Andri Björn Róbertsson

Biography

Andri Björn Róbertsson joined English National Opera’s prestigious Harewood Artists this season and made his debut with the company as Angelotti in Catherine Malfitano's insightful production of Tosca.

In 2014/15 Andri joined the International Opera Studio in Zürich where he performed Speaker/Second Priest in Die Zauberflöte, Der König in Die Gänsemagd, Brabantische Edle in Lohengrin and Fedja Dawidowitsch Pronin in Fälle by Oscar Strasnoy. He recently returned as a guest artist to reprise his role as Speaker and to perform Priest/Pan/He in King Arthur. Named as a 2014 HSBC Laureate of Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, he performed the role of Bass in Trauernacht – a staged performance based on J. S. Bach’s cantatas at the Festival, and the production has since travelled to various European venues. Engagements last season included performing the role of Cappadocian and Fifth Jew in a concert performance of Salome with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

Other operatic performances include Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte with Garsington Opera and again with Joanna MacGregor at the Bath International Music Festival, Craftsman in Elspeth Brooke’s The Commission and Barman/Hunter Gracchus/Policeman in Francisco Coll’s Café Kafka – a newly commissioned and co-produced double-bill for Royal Opera House, Opera North and Aldeburgh Music.

Andri was a semi-finalist in the 2015 Queen Sonja International Music Competition and was nominated as the ‘Brightest Hope in Classical Music’ at the 2013 Icelandic Music Awards. Andri studied at the Reykjavik Academy of Singing and Vocal Arts in his native Iceland, the Royal Academy of Music and the National Opera Studio, London. He gratefully acknowledges Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and her Foundation who provided him with significant mentoring and financial support.

Andri’s oratorio repertoire includes Bach’s cantatas and St. John Passion, Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Harmoniemesse and The Creation, Mozart’s Requiem and Coronation Mass KV 317, Puccini’s Messa di Gloria and Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortileges. He is also a keen recitalist and has performed at the Oxford Lieder Festival, the Icelandic Opera in Reykjavik, the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and at L’Opéra de Lille.