The Pacifica Quartet, in which Icelandic violinist Sigurbjörn Bernhardsson is a member, received an award at the Grammys last weekend. The quartet comes from Champaign-Urbana, a community south of Chicago, where Bernhardsson lives.
“It is an encouragement for us to continue playing the music we believe in,” Bernhardsson told Fréttabladid. All the members of the quartet, which was founded in 1994, teach music at the local university and regularly go on tours.
The Pacifica Quartet has just returned from a two-week tour in Europe with the last concert taking place in Lisbon on Saturday evening, the night before the Grammy Awards. “So there was unfortunately no way to get to Los Angeles in time for the ceremony,” Bernhardsson said.
The violinist said it had been a pleasant surprise that his quartet received the award because other excellent musicians were nominated in the same category.
The Iceland Symphony Orchestra was also nominated for a Grammy this year.
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