Bjarni Thor Kristinsson was born in Iceland in 1967. He studied voice at the Söngskolinn in Reykjavik and with Helene Karusso and Curt Malm in Vienna.

Between 1997 and 2000 the bass was a soloist at the Volksoper Vienna, where he interpreted numerous important roles of his repertoire including Bottom in Britten’s A Midsummer Night ́s Dream, Pimen in »Boris Godunow« and Pogner in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.

At the Staatsoper Berlin he gave his debut as Van Bett in Zar und Zimmermann and interpreted Osmin in the production of Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier as well as Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro. Further Engagements around the World include Productions at Hamburgische Staatsoper, Dresdner Semperoper, Bayerische Staatsoper München, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Oper Frankfurt, Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opéra Bastille Paris, Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, in Lisbon, Rome, Verona, Palermo, Florence, Venice, Bari, Naples, New National Theatre Tokyo, Peking, Opéra de Monte Carlo, the Icelandic Opera and Theater an der Wien.

The two major roles of the bass are Baron Ochs in Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier and Osmin in Mozart’s «Die Entführung aus dem Serail« as well as almost every Wagner-Bass-Role (Gurnemanz, Daland, Pogner, König Heinrich, König Marke, Wotan, Fafner, Hunding and Hagen).

Recent engagements include Prometheus (Die Vögel), Voland (Der Meister und Margarita), Basilio (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Pogner, Ochs, Frank (Fledermaus) und Osmin in Köln, an der Berliner Staatsoper, in Düsseldorf, Ochs und Fafner in Barcelona und Dulcamara in Reykjavik, König Marke und Pogner in Tokio, Ochs in Frankfurt, Titurel in Amsterdam und Hagen in Bari, Commendatore (Don Giovanni) in Peking, Arkel (Pelléas et Mélisande) in Parma. Pogner, Ochs, Frank (Fledermaus) und Osmin in Köln, at the Berlin Staatsoper, in Düsseldorf, Ochs und Fafner in Barcelona und Dulcamara in Reykjavik, König Marke und Pogner in Tokyo, Ochs in Frankfurt, Titurel in Amsterdam und Hagen in Bari, Commendatore (Don Giovanni) in Peking, Arkel (Pelléas et Mélisande) in Parma.