© Genevieve Girling
Icelandic bass baritone Andri Björn Róbertsson is based in the UK and is in demand on both the concert platform and operatic stage. He studied at the Reykjavik Academy of Singing and Vocal Arts, the Royal Academy of Music, and the National Opera Studio, London. He was a member of the International Opera Studio at Opernhaus Zürich and is a former Harewood Artist at English National Opera. Andri is also a Samling Artist and a Georg Solti Accademia Scholar.
Current engagements include Beethoven Symphony No.9 (Iceland Symphony Orchestra) and Witness/Madman Lessons in Love and Violence (London Symphony Orchestra), both conducted by Edward Gardner; and Terry in Missy Mazzoli’s Breaking the Waves, in a new production by Tinuke Craig (English National Opera).
Among his performance highlights are Superintendent Budd Albert Herring (English National Opera, The Grange Festival); Speaker The Magic Flute, Theseus A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Nebulous/Activist/Wolf Masque of Might (Opera North); Priest/Armed Man Die Zauberflöte (Glyndebourne); Leporello Don Giovanni (Kilden Opera); Figaro Le nozze di Figaro (Icelandic Opera); Basilio Il barbiere di Siviglia (Nevill Holt Opera); and Angelotti in a concert staging of Tosca with Bryn Terfel and Kristine Opolais (Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod).
In 2018 Andri performed Witness/Madman in the world premiere of George Benjamin’s Lessons in Love and Violence at the Royal Ballet & Opera, performing in the same production at the Dutch National Opera, Staatsoper Hamburg, and Opéra de Lyon, and also in concert staging with the Orchestre de Paris.
Roles covered include Saul Saul, Quince A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Glyndebourne); Toshiro/Kozan The Great Wave (Scottish Opera); Figaro Le nozze di Figaro (Zürich); and Basilio The Barber of Seville (ENO).
During his time with the International Opera Studio at Opernhaus Zürich, his roles included Brabantischer Edler Lohengrin, Pan/He/Priest King Arthur, and Fedja Dawidowitsch Pronin Fälle; as a Harewood Artist at English National Opera, he appeared as Angelotti Tosca, Theseus A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Lord Krishna Satyagraha.
As a recitalist Andri has performed at the Oxford International Song Festival, Icelandic Opera, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, and Opéra de Lille, as well as at Salurinn in Kópavogur, Iceland. His debut recital disc Thorsteinson & Schumann with pianist Ástríður Alda Sigurðardóttir was released in 2021 by Fuga Libera.
Andri was nominated Singer of the Year at the Icelandic Music Awards in 2022 and 2023 and is a former semi-finalist of the Queen Sonja International Music Competition. He gratefully acknowledges Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and her Foundation who provided him with significant mentoring and financial support, and the Behrens Foundation who sponsored his engagement as a Harewood Artist at ENO.
Superintendent Budd / Albert Herring / English National Opera / 2025
“Andri Björn Róbertsson’s tremendously voiced Superintendent Budd.”
(Opera Online)
“Andri Björn Róbertsson’s Superintendent Budd, whose bass-baritone can raise and eyebrow all by itself.”
(MusicOMH)
“Andri Björn-Róbertsson’s Superintendent Budd (who prefers “a decent murder with a corpse”) is every inch a PC Plod.”
(Opera Today)
Nebulous/Activist/Wolf / Masque of Might (Purcell/Pountney) / Opera North / 2023
“Andri Björn Róbertsson’s honeyed bass gains depth with each of three appearances.”
(The Guardian)
Thorsteinson & Schumann with Ástríður Alda Sigurðardóttir (recording) / Fuga Libera / 2021
“The performance was first-class. Andri Björn sang magnificently, immensely powerfully, but always with a sensitive feeling for the poetry.”
(Fréttablaðið)
“I would put his readings of these two cycles among the best of the dozens of recordings I’ve reviewed… I would call him a lyric bass with a rugged and steely voice, a fine balance of grit and sweetness, cavernous low notes, and transcendent tenderness especially in his upper range.”
(American Record Guide)
25 Nov 2026
Benjamin: Lessons in Love and Violence
Conductor: Edward Gardner
Director: Dan Ayling
