The Icelandic soprano Harpa Ósk Björnsdóttir has been a member of Theater Basel’s OperAvenir ensemble since August 2024. In the 26/27 season, Harpa will appear as Sophie in Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier at the Pfalztheater, and as Nannetta in Verdi’s Falstaff at Óperan, the new Icelandic National Opera, where she will join the ensemble from January 2027.

Her concert engagements this season include Beethoven’s Ninth symphony under the baton of Edward Gardner, the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra’s New Year’s Gala conducted by Christoph Koncz and the Opening Gala of the Pfalztheater, featuring scenes from Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier with GMD Daniele Squeo.

During the 2025/26 season, Harpa made her debut as Pamina in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte at Theater Basel, in Simon McBurney’s celebrated production. She also performed Annina in Verdi’s La Traviata and Clorinda in Rossini’s La Cenerentola, and appeared in Thom Luz’s opera-pastiche Don Quijote alongside the Kammerorchester Basel.

In concert, Harpa made her debut at the Kölner Philharmonie with Orff’s Carmina Burana. She performed the same work with the Aachener Sinfonieorchester at Eurogress Aachen and with the Sinfonieorchester Basel at Casino Basel. She also performed Mozart’s Exsultate, Jubilate in Umeå with Norrlandsoperan.

Recent appearances include Zanaida with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Woglinde in Wagner’s Götterdämmerung at Bühnen Bern, and Bach’s Johannespassion with Symphony Orchestra Nord. She has appeared frequently with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, and has sung at Oper Leipzig with the Gewandhausorchester and at Oper Halle with the Staatskapelle Halle.

Before moving to Basel, she studied at the Bayerische Theaterakademie August Everding at Prinzregententheater München, and at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” Leipzig.

Before moving to Germany, Harpa studied singing at the Reykjavik Institute of Singing and Vocal arts, and then at the Icelandic University of the Arts.

In September 2019 she made her debut with the Icelandic Opera in the role of Barbarina in “Le nozze di Figaro” in the National theater of Iceland and in the beginning of 2019 she performed as a soloist with the Icelandic Symphonic Orchestra in Harpa concert hall, as one of the winners of the “Young soloists 2019” competition. Harpa sung for the voice of the main character in the movie “Sparrows”, which was Iceland’s submission to the Academy awards in 2017. For six years she sung with the choir “Graduale Nobili”, who is mostly famous for it’s world tour with the singer Björk.

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She has received grants from the funds of ”Kiyo & Eiko Tomiyasu” (2018), “Jón Stefánsson” (2020), “Landsbankinn” (2021), “Ýlir” (2021), Vilhjálmur Vilhjálmsson” (2021), Ingjaldssjóður (2023), Rotary International (2024), Bayreuth Stipendium (2025), and received a scholarship from the “Festival Puycelsi” (2019). She was chosen the "Voice of the year 2019", as well as the winner of the University category and received the listener's award in the competition "Vox Domini”. In 2024, Harpa was a finalist in the 2024 Wilhelm Stenhammar International Music Competition in Norrköping, Sweden.

Harpa graduated in 2019 from the University of Iceland with a degree in Electrical Engineering, she worked as a research summer intern at Caltech, California University of Technology, and financed her singing studies working alongside as a Production Planning Specialist at the National Power Company of Iceland.