Bjarni Frímann Bjarnason

Bjarni Frímann Bjarnason has been Music Director of the Icelandic Opera since 2018, following his debut there with Tosca in 2017, for which he received unanimous critical and public acclaim. He was conductor-in-residence with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra from 2018–2021 and has been the conductor of the chamber orchestra Elja in Reykjavík since its founding in 2017. He has conducted a versatile repertoire with a colourful list of leading orchestras worldwide, such as The Hallé Orchestra, Georgian Philharmonic Orchestra, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Århus Sinfonietta, BIT20 Ensemble, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and Sinfonietta de Lausanne.

He studied violin and composition in Reykjavík and completed his studies as a violist at the Iceland University of the Arts. In 2009, he won the Iceland Symphony Orchestra’s Young Soloists competition and performed Bartók’s Viola Concerto with the orchestra. He later studied conducting with Fred Buttkewitz at the Hanns Eisler Conservatory in Berlin.