Benedikt Kristjánsson | |
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.jpg) Benedikt Kristjánsson in 2018 | |
| Born | 1987 (age 37–38) Húsavík, Iceland |
| Occupation | Operatictenor |
| Awards | International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition |
| Website | www |
Benedikt Kristjánsson (born 1987)[1] is an Icelandic operatic and concerttenor who is based in Germany and has appeared internationally. He focuses on Baroque music, especially byJohann Sebastian Bach, but has also performed and recordedRomanticlieder and contemporary music. He has performed Bach'sSt John Passion in an arrangement for one singer, keyboard and percussion, notably in a live broadcast from Bach's resting place at theThomaskirche onGood Friday 2020.
Benedikt Kristjánsson was born inHúsavík. He studied first with his mother at the ReykjavikAcademy of Singing and Vocal Arts. In 2007, he graduated from theReykjavík Conservatory of Music. He continued his studies at theHochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin withScot Weir. He took masterclasses withElly Ameling,Robert Holl,Christa Ludwig,Thomas Quasthoff,Andreas Schmidt andPeter Schreier, and with pianistHelmut Deutsch.[2][3] He won the first prize at the International Bach Vocal Competition in Greifswald in 2011.[2] In 2012, he was awarded the audience prize of theInternational Bach Competition.[4]
Benedikt has performed at international festivals such as theMusikfest Stuttgart,Thüringer Bachwochen,Halle Handel Festival,Bachwoche Ansbach andFestival Oude Muziek in Utrecht.[2] He made his debut at theStaatsoper Berlin in the title role ofWolfgang Mitterer's children's operaDas tapfere Schneiderlein.[1] He appeared in three roles in a revival of Lully'sAtys at theTheater Kiel in 2014.[5] In 2015, he appeared with theDeutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen in a leading role in a community opera (Stadtteil-Oper),Sehnsucht nach Isfahan, with music by Handel, Mohammad Reza Mortazavi and Rabih Lahoud.[6]
With others, he arranged Bach'sSt John Passion for one singer, keyboard and percussion, intended for audience participation in the chorales. EntitledJohannespassion für Tenor allein, Cembalo, Orgel und Schlagwerk (St John Passion for tenor solo, harpsichord, organ and percussion), it was performed in 2019 by Podium Esslingen, with Elina Albach playingharpsichord andorgan, and Philipp Lamprecht as the percussionist.[7] The performance was recorded live.[7] It received the Opus Klassik award in the category "Most Innovative Concert of the Year".[8] A performance at Bach's resting place at theThomaskirche onGood Friday 2020 was broadcast on radio and television. Due to thecoronavirus pandemic, there was no audience, and therefore the chorales were added by a vocal ensemble at the church, conducted byGotthold Schwarz, and choirs from Germany, Switzerland, Canada and Malaysia. The concert was organized by theBachfest Leipzig festival, while the festival in June, and the traditional performances of Bach's Passion on Good Friday, had to be cancelled.[9][10] The event was described as "Passion trotz(t) Pandemie", in English as "Passion, proof against the pandemic".[9] It has been regarded as an extraordinary media event of emotional greatness.[11] Jan Brachmann of theNeue Musikzeitung wrote, concerning Kristjánsson's depiction of Peter's weeping bitterly, that his "first crying is an onomatopoeic picture of the event: through the artistically accomplished singing we listen to a life that was not yet art, but an immediate expression of sound. The second crying, however, is no longer an image painted with sound, but is taken back from the external representation to the innermost." The reviewer regarded the tenor as taking up the inheritance of Peter Schreier as the Evangelist.[a][3]
In 2019, Benedikt recordedlieder by Schubert combined with Icelandic folk songs, entitledDrang in die Ferne,[3] which he also performed in concert, with hornist Tillmann Höfs and pianist Alexander Schmalcz.[12] A reviewer wrote that he sang the folk songs without accompaniment, only one of them with a horn playing parallel fifths.[13] He was theEvangelist in Bach'sSt Matthew Passion with theGaechinger Cantorey, conducted byHans-Christoph Rademann.[14] In 2020, he recorded the first Dublin version of Handel'sMessiah with the group, alongsideDorothee Mields, Benno Schachtner and Tobias Berndt. A reviewer described his "lovely focused lyric voice", with excellent English, impressive passage-work and Baroque ornamentation.[15]
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