Tuesday, 6 February at 12 noon We welcome you to the first lunchtime concert of the year at Hafnarborg, featuring guest bass-baritone Andri Björn Róbertsson. Antonia Hevesi, pianist and artistic director of the concert series. They will then perform arias by the composers Mozart, Rossini and Handel.

Andri Björn Róbertsson, bass-baritone, studied at the Reykjavík School of Singing, the Royal Academy of Music, the National Opera Studio in London and the Opera Studio of the Zurich Opera. He has sung at opera houses throughout Europe, such as the Zurich Opera, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Dutch National Opera, the Lyon Opera, the Hamburg State Opera, the English National Opera, the Icelandic Opera, Glyndebourne and Opera North, as well as appearing at festivals such as the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence in France and the Llangollen International Music Eisteddfod in Wales. Andri's opera roles include Figaro in The Wedding of the Rose, Leporello in Don Giovanni, Basilio in The Barber from Seville, Angelotti in Tosca and Sprecher in The Magic Flute. Next year, Andri will then sing in A Midsummer Night's Dream by Britten and The Magic Flute by Mozart at Opera North.

Andri has performed in recitals at the Oxford Lieder Festival, Wigmore Hall, the Lille Opera, Cadogan Hall, the Hafnarborg Song Festival, in Harpa and Salnum in Kópavogur. Andri has also gained a good reputation as an oratorio singer and has, among other things, sung in Bach's Passions and cantatas., Messiah and Saul by Handel, Requiem Mass Mozart's and Creation by Haydn. In 2021, he released the album, together with the pianist Ástríður Alda Sigurðardóttir. Thorsteinson & Schumann under the Fuga Libera label with songs by Árni Thorsteinson and Robert Schumann. The album then received unprecedented critical acclaim throughout Europe. Andri's awards and accolades include first prize in the Mozart Singing Competition in London and the HSBC Prize at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, and he has also been nominated twice for the Icelandic Music Awards. Andri teaches singing at Newcastle University, Northumbria University and Durham University.

Antonia Hevesi, a pianist, has been the artistic director of the lunchtime concerts at Hafnarborg since their inception, and they have been a regular feature of the museum's programme since 2003. There, Antonía has been joined by many of the country's leading singers, with the aim of the concerts being to give visitors the opportunity to enjoy live music at their leisure. The lunchtime concerts are usually held on the first Tuesday of each month during the winter season.

The concert starts at 12 noon and will last for about half an hour. The venue opens at 11:30 am and the concert is open to all, subject to capacity. Admission is free.