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"The performance was first-class. Andri Björn sang magnificently, immensely powerfully, but always with a sensitive feeling for the poetry. Ástríður Alda played with perfect skillfulness and taste. Together they created a musical spell, kept in our minds for a long time to come." Jónas Sen - Fréttablaðið
Release concert for Thorsteinson & Schumann at Harpa Concert Hall, Reykjavík "The performers on this very beautiful recording to be listened to all winter long, and again, quite differently, in the spring, are remarkably natural. Because that's the tone. Andri Bjorn Robertsson’s diction is never overrated or affected as one hears too often and which makes one flee. Nothing is forced, confidence is at the base of the sound... These two performers show us that, regardless of status or importance, this is a composer whom Schumann would have welcomed with open arms." André Hirt - Muzibao (https://poezibao.typepad.com/)
Thorsteinson & Schumann, an album released by Outhere Music label Fuga Libera in 2021 "For the first cantata, the show was stolen by bass, Andri Björn Róbertsson, who sang with authority, wonderfully clear German diction and pronunciation, and a beautifully warm tone." Julia Phillips - Musica Antiqua
Royal Academy of Music/Kohn Foundation Bach Cantata series "The Icelandic bass-baritone Andri Björn Róbertsson showed exceptional quality in legato singing, diction, phrasing. There is a name to remember, because of the sound, very warm, very velvety, and because of the technique and skill." Le blog du Wanderer
Bass in J.S. Bach's Trauernacht at Festival d'Aix en Provence "Andri Björn Róbertsson's Superintendent Budd was another brilliantly drawn characterization, finely sung and funny without descending into ridicule." Melanie Eskenazi - Music OMH
Superintendent Budd in Britten's Albert Herring at The Grange Festival "Andri Björn Róbertsson's Gremin was exquisitely sung" Capriccio
Gremin in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin at the Royal Academy Opera "Andri Björn Róbertsson was a handsome, tall and vocally impressive Figaro." Neil Jones - Opera Now
Figaro in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro at the Icelandic Opera "The quality of the concert was enhanced by the presence of a magnificent Icelandic bass. His sumptuous timbre, his expert phrasing with great sense of the texts, as well as the famous "Ich habe genug", were ideally blended in the acoustic string carpet, enriched with Emmanueal Laporte's oboe." www.journalzibeline.fr - Jacques Freschel
Concert of Bach and Telemann with the Café Zimmermann baroque ensemble in Marseille "As Sprecher and first priest one experiences the beautiful voice of Andri Björn Róbertsson." Oper-Aktuell - Kaspar Sannemann
Sprecher/First priest in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at Opernhaus Zürich |
"Icelandic bass-baritone Andri Björn Róbertsson’s bible-bashing Arthur was a masterpiece of aggression and paranoia." Peter Reed - Classical Source
Arthur in Peter Maxwell Davies's The Lighthouse at the Royal Academy Opera "Andri Björn Róbertsson struck Calvinistic terror into the heart as the hypocritical fundamentalist, Arthur. From the moment of saying grace, his sonorous deep bass, combined with charismatic stage presence, had one thinking of a perverted (anti-)Christ figure. His physical excitement during Blazes’ song, offered attempted release in more than one sense." Mark Berry - Boulezian Arthur in Peter Maxwell Davies's The Lighthouse at the Royal Academy Opera "The best creation is that made by the Icelandic bass of a Shakespearian Madman in the fifth scene, unfortunate protagonist of the lesson that the future and young king receives." Luis Gago - El Pais
Witness 3 / Madman in Sir George Benjamin's Lessons in Love and Violence at the Royal Opera House "Andri Björn Róbertsson was magnificent, his singing full of life and majestic." Jónas Sen - Fréttablaðið
Figaro in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro at the Icelandic Opera "The Icelandic bass-baritone Andri Björn Róbertsson was outstanding as the Craftsman and Gracchus." Hugo Shirley - The Spectator
Craftsman in Elspeth Brooke's The Commission & Barman/Gracchus/Policeman in Francisco Coll's Café Kafka at the Royal Opera House "...the eloquent Icelandic baritone Andri Björn Róbertsson...Róbertsson chills the blood as he moves from barman to mythic Hunter." Hilary Finch - The Times Craftsman in Elspeth Brooke's The Commission & Barman/Gracchus/Policeman in Francisco Coll's Café Kafka at the Royal Opera House "Andri Björn Róbertsson' dark-toned - and dark of character Craftsman was well matched by his scene-stealing transformation from barman into mysterious Gracchus." Mark Berry - Boulezian Craftsman in Elspeth Brooke's The Commission & Barman/Gracchus/Policeman in Francisco Coll's Café Kafka at the Royal Opera House "Andri Björn Róbertsson led the four-strong cast with his elocutionary bass-baritone" The Sunday Times - Paul Driver Craftsman in Elspeth Brooke's The Commission & Barman/Gracchus/Policeman in Francisco Coll's Café Kafka at the Royal Opera House "A lower voice unfolds as a Witness, that emerges from the outlaws, and in scene 5 becomes the Madman, who claims to be the legitimate king, a proof of how absurd power has become. In these two roles, bass-baritone Andri Björn Róbertsson is excellent." Santiago Martín Bermudez - Scherzo
Witness 3/Madman in Sir George Benjamin's Lessons in Love and Violence - a DVD recording from the Royal Opera House |