NATCHITOCHES – Pianist Kristín Jónína Taylor will present a concert at Northwestern State University on Thursday, Sept. 24 at 7:30 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall. The concert is part of the Louisiana Piano Series International. Tickets are $20. Northwestern, BPCC@NSU and Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts students are admitted free with a current student I.D. A livestream will be available at www.nsu.la/CAPA-LIVE. NSU Professor of Piano Dr. Francis Yang is director of the of the Louisiana Piano Series International.
The program will include works by Dieterich Buxtehude, Gunnar de Frumerie, Nils Björkander, Harald Sæverud, Pauli í Sandagerði, Idyll Sveinbjörn Sveinbjörnsson and Jean Sibelius.
Taylor is an Icelandic-American pianist celebrated for her captivating performances of depth and nuance. Internationally recognized for her artistry, she has championed Nordic piano repertoire on stages across the globe, including special programs in Washington, D.C. for the Ambassador of Iceland and President Vigdís Finnbogadóttir. Her career has taken her to concert halls throughout the United States, Iceland, France, the Czech Republic, Belgium, Sweden, Austria, Serbia, Canada, Italy, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Taylor studied at the University of Missouri–Kansas City Conservatory of Music. She later earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
Her artistry has been recognized with numerous honors, including the Grand Prize in the Naftzger Young Artist Competition, the winner of the 2025 Solo Piano Professional Division of The American Prize, third Place in the American Prize’s Marian Anderson Award in Social Justice, an Honorable Mention recognition for the American Prize’s Ernst Bacon Memorial Award for the Performance of American Music and two silver medals from the Global Music Awards. Taylor’s performance highlights include appearances at the Classical Hall of Fame in Cincinnati, the internationally renowned Reykjavík Arts Festival with an all-Schumann recital and frequent concerto engagements with orchestras across the United States and Europe.
A two-time Fulbright Scholar to Iceland, Taylor researched and wrote her doctoral thesis on Jón Nordal’s “Piano Concerto” (2004–2005) and later returned to study the music of Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson (2010).
Taylor is an associate professor of piano and keyboard area coordinator at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She is an active teacher, leader, and scholar. A Steinway Artist, Taylor was also inducted into the Steinway Teacher Hall of Fame in 2021.