Manuela Wiesler

Austrian flutist, born 22. July 1955 in Itapiranga, Brasil, died 22. December 2006 in Vienna. Moved to Iceland in 1973 after she married Sigurður I. Snorrason, where she worked for the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and took part in the running of a few small classical labels including Steinhljóð and one that bore her own name. Moved to Vienna in 1985 and lived mostly there until her death although she worked a lot in Sweden and lived there from time to time. Best known for performing modern classical music and there were at the least 30 works written specifically for her by composers such as Áskell Másson, Atli Heimir Sveinsson and Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson plus a number of Swedish composers, but lesser known was her interest in ecclesiastical and baroque music, she was the person that started the summer concert series "Sumartónleikum í Skálholtskirkju" that is still being held on a yearly basis at the Skálhot Cathedral. She studied as a flute soloist at the Vienna Conservatory of Music from 1967 to 1972 and after graduation continued her studies in Paris and privately with James Galway. Her big breakthrough came in 1976 when she won first prize in the big Nordic music competition in Helsinki. The same year she debuted in London. After her career as a flute soloist, she continued as a music professor and lecturer specializing in work with instrumental soloists.