following theSuzuki method. Later he became the student of Ari ÞórVilhjálmsson and Guðný Guðmundsdóttir at the Reykjavik College of Music, from which he graduated in the spring of2015. Since Autumn 2015 Pétur has been studying towards the Bachelor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” Leipzig in the class of Elfa RúnKristinsdóttir and from March 2018 in the class of CarolinWidmann.
Pétur has appeared as soloist both Iceland and Canada with Orchestras such as the Stradivari Ensemble in Vancouver, The Orchestra of Reykjavik College of Music and the HarpaInternational Music Academy Orchestra. As a chamber musician and a recitalist Pétur has given concerts in Iceland, Switzerland, Italy and Germany. Since 2012 he has been a substitute in The Iceland Symphony Orchestra and plays with them regular basis. He has served as a concert master with various youth orchestras such as The Iceland Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Hochschuleorchester in Leipzig.
Dedicated to contemporary music, Pétur is a member of the contemporary music ensemble Skark in Reykjavík and one of the founding members of Elja Ensemble and has performed in festivals such as Cycle Music Festival in Reykjavík and Nordic Music Days.
Pétur has participated in various masterclasses and taken lessons from leading violinist and musiscians in different countries, i.e with Christian Tetzlaff, Ilya Gringolts, , Philippe Graffin, Sergei Ostrovsky, Robert Rozek og Mariana Sirbu and Phillip Moll. Pétur has also been active outside the classical music scene touring the world with Ólafur Arnals as a member of his string quartet since 2018. He has also composed and performed with the musical performance art group Hatari.
Elena Postumi, pianist and composer, studied at the Conservatory of ,,Santa Cecilia” in her hometown of Rome from which she graduated with highest honors in solo performance, Lied-accompaniment and composition. In addition she completed a degree from the ,,La Sapienza’’ University in Rome in French and German literature. Since 2016 she studies in the class of Prof. Alexander Schmalcz at the ,,Hochschule für Musik Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” in Leipzig. In 2019, after finishing her master degree she entered the ,,Meisterklasse” program.
Elena appears regularly as a chamber musician and an accompanist. She has appeared in countries such as Denmark, Germany, USA, Iceland, Austria, Switzerland and in Spain and in music festivals such as SuonaRoma, Schwandorfer Klavierfrühling, Lied in Dresden, and Leipzig in Houston. In 2019 she made her debut with the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig playing Ballet production of Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the animals in the Leipzig Opera.
As an accompanying pianist has Elena been active in Scandinavia in the Operas of Reykjavík and Bergen and is currently Solorepetitorin mit Dirigierverpflichtung at Staatstheater Darmstadt.
As a soloist has Elena performed in Italy and abroad. With her piano duo partner, Tommaso Graiff, she played Bach’s double concerto, BWV 1061, in Leipzig with the ,,Bach in der Box” orchestra. In 2020 she played a quintet version of Beethovens 5th piano concerto in Rome as part of the ,,Beethoven 2020” festivities curated by the international music society Résonnance.
As a passionate composer she has composed works for different constellations and occations. In 2019 her concerto for violin and orchestra was premiered in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Elena is a receiver of the DAAD Stibet- Stipendium and the scolarship “Yehudi Menhuin Live music now”.
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