Garðar Thór Cortes

Garðar Thór Cortes is an Icelandic tenor, born in Reykjavík to a musical family of Icelandic and English heritage, whose career spans classical opera, West End theatre, and Broadway. His Broadway credits include Love Never Dies. Though he has achieved considerable success as a classical crossover artist, Cortes has consistently identified himself as a classical opera singer first.

His father, Garðar Cortes Snr., was a world-class tenor who founded the Icelandic Opera, the Reykjavík School of Singing, and the Reykjavík Symphony Orchestra. His English mother, Krystyna, was a concert pianist who trained at the Royal Academy of Music in London. His sister Nanna Maria is an operatic soprano, and his younger brother Aron Axel pursued studies as a baritone. As children, the Cortes siblings performed in the chorus when their father conducted opera productions.

Before pursuing a singing career, Cortes worked as a child actor. At 13, he won the lead role of Nonni in the Icelandic television series Nonni and Manni, filmed between 1988 and 1989 in Iceland, Norway, and England. The series, set in the late 1850s and centered on two children living with their mother and grandmother, was widely successful across Europe. Cortes secured the part in part because he could speak English and ride horses bareback.

Shortly after turning 18, Cortes committed to a career in singing. He spent four years studying at his father's school in Reykjavík before earning a scholarship to the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, which he left after six months to study privately with Professor Andrei Orlowitz in Copenhagen. Over the following five years, he divided his time between Denmark and Iceland, funding his tuition and travel by singing at funerals and weddings and taking on various jobs at the opera house. During this period he also appeared as Tony in West Side Story at the National Theatre in Reykjavík in 1995. Additional teachers he worked with included David Maxwell Anderson, Stuart Burrows, Paul Farrington, Paul Wynne Griffiths, David Jones, Kiri Te Kanawa, and Robin Stapleton.

In 1999, Cortes won the principal role of Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny, in The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's Theatre in London's West End. When offered a contract extension, he declined, choosing instead to pursue opera. He subsequently won a scholarship to the opera course at the Royal Academy of Music, where roles he performed included Florville in Il signor Bruschino and Fenton in Verdi's Falstaff. His sister Nanna and mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins were also at the Academy at the time.

Following his studies, Cortes performed lead tenor roles in operas by Verdi, Rossini, and Donizetti at opera houses across Germany and Scandinavia. His engagements included José in Carmen Negra, Curly in Oklahoma!, Ferrando in Mozart's Così fan tutte for Co-Opera Ireland, Rinuccio in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi for Nordurop Opera, the Italian Tenor in Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier for the Icelandic Opera, and Conte Alberto in L'occasione fa il ladro at the Rossini in Wildbad Festival. He also sang the role of the Duke of Mantua in Verdi's Rigoletto for Opera Nordfjord. His concert repertoire encompasses works including Bach's Mass in B Minor, Handel's Messiah, Verdi's Requiem, Dvořák's Requiem, Britten's St. Nicolas, Puccini's Messa di Gloria, and Rossini's Stabat Mater, among others. He performed Mendelssohn's quartets from Elijah alongside his sister at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

His debut concert in Reykjavík in 2002, at which Katherine Jenkins appeared as a guest, was received as a triumph. Cortes later appeared as a guest performer during Jenkins' autumn tour in 2006. In 2004 and 2005, he made his first appearances with English Touring Opera, singing Ferrando in Così fan tutte.

Cortes came to wider public attention with his classical crossover album Cortes, released in Iceland in 2005. The record, which included songs such as Lucio Dalla's "Caruso," Ennio Morricone's "Nella Fantasia," and David Foster and Carole Bayer Sager's "The Prayer," was selected in collaboration with manager Einar Bárðarson and Björgvin Halldórsson. It became the fastest-selling album in Icelandic history at the time, achieving double platinum status within three months. His UK debut album, also titled Cortes, was released on 16 April 2007, entered the UK Classical Charts at number one and the broader UK albums chart at number 27, marking a first for an Icelandic artist. It held the number one position on the official ClassicFM chart for two consecutive weeks and subsequently went double platinum. His 2007 single "Luna," recorded with English soul singer Heather Small, reached number two on the Icelandic online music charts.