Press

Recital in Espacio Turina, Seville 03.03.23
Icelandic soprano Bryndís Gudjónsdóttir reaffirmed the arguments that won her the first prize of the competition last November. We are dealing with a light lyric soprano possessing an unusually wide and powerful voice for her voice type, where it is normal to have voices with a narrow range. However, in the case of the Icelander, her ease in moving securely in the upper register (the shining Mi and Fa that crowned O Zittre nicht) and displaying cascades of coloratura, combined with a voice of ample volume and width in the middle, is remarkable. Purely technical issues are perfectly resolved: clear emission, precise articulation, perfect projection without any throat or nasal adherence, impeccable intonation, with clean and correct interval jumps. This was demonstrated in the most pyrotechnic pieces, such as in the aria of Mitridate or the well-known passage of Candide. Another matter is the more expressive singing, the attention to legato, the careful phrasing based on regulators, issues that only appeared somewhat in the Icelandic songs, which are more introspective.
ANDRÉS MORENO MENGÍBAR from Diario de Seville
Recital in Espacio Turina, Seville 03.03.23
Guðjónsdóttir guided it [O Zittre nicht] with total confidence, as if it were nothing; but in the middle, she had also given, to start, an extensive coloratura. Her high notes reverberated in the hollow and -for her- small acoustics of the Turina.
[...] The recital contained only eight numbers, almost all of them "life or death". The second one is from a rarely programmed Mozart opera, 'Mitridate, re di Ponto', and the aria 'Al destin, che la minaccia', also because, as we said above, it includes a terrible high E, prepared to make a recital sink. The Icelander sang it again without difficulty, with fullness and it even seemed to us that, in a brighter way, with less dryness (the hall is already dry, and even more so for that volume of high notes).
The Russian song 'Solovey' by Aleksandr Alyabyev, composed around 1825, was unknown. Being called 'nightingale' and with a range like Guðjónsdóttir's, we can imagine the succession of unreachable notes it presented, ending in a tremendous D.
[...]In this lyrical field, three Icelandic songs by unknown authors undoubtedly stood out, which brought out a full balance of the voice in her, rounding out the register, sweetening her color, and making us feel her full identification with this music.
Finally, she decided to close with the most well-known, lively and light piece from Bernstein's 'Candide', a "Valentine's Day card", as the composer called it, where she particularly stood out for her more relaxed interpretation, as if she had stepped out of the concert screen to sing to family and friends. Naturally, this ode to luxury and jewels, parodying the aria of the jewels from Gounod's 'Faust', had to end with a genuine pearl necklace like the three impossible E flat notes that the Icelandic soprano strung together with the precision of a Tiffany jeweler.
CARLOS TARÍN, ABC de Seville


Recital in Salurinn Concerthall, Iceland 02.10.22
Soprano Bryndís Guðjónsdóttir started the concert with the Icelandic lieders, Kall sat undir Kletti by Jórunna Viðar, then she sang Fuglinn í fjörunni by Jón Þórarinsson and then Farfuglarnir by Elísabet Jónsdóttir.
Her interpretation was breathtaking, full of emotion, and the voice itself was bright and melodious, but at the same time very euphonious. The same thing can be said about other songs she sang later in the program.
Jónas Sen, Fréttablaðið, Icelandic newspaper.
Die Zauberflöte, München 2021
[...] muss man sich nicht nur vor den kristallinen Spitzentönen der isländischen Eis-Königin Bryndís Guðjónsdottir und ihren Drei Damen auf dem Hoverboard in Acht nehmen."
[...]you have to watch out for the Cristal High notes of the Icelandic Ice-Queen Bryndís Guðjónsdóttir and her three ladies on the Hoverboard.
Klaus Kalchschmid, Süddeutsche Zeitung, München
