Hallveig Rúnarsdóttir

A soprano who began her singing studies with Sigurður Demetz in 1991, took her eighth-grade examination at Tónlistarskólinn í Reykjavík with Rut L. Magnússon in 1998 and graduated with distinction from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London in the summer of 2001, where she studied with Theresa E. Goble. She has sung a number of opera roles, most of them for the Icelandic Opera, among them Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Michaëla in Carmen, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte and Echo in Ariadne auf Naxos. In 2018 she created the title role in Gilitrutt by Hildigunnur Rúnarsdóttir, and in February 2021 the opera Traversing the Void by Hildigunnur and Jo Truman in Harpa. She has given the first performances of many new Icelandic works, at the Reykjavík Arts Festival and the Skálholt summer concerts among other places. She was named singer of the year in classical and contemporary music at the Icelandic Music Awards in 2013 and in 2018, has been nominated three further times and twice for a Gríma. She founded the professional vocal ensemble Cantoque Ensemble and is its artistic director, and she teaches singing at Söngskóli Sigurðar Demetz, where she is assistant head.