P I A N I S T
Eva Thyri Hilmarsdottir
Eva Þyri is an active and prominent figure in the Icelandic music scene, both as a soloist and a collaborative pianist. She performs with many of Iceland’s leading singers and instrumentalists on a regular basis and was nominated for the Icelandic Music Awards in 2018 for her recording of Jórunn Viðar's songs, alongside mezzo-soprano Erla Dóra Vogler.
After graduating from the Reykjavík College of Music, Det Jyske Musikkonservatorium in Aarhus and the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she graduated with Distinction and was awarded a DipRAM and the Christian Carpenter Piano Prize for an outstanding final recital, she has taken avid interest in chamber music and lied, both as an artistic leader in concert series and a performer in all the leading music festivals in Iceland.
Furthermore, she has given numerous first performances of Icelandic and foreign compositions, appearing in festivals at home and abroad.
Eva Þyri works as a piano teacher and accompanist alongside giving recitals.
Education
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Reykjavik College of Music - piano teachers Þorsteinn Gauti Sigurðsson and Halldór Haraldsson
- Piano Teacher’s Diploma 2000
- Diploma in Piano-Performance (B.Mus) 2001
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Det Jyske Musikkonservatorium in Aarhus, Denmark - with John Damgård
-Diploma 2005
- Advanced Soloist Diploma (solistklassen) 2007
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The Royal Academy of Music, London - with Michael DussekMA in accompaniment 2010
- Awarded Distinction and DipRAM
- The Christian Carpenter Piano Prize for outstanding final recital
Masterclasses
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Audrey Hyland
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Barbara Bonney
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Boris Berman
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Clelia Sarno
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Eero Heinonen
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Einar Steen-Nökleberg
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György Sebok
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Helmut Deutsch
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Jeremy Menuhin
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Luiz de Moura Castro
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Martin Tirimo
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Paul Badura-Skoda
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Roger Vignoles
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Sir Thomas Allen
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Sven Birch
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Vitaly Margulis
Eva Thyri Hilmarsdottir
Eva Þyri Hilmarsdóttir, pianist, studied with Þorsteinn Gauti Sigurðsson and Halldór Haraldsson and completed her piano teacher and graduation exams from the Reykjavík School of Music. She later completed her diploma and soloist exams from the Aarhus Academy of Music in Denmark under the guidance of John Damgaard.
From there she went to London where she studied for an MA in acting.
The Royal Academy of Music. She graduated with first class honours, received the DipRAM and The Christian Carpenter Piano Prize for outstanding final recital. Her principal teacher there was Michael Dussek.
She has participated in master classes with, among others, Geörgy Sebök, Einar Steen-Nökleberg, Martina Tirimo, Jeremy Menuhin, Sven Birch, Eero Heinonen, Clelia Sarno, Luiz de Moura Castro, Vitaly Margulis, Paul Baura-Skoda and Boris Berman.
In addition to numerous solo concerts, Eva Þyri has performed as a soloist with an orchestra and participated in premieres of works, including at the festivals Opera Days, Seigla, Myrkar Músíkdagar, Sönghátíð in Hafnarborg, Ung Nordisk Musik, Young Euro Classic Festival in Berlin and Young Composers Symposium in London.
In addition, she has placed great emphasis on performing chamber music and lyrical singing. For example, she participated in the Song Circle at the Royal Academy of Music, master classes with Barbara Bonney, Sir Thomas Allen, Helmut Deutch, Roger Vignoles and Audrey Hyland, as well as being an active participant and accompanist at The North Sea Vocal Academy in Denmark.
In recent years she has performed with many of the nation's leading musicians and premiered works by, among others, Áskel Másson, Atli Heimir Sveinsson, Oliver Kentish, John Speight, Þórunn Gréta Sigurðardóttir, Þórunn Guðmundsdóttir and Ingibjörg Azima, given solo concerts and concerts of works for two pianos in the Hall, over a hundred concerts organized by the CCCR; Pearls of Icelandic Song, in Harpa, and concerts of works for violin and piano with Páll Palomares in the Hall. And Jónas Sen wrote, among other things, about those concerts:
"Eva Þyria's performance was magnificent and moody, and the technical aspects were clear. Rapid tonal leaps were both clear and confident. Páll's interpretation was likewise powerful and lively, and the interplay was precise. There was no dead spot anywhere."
Eva Þyri also received critical acclaim for her performance in the Icelandic Opera's production of Poulenc's The Voice in February 2017.
At the end of 2018, a CD was released in which Eva Þyri and mezzo-soprano Erla Dóra Vogler perform songs and folk arrangements by Jóran Viðar on the occasion of Jóran's 100th birthday. They held numerous concerts in Iceland and abroad in connection with the release, and the CD was nominated for the Icelandic Music Awards as Album of the Year 2018 in the classical and contemporary music category.
Recent projects include performances and recordings of "Eyrnakonfekti" - songs by Þórunn Guðmundsdóttir and concerts with songs to poems by Þórarinn Eldjárn around the country, as well as participation in the Beethoven marathon of pianists in Iceland, where Eva Þyri played the piano sonata no. 23 in F minor, op. 57 - "Appassionata" in the Hall in Kópavogur. Last spring, she premiered, together with Ragnheiður Ingunn Jóhannsdóttir, three new Icelandic songs that were written especially for the concert "Í draumheimum" which took place in the Hall's Tíbrárröð. The songs are by Jóhann G. Jóhannsson, Mária Huld Markan and Sigurður Sævarsson.
Eva Þyri was on the artistic team of the concert series "The Year of the Icelandic Solo Song" which took place in the Hall in Kópavogur in the winter of 2022-2023 and she is one of the founders of the poetry music festival " Ljóðið lifi" which was held in the spring of 2023 and 2024 in Hannesarholt.
Coming soon to streaming services is the album "Hidden Treasures" , which she recorded with soprano Bryndís Guðjónsdóttir, which features unknown songs and poems by Icelandic women.
During the 2025 Icelandic Opera Days, Eva Þyri performed at various events, most notably Poulenc's La voix humaine, which she now performs with Kristína E. Mantyla under the direction of Sigríður Ásta Olgeirsdóttir. The opera premiered to great acclaim at Seigla last August.
She works as an accompanist at the Iceland Academy of the Arts and a piano teacher at the New School of Music, in addition to giving concerts.