Born in Reykjavik, Iceland, Edda Erlendsdóttir studied piano at the Music College of Reykjavik and at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris with Pierre Sancan. She also studied with Marie Françoise Bucquet. In 1990 she became Laureate of the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation in Paris.

Erlendsdóttir has given numerous concerts and participated in important festivals in Iceland, France and most European countries. She has been on concert tours in the United States, Russia, Ukrania and China. She has played as a soloist with orchestras conducted by Leif Segerstam, Larry Newland, Petri Sakari, and Kurt Kopecky among others.

Her repertoire spans the first works written for the pianoforte through contemporary works and she has premiered several pieces specially written for her. She is particularly devoted to composers such as C.P.E. Bach, Haydn, Schubert, Schumann, Liszt, Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Debussy, Schönberg, and Berg.

Her passion for chamber music led her to be the founder and artistic director for fifteen years of the chamber music festival in Kirkjubaejarklaustur, south east Iceland.

She plays with with many ensembles including Tempo di Tango, which features six classical musicians and bandoneon player Olivier Manoury.

Erlendsdóttir has recorded many programs for radio and television, including several recitals broadcast directly on radio France Musique and the Icelandic national radio.

She has published CDs of piano music by C.P.E. Bach., Edvard Grieg, Haydn, Tchaikovsky, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Schönberg, and Berg. Her CD with Icelandic cellist Bryndís Halla Gylfadóttir with music by Enesco, Martinu, Janacek, and Kodaly was awarded the prize of the best classical CD of the year in 2004.

Besides her career as a soloist and chamber music performer, Erlendsdóttir teaches piano at the National Conservatory of Versailles.

Official website: http://edda.erlendsdottir.free.fr Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.