The Icelandic mezzo-soprano Arnheiður Eiríksdóttir received the “Rising star” award at the International Opera Awards in October 2024. In September 2023, she was awarded the Thalia Award for the role of Octavian in the new production of Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier at the National Theater in Prague, where she has been a soloist since September 2020.
In the 2024/25 season, in November, she will return to the Bergen National Opera, Norway, in the role of Lucienne (Korngold: Die tote Stadt) and in June 2025 she will make her debut at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, in the role of the Second Water Nymph (Dvořák: Rusalka). On her home stage in Prague, she will assume the roles of Neris and Siebel in the new productions of Cherubini’s Médea (January 2025) and Gounod’s Faust (March 2025).
This season she will also return as Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Stéphano (Romeo et Juliette), Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier), Cherubino (Le nozze de Figaro), Varvara (Káťa Kabanová), Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel), and Kuchtík (Rusalka) in Prague.
Other exciting opportunities awaiting Arnheiður in the 2024/25 season are Die Kindertotenlieder by Mahler with the Košice State Philharmonic, Dvořák’s Biblical songs with the South Bohemian Philharmonic, the alto solo from Mozart’s Requiem with the Bergen Domkor and various concerts in Iceland and in the Czech Republic.
In the 2023/24 season, she had success in the roles of the Composer (Stauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos) and Amando (Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre) at the National Theatre Prague while in November 2023 she sang Varvara (Káťa Kabanová) at the Bergen National Opera as well as debuting with the Czech Philharmonic, the Prague Philharmonic, the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic in Zlin and with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.
From 2018 to 2020, Arnheiður Eiríksdóttir was a member of the international opera studio at the Oper Köln, where she performed as Carlotta in Salieri’s La scuola de’gelosi, Hl. Margarete in Braunfels’ Szenen aus dem Leben der Heiligen Johanna, Jenny Hildebrand in Weill’s Street Scene, Death in Stravinsky’s The Nightingale, Muse/Nicklausse in Hoffmanns Erzählungen für Kinder, Glückskind in Hanke’s Der Teufel mit den drei goldenen Haaren, as well as the role of Mercédès in Carmen.
After completing her Diploma with honors from the Reykjavík College of Music, Arnheiður honed her skills at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna under the guidance of Univ. Prof. Sebastian Vittucci, Christoph Ulrich Meier and Reto Nickler. Already during her studies, she had the opportunity to sing Cherubino, Meg Page in Verdi’s Falstaff and Andronico in Händel’s Tamerlano in Schlosstheater Schönbrunn. She has guest appeared as Dorabella at the Daegu Opera House in South Korea, Hänsel and Suzuki (Madama Butterfly) in the Icelandic Opera in Reykjavík and Prince Orlofsky (Der Fledermaus für Kinder) at the summer festival jOpera in Austria.
