Kostas Smoriginas

During 2023/24 season, Smoriginas returns to the Royal Opera House for two new productions, as Donner in Barrie Kosky’s Das Rheingold and as Escamillo in Damiano Michieletto’s Carmen, and he makes his debut with the Bayerische Staatsoper next season as Heerrufer Lohengrin. Last season, he returned to the Zurich Opera House as Jochanaan Salome, made his house debut at the Hamburg State Opera as Escamillo, sang Kurwenal Tristan und Isolde for the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, and appeared in concert as Orest Elektra with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano.

Previous engagements also include: Elektra in concert at the Bergen International Festival conducted by Edward Gardner; title role Eugene Onegin for the Opéra de Lausanne; Escamillo for the Norwegian Opera and Cologne Opera; Escamillo and Monterone Rigolettoa for the Bregenz Festival; an Eastern European tour 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 Boris Godunov at the Royal Opera House; Scarpia Tosca at Opéra de Rouen; Jochanaan in Cologne and for the Hannover State Opera; Kurwenal Tristan und Isolde in Cologne and in concert with the Boston Symphony Orchestra (Andris Nelsons) at Carnegie Hall; the title role Don Giovanni at Opéra de Lausanne; Figaro Le nozze di Figaro in Dresden; Escamillo, Tomsky Pique Dame, Eugene Onegin and Figaro for Lithuanian National Opera; Count Le nozze di Figaro in Malmo; and the title roles of Aleko and The Demon at La Monnaie. He made his US opera debut in 2010 as Figaro Le nozze di Figaro at Washington National Opera, and has als performed with the San Francisco Opera, Teatro Municipal Santiago, Opera de Bordeaux, New Israeli Opera, Vilnius City Opera, Aix-en-Provence Festival and Teatro alla Scala Milan.

In high demand on the concert platform, engagements have included Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater, with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (Edward Gardner) and London Symphony Orchestra (Valery Gergiev), Stravinsky Les Noces at the BBC Proms, Dvorak Te Deum with the Orchestre de Paris, Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra, Rachmaninov The Bells with the Boston Symphony Orchestra (Andris Nelsons) and Shostakovich Symphony No. 13 with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. He recorded the role of 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 graduated from the Royal College of Music and was a member of the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House.

2023/24 season / 488 words. Not to be altered without permission.