Finnur Bjarnason
Finnur Bjarnason was born in Reykjavík, Iceland, and studied singing at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Operatic experience includes Male Chorus in Britten’s Rape of Lucretia and Tamino Die Zauberflöte for Icelandic Opera, Tebaldo in Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi at Grange Park Opera, Odoardo in Ariodante at English National Opera, Don Ottavio Don Giovanni at the Glyndebourne Festival, and Lensky Eugene Onegin on the Glyndebourne Tour. Finnur was a member of the ensemble at the Komische Oper in Berlin where his roles have included Tamino, Don Ottavio, Belmonte Die Entführung aus dem Serail, the title role in Britten’s Albert Herring and Lensky Eugene Onegin. Recent guest appearances include Monteverdi’s Orfeo at the Staatsoper in Berlin with Rene Jacobs, Walther Tannhäuser for the Châtelet in Paris, L’Incoronazione di Poppea at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris and Belmonte for Opera de Nimes and Icelandic Opera, Apollo & Shepherd Orfeo with Emmanuelle Haim in Lille, Caen, Paris (Châtelet) and at the Opéra du Rhin in Strasbourg, Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria for Bayerische Staatsoper, Peter Quint Turn of the Screw for Opéra de Oviedo and Oper Leipzig, the new production of Handel’s Oreste at the Komische Oper, Berlin and St John Passion with Robert Wilson at the Châtelet in Paris.
Also at home on the concert platform, Finnur has appeared as a soloist in performances of Handel’s Messiah at the Barbican and Birmingham Symphony Hall, Bach’s St John Passion with Stephen Layton which was broadcast on Radio 3, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra and Rico Saccani, as well as having performed at the Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool, the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow and St David’s Hall in Cardiff. As a recitalist he has appeared in the BBC Radio 3 lunchtime series, at the Wigmore Hall with Graham Johnson in a Shakespeare recital, at St George’s Brandon Hill with Emma Kirkby, Anthony Rooley and Eugene Asti, and in a programme of Schubert at the Wigmore Hall with Joan Rodgers and Graham Johnson. Recent appearances include his U.S. debut in Handel’s Messiah with Grant Llewellyn and the Handel & Haydn Society in Boston, Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings at St John’s Smith Square, a recording of Brahms’s Lieder for BBC Radio 3, Alexander’s Feast in Munich with the Bayerische Rundfunk and Marcus Creed and Monteverdi Madrigals Book 7 & 8 with Le Concerts d’Astrée.
Engagements in 2007/2008 include Le Vin Herbé for the Ruhr Triennale, Tamino for English National Opera, Pane La Calisto for the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich, Castor in a new production of Castor et Pollux at the Netherlands Opera and Ratan-Sen Padmâvatî for Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris. Subsequent engagements include Prince Love for Three Oranges in Graz. Finnur studies with Joy Mammen.
Promoters please note: if you wish to include this biography in a concert programme etc, please contact Hazard Chase to ensure that you receive the most up to date version.
Email: Kate Baylis
