Kostas Smoriginas

During 2022/23 Smoriginas will sing Jochanaan Salome for the National Theatre Brno and in his return to the Zurich Opera House, make his house debut at the Hamburg Opera as Escamillo, perform Kurwenal Tristan und Isolde for Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg and Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, and appear in concert as Orest Elektra with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Pappano). Last season Smoriginas made his house debut in Zurich Opera as Jochanaan, also performing the role in concert at the Bergen International Festival (Edward Gardner), sang the title role Eugene Onegin for the Opéra de Lausanne, and sang Escamillo for the Norwegian Opera and in his return to the Cologne Opera.

Recent highlights include: a return to the Bregenz Festival as Monterone Rigoletto; an Eastern European tour as Escamillo in concert performances with the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra under Karel Mark Chichon; Escamillo in Barrie Kosky’s production of Carmen, Heerrufer in David Alden’s new Lohengrin, and Tchelakov in a new production of Boris Godunov at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden; Scarpia Tosca at Opéra de Rouen; Jochanaan Salome in Cologne and for the Hannover State Opera; Kurwenal Tristan und Isolde in Cologne and in concert with the Boston Symphony Orchestra (Andris Nelsons) in Boston and at Carnegie Hall; the title role Don Giovanni at Opéra de Lausanne; Figaro Le nozze di Figaro in Dresden; Escamillo in Kasper Holten’s new production of Carmen at the Bregenz Festival; Escamillo, Tomsky Pique Dame, Eugene Onegin and Le nozze di Figaro for Lithuanian National Opera; Count Le nozze di Figaro in Malmo; title roles in Aleko and The Demon at La Monnaie; and his role debut as High Priest in Samson et Dalila in Vilnius.

Smoriginas made his US opera debut in 2010 as Figaro Le nozze di Figaro at Washington National Opera, a role he later performed at San Francisco Opera. Other operatic engagements have included Colline La bohème at Covent Garden, title role Don Giovanni at Teatro Municipal Santiago, Chile and in Toulouse, Leporello Don Giovanni at Opera de Bordeaux, Tomsky with the New Israeli Opera, Eugene Onegin, Guglielmo Cosi fan tutte and Scarpia Tosca at Vilnius City Opera, and Masetto Don Giovanni in his debut at the Teatro alla Scala and in a new production by Dmitri Tcherniakov conducted by Marc Minkowski at the Aix-en-Provence Festival.

Smoriginas is in high demand on the concert platform. His repertoire includes Verdi, Brahms, Mozart and Faure Requiems, Beethoven Symphony No. 9, Janacek Glagolitic Mass, Dvorak Te Deum and Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater, which he sang with Edward Gardner and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and with the London Symphony Orchestra and Valery Gergiev. He won rave reviews for his BBC Proms debut in Stravinsky Les Noces at the Royal Albert Hall. Recent concert engagements include Dvorak Te Deum with the Orchestre de Paris, Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra and Rachmaninov The Bells with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andris Nelsons. In the 2017 Prague Spring Festival he performed Shostakovich Symphony No. 13 with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. He has recorded as Pietro Simon Boccanegra alongside Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Ildar Abdrazakov and Barbara Frittoli.

Smoriginas studied at the Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy before representing his country at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. He spent two years at the Royal College of Music and was a member of the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House for two years.

2022/23 season / 632 words. Not to be altered without permission.