Dramatic soprano, Agnes Thorsteins was born in Reykjavik, Iceland. As a teenager she began her musical studies at the Gardabaer Music School, initially only in the piano subject, later also singing with Gudrun Johanna Jonsdottir. At the age of 18 she successfully completed both subjects. She attended master classes with Prof. Dunja Vejzovic, Anne Sofie von Otter and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. She studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, first with Prof. Anton Scharinger and later with Prof. Regine Köbler. She completed her Bachelor degree in March 2016 with distinction. In the opera class of Univ.-Prof. Beverly Blankenship/Univ.-Prof. Peter Marschik, she continued her studies.
She sang in numerous concerts and performances; e.g. in “Stabat Mater” by Pergolesi, in the Vidalin Church and the Cathedral in Holar in Hjaltadal. In 2010, Agnes Thorsteins was recognized as an outstanding student by the Arts and Culture Council of the Icelandic city of Kopavogur and supported with a scholarship. In April 2016 she received a scholarship from the Icelandic Foundation Marino Peturssonar. She took part in performances of “Le Nozze di Figaro” in a three year span of productions at the Schönbrunn Palace Theater in Vienna as Marcellina and Cherubino. The press raves about a guest performance of this production at the Stadttheater Schaffhausen in Switzerland: “Cherubino, Agnes Thorsteins, one can only praise above the clover, she is so irresistibly multifaceted” (Schaffhauser Nachrichten March 23, 2016).
Other appearances are as followed: the role of the neighbor in the opera “Mavra” by Igor Stravinsky, Sesto in Mozart’s “La clemenza di Tito”, The Witch from Humperdinck’s “Hänsel und Gretel”, Carmen in George Bizet’s opera of the same name, Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Orfeo in “Orfeo ed Euridice”, Tolomeo in G.F. Handel’s “Julius Caesar” and others.
In the seasons 2016/2018, Agnes Thorsteins was a member of the Niederrhein Opera Studio where she performed many roles, including Hänsel from Humperdincks “Hänsel und Gretel”, Lola from P. Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana” and Orfeo from Gluck’s “Orfeo ed Euridice”. After her time in the Opera studio, Agnes performed at many concerts and guest performances around Iceland and Europe.
In June, Agnes will make her Role debüt as well as a House Debüt in the role of Liza from Tchaikovsky’s “Pikova Dama” at the National Opera House in Rijeka, Croatia. In the 2023/24 season, she will make her awaited Wagner Debüt as Senta in “Der fliegende Holländer” at the Mönchengladbach and Krefeld Theatre in Germany.