Cellist

Ólöf Sigursveinsdóttir was born in Reykjavík and grew up in Seltjarnarnes. She was born into a musical family: her mother is a singer and her father a horn player and conductor. She was captivated by the cello at the age of five and began her training straight away at Tónskóli Sigursveins on Hellusund and at the Reykjavík College of Music on Skipholt. She later went on to study the cello at the University of Music in Stuttgart, where she completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees with the cellist Hans Häublein, with the highest marks. Alongside her studies she took technique classes in conducting at the same school, and at the age of 22 she began conducting an orchestra and a choir in Germany. She has played as a cellist in the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, SinfoNord and the Icelandic Opera Orchestra, has been active in Icelandic musical life since 2011 and has performed solo concertos with orchestras.

Ólöf was the baroque cellist of the chamber group ReykjavíkBarokk from 2012 to 2022 and one of its founding members, so she is equally at home in early and new music. Classical performance and the possibilities for interesting events, especially in rural communities, are close to her heart, and with them music-making outside the capital and local access to the works of the repertoire. Her university degree in music journalism leads her to take unexpected artistic turns that can make Ólöf’s concerts well worth a visit.