Oddur Jónsson
Oddur Jónsson, baritone, won Singer of the year 2018 at the Icelandic Music Awards for his role as Michael in Daníel Bjarnason’s acclaimed new opera Brothers, and was named Most Promising Artist at the 2014 Icelandic Music Awards for Rodrigo in Verdi’s Don Carlo.
Oddur studied at The Reykjavík Vocal Academy and at the Mozarteum University Salzburg, where he graduated with distinction. During his postgraduate studies he was awarded the Lilli Lehmann Medal from the Mozarteum International Foundation.
Operatic roles at the Icelandic Opera have included Rodrigo in Don Carlo, Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia and the title role in Don Giovanni. Other roles include Wolfram in Tannhäuser, Schaunard in La bohème and Prince Yeletsky in Pique Dame.
Oddur is a prizewinning oratorio and lieder singer. His oratorio repertoire includes Bach’s Passions, B minor Mass, Christmas Oratorio and cantatas including Ich habe genug and Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen in addition to Handel’s Messiah and Solomon, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle and Puccini’s Messa di Gloria. As a recitalist Oddur made his Paris debut in 2015 singing Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde at the Palais Garnier and has sung Schubert’s Winterreise and Schwanengesang, Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Schumann’s Liederkreis and Brahms’s Liebeslieder Walzer.
In 2014 Oddur was awarded the Lied, Oratorio Performer and Schubert Prizes at the Francesc Viñas Competition in Barcelona and in 2013 he won first prize in the International Brahms Competition in Pörtschach, Austria.