Gunnar Kvaran (born 16 January 1944) is an

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

cellist The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D3 ...

Life and career

Gunnar was born in the town of

Seltjarnarnes Seltjarnarnes () is a town in the Capital Region of Iceland. Seltjarnarnes is beside Reykjavik. It took on its current political form shortly after the Second World War and was formally created as a township in 1947. It is the smallest Icelandic ...

near Reykjavík, the son of actor Ævar Kvaran and the great-grandson of Einar Hjörleifsson Kvaran. He began studying the cello with Einar Vigfússon at the age of twelve and went to

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

in 1964 to study with the famous Danish-Icelandic cellist Erling Blöndal Bengtsson at the

Royal Danish Academy of Music The Royal Danish Academy of Music, or Royal Danish Conservatory of Music ( da, Det Kongelige Danske Musikkonservatorium), in Copenhagen is the oldest professional institution of musical education in Denmark as well as the largest, with approxima ...

. Later on he studied with Reine Flachot in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

. In 1988, he established the Reykjavík Trio with Halldór Haraldsson and Guðný Guðmundsdóttir.Reykjavík Trio
, Upcoming Events, Hafnarborg, retrieved June 23, 2010. For 25 years, Gunnar Kvaran taught at the

Reykjavík College of Music The Reykjavík College of Music ( is, Tónlistarskólinn í Reykjavík) is an Icelandic conservatory of music that was founded in 1930 and is the oldest surviving college of music in the country.Iceland Academy of the Arts History Iceland University of the Arts ( is, Listaháskóli Íslands ) is an Icelandic institution of higher art education, located in Reykjavík, which offers the only university-level degrees in the arts in Iceland.Lisa Z. ValdimarsdottirIcel ...

,Department of Music
, Iceland Academy of the Arts, retrieved 23 June 2010. where the Reykjavík Trio is the resident chamber music ensemble.

Awards

* Dr.

Gunnar Thoroddsen Gunnar Thoroddsen (pronounced ) (29 December 1910 – 25 September 1983) was the prime minister of Iceland from 1980 to 1983. Gunnar was the youngest man ever elected to the Althing, Iceland's Parliament. He was 23 years old when he was ele ...

Fund prize, 1990 * Icelandic Order of the Falcon, 2006

References

Icelandic classical cellists 1944 births Living people Royal Danish Academy of Music alumni Reykjavík College of Music alumni Reykjavík College of Music people Gunnar Kvaran {{Cellist-stub