During her formative years, Christina actively partook in all music-activities in her community, such as school choirs (Laerskool Vastrap and Hoërskool Bergsig respectively), Arts festivals and the like. She was a member of the North-West Children’s Choir (conducted by Rudolf de Beer) from 1996 until 1999, after which she became a member and soloist of the North-West Youth Choir (1999 – 2002) and the National Youth Choir of South Africa (2000 – 2003). She obtained vocal training from Jarmilla Tellinger and piano and music theory from Welma Els and Neelsie Richter. In Matric she became a member of the World Youth Choir (2002 – 2003), where she met her husband, Bragi Thor Valsson. By this time she had completed the majority of her piano and voice studies. In 2003 she studied voice with Werner Nel at the North West University (formerly Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education) as part of a B.Mus degree. In 2004 she married, moved to Iceland, and started reading History.

While living in Iceland she was active in various groups and sang at funerals for the National Church of Iceland. In 2009 she had the honor of being invited to sing for the president of Iceland, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, as a member of the Krummi Kvartett. Back in South Africa, she became the soprano for the vocal quartet Black Velvet. Christina plays the piano and can occasionally be found doing vocal masterclasses with choirs. She is also regularly invited to perform locally.

Christina and her husband, Bragi Thor, have recorded several duets together. Listen to them below:

Somethin’ Stupid was originally performed by Frank and Nancy Sinatra.

Christina and Bragi Thor recorded Baby It’s Cold Outside at a time when it was, in fact, cold outside (in Iceland).

Listen to her impeccable Icelandic pronunciation in Sagan af Jesúsi
or The Story of Jesus.

Silver Threads Among the Gold was recorded for her grandmother’s birthday in 2008. She is sadly no longer with us, neither is Rex, the guinea pig, who features as a soloist in this recording.

Smile – a song and life philosophy by Charlie Chaplin.

Somewhere Out There is from the animated movie An American Tale.

Click on the links below to see Christina live in action with the Black Velvet Quartet:

http://www.blackvelvetquartet.com/images/concert_videos/wonderfulworld9Nov2012.wmv

Christina, singing What a Wonderful World with Black Velvet Quartet.

http://www.blackvelvetquartet.com/images/concert_videos/babyface9Nov2012.wmv

Christina and Heloise doing backvocals for the boys in Baby Face.

Christina and Bragi Thor have also composed songs together. Watch this space for recordings, or contact us if you are interested in performing our original compositions.