Kostas Smoriginas

KOSTAS SMORIGINAS begins the 2011-12 season with his return to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, covering Rene Pape as Méphistophélès Faust. He travels to Italy to make his debut at Teatro alla Scala, Milan, as Masetto Don Giovanni in a new production with a highly celebrated cast, after which he appears at the Salzburg Easter Festival as Escamillo Carmen under the baton of Simon Rattle with the Berlin Philharmonic, a role he repeats in concert for a recording on EMI, and later in the year during the Salzburg Summer Festival. He makes his debut as Leporello Don Giovanni at Opera de Bordeaux, France, and appears in the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme 10-year Anniversary concert as Don Alvaro Viaggio a Reims.

Last season, Kostas made his US opera debut as Figaro Le Nozze di Figaro at Washington National Opera, a role he later repeated at San Francisco Opera. He returned to Great Britain to appear as Escamillo Carmen in Opera North's new production, having made his debut in the role at Berlin's Staatsoper. He appeared in Aix-en-Provence as Baron Duphol La Traviata under Louis Langree's baton, and sang Brahms' Deutsche Requiem in concert in Budapest. Other recent successes include his appearance at the Royal Opera House as Colline La Bohème, and with The Israeli Opera in the role of Tomsky Pique Dame.

Mr Smoriginas studied at the Lithuanian Music and Theater Academy from an early age. After moving to London in 2005 and representing his country in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, he spent two years at the Royal College of Music, before joining the Jette Parker young artist programme at the Royal Opera House in 2007.

At RCM, Mr Smoriginas appeared as Araspe Tolemeo and Seneca L'incoronazione di Poppea; as Dandini La Cenerentola and Pizzaro Fidelio with the National Latvian Symphony Orchestra.

Royal Opera House engagements while a Jette Parker young artist include his unexpected mainstage debut as Alidoro La Cenerentola, the Marquis d'Obigny La Traviata, Angelotti Tosca, Zuniga Carmen, Bello La Fanciulla del West, Smirnov The Bear, Schlemil Les Contes d'Hoffmann, and Mandarin Turandot.

Completely at ease on the concert platform, his repertoire includes the Requiems of Verdi, Mozart and Faure, Händel's Messiah, Bach's Magnificat, Mendelssohn's Elijah, Janacek's Gagolitic Mass, and much more, including standard Russian repertoire. He won rave reviews for his BBC Proms debut in Stravinsky's Les Noce under the baton of Ed Gardiner at the Royal Albert Hall.

".....Smoriginas is utterly charismatic, physically and vocally." Tim Ashley, The Guardian, 18 January 2011