Snjolaug Sigurdson

Sigurdson, Snjolaug

Snjolaug (Anna) Sigurdson. Pianist, teacher, b Arborg, north of Winnipeg, 5 Nov 1914, d Winnipeg 22 Aug 1979; ATCM 1932, LRSM 1933, LMM 1936. She studied with Eva Clare in Winnipeg, and then with Ernest Hutcheson and Muriel Kerr in New York. She made her New York debut in 1950 at Times Hall, and later performed frequently at Town Hall and the Carnegie Recital Hall. She taught in New York and in 1958 began teaching in Winnipeg. Her pupils included Helen Choi and Carla Lother. She was a recitalist for the CBC and performed the Schumann Concerto and the Fauré Ballade with the CBC Winnipeg Orchestra. In 1968 she played the Franck Symphonic Variations with the Icelandic SO in Reykjavik. The Snjolaug Sigurdson Memorial Piano Scholarship, open to all Manitobans, was first awarded in 1981. In 1988 the administration of the scholarship, in 1990 valued at $1,500, was assigned to the Associated Manitoba Arts Festivals where the Sigurdson Scholarship class has become a feature of the annual provincial finals. The pianist's first cousin, (Agnes) Helga Sigurdson (b Riverton, near Arborg, Man, 6 Apr 1917), also a pianist, pursued her career in the USA after 1948.