Kristinn Sigmundsson

Kristinn Sigmundsson (March 1, 1951) is an Icelandic foremost bass opera singer with an international career. He studied biology at the University of Iceland and worked for some time as a teacher before commencing his song studies under Guðmundur Jónsson at the Reykjavik Academy of Singing.

Later, he studied at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna, Austria, under Helene Karusso, Christian Möller and Wolfgang Gabriel; after that he studied with John Bullock in Washington, D.C.

The singer has subsequently performed in many of the leading European and US opera houses and concert halls, including those in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Florence, Geneva, Hamburg, Cologne, Milan, New York and Paris. Also, he has appeared with a number of well-known conductors, such as James Levine, Riccardo Muti, Bernard Haitink and Sir Colin Davis.

Kristinn Sigmundsson began his freelance career in 1992 and now regularly sings at the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, L'Opéra de Paris, Staatsoper Vienna, Staatsoper Munich and Semperoper Dresden. Recent opera roles have included Rocco in Fidelio in New York, Osmin in Il ratto dal serraglio (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) in Trieste (May 2006), Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier in Munich (June 2006), Mustafa in L'italiana in Algeri in Vienna (June 2006), King Marke in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde in San Francisco (September 2006), and Landgrave Herrmann in Tannhäuser in Amsterdam (January/February 2007). From April to July 2007, Sigmundsson sang the roles of Méphistophélès (in Dresden) and Il Commendatore and Baron Ochs (in San Francisco). He repeated the latter role in the Met's revival of Rosenkavalier in January 2010