Erna Vala
Artistic director
Erna Vala Arnardóttir pianist is founder and artistic director of Seigla. Erna Vala Arnardóttir is an Icelandic pianist whose performance career is marked by solo performances with orchestras and appearances at festivals and recital series worldwide, and prizes at competitions such as the Young Soloists Competition of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, the EPTA Piano Competition in Iceland, the White Rose, a Finnish medal of honor, by President Sauli Niinistö, and a Fulbright Fellowship in 2019.
She has performed as soloist with orchestras and both as solo recitalist and chamber musician in various concert series and festivals. Her performances and recordings have been broadcast live across Iceland’s national television and radio station RÚV and Rás 1. Erna Vala is the founder and artistic director of Seigla Festival, a three-day annual chamber music festival held in Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavík. Erna Vala holds a master's degree in piano performance from the Sibelius Academy in Finland earned in 2019 under the guidance of Hamsa Juris. Additionally, she received a Master's degree in music education from the Iceland University of the Arts in 2023. She also holds a Bachelor's degree and a Junior Department Diploma in piano performance from the Iceland University of the Arts, where she studied with Peter Máté. She is currently based in London working towards a PhD in Performance Research at the Royal Academy of Music which looks into audience-performer relationships and the role of concert programming whereas Seigla festival serves as the main research venue. She is an adjunct faculty member in the piano department at the Iceland University of the Arts and the head of the instrumental department starting 2025.
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