Ásdís Valdimarsdóttir comes from Reykjavik, Iceland, but left home young to study at the Juilliard School in New York and later in Germany. She currently enjoys a happy mix of performing and teaching from her base in Amsterdam and has been fortunate enough to make her living over the years mostly from playing chamber music. She was a founding member of the Miami String Quartet, principal viola of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and the violist of the Chilingirian String Quartet for several years. She is now a member of the The Brunsvik String Trio, the Erard Ensemble and the London-based Endymion Ensemble. Lately she increasingly turns her attention to teaching; has previously been on the faculty of The Trinity College of Music and the Royal College of Music in London and The Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. She is currently professor at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and has been the viola professor at the International Masterclass in Apeldoorn since 2005. Ásdís is very interested in all things related to good body use in order to help herself and her students play the viola more efficiently. She has followed a teacher-training course for the Alexander Technique, Body Mapping and practises various types of yoga and meditation.
Spoken language: English, Icelandic