Biography

Initially, Ásdís began her music studies in Iceland as a violinist but it was walking the hallway at the Reykjavík music school when she was 15 that she heard the violist Unnur Sveinbjarnardóttir and Ásdís knew that she had to play the viola. Iceland, a sparsely populated country had very few viola players and it was not until Ásdís went to The Juilliard School that her playing and understanding of the instrument soared. Ásdís credits the support of her sister Lilja in helping her early musical development which has led to her success. In addition, her passion for the instrument and for music which makes Ásdís' work as a musician and teacher fulfilling. When she started violin she knew that she was meant to be a musician but when she discovered viola she also found her calling. Ásdís Valdimarsdottir was born in Reykjavik, Iceland in 1962. She studied at the Juilliard School in New York with Paul Doktor, William Lincer, Felix Galimir and the Juilliard Quartet. After graduating with bachelor's and master's degree in music she continued her studies at Detmold, Germany with Nobuko Imai. During her studies in Germany, she was principal viola of the Deutsche Kammer Akademie. Ásdís returned to America to be a founding member of the Miami String Quartet, with whom she won the first prize of the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. There she was also a professor of viola at the New World School of the Arts. She became the principal viola of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen in 1990, with whom she worked closely with many great artists, Zoals Heinrich Shiff, Gidon Kremer, Walter Levine and Sandor Vegh. In 1995 Ásdís joined the Chilingirian String Quartet and was their violinist until 2003. She has participated in many prestigious music festivals around the world: Marlboro, Kuhmo, Lockenhaus, Davos, Berliner Festspiele, Prussia Cove, Bath, St. Nazaire and Prades. She has formed and taught. She has appeared as a soloist with the London Mozart Players, the London Soloists Chamber Orchestra, the Russian National Orchestra and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. Ásdís has performed as the guest violist with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, The Philharmonia, the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, the Netherlands Philharmonic, and the Amsterdam Sinfonietta. Currently, Ásdís is based in Amsterdam and teaches viola and chamber music at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester as well as at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. She is in the process of establishing a chamber group with other highly successful musicians. Ásdís is fluent in Dutch, English, Icelandic, German, and Danish.