Saimir Pirgu
Tenor
Saimir Pirgu figures among the brightest stars in today’s international operatic firmament and has been celebrated at every major international operatic venue, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Teatro alla Scala, the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Paris Opéra, the Berlin Staatsoper and Deutsche Oper, the Zurich Opera, Barcelona’s Liceu, the San Francisco Opera, and the Arena di Verona.
A protégé of Luciano Pavarotti, he completed his singing studies in Italy, where, at the mere age of twenty-two, he was chosen by Claudio Abbado to interpret Ferrando in Così fan tutte in Ferrara, the same role with which in 2004 Mr. Pirgu would become the youngest singer ever to debut in a principal role at the Salzburg Festival. Highlights of his most recent successes include: Rigoletto at the Royal Opera House in London, La traviata at The Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Royal Opera House London and the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, Un ballo in maschera in Tel Aviv, l’Elisir d’amore at the Staatsoper in Vienna and at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, The Magic Flute at Teatro Alla Scala in Milan, La Clemenza di Tito at the Opéra National de Paris, La bohème at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Rigoletto at the Arena di Verona, Falstaff in Chicago with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Riccardo Muti, Verdi’s Requiem at the Salzburg Festival, at the Musikverein in Vienna, at the Bayerische Rundfunks in Munich, at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, in Paris with Gianandrea Noseda and the Orchestre de Paris and with the Orchestre Philarmonique du Luxembourg; Puccini’s Messa di Gloria at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, Paolo Arrivabeni conducting; Berlioz’s Requiem Op.5 with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Tugan Sokhiev conducting in Moscow and on tour in Vienna, San Sebastian and Oviedo. Saimir Pirgu was recently engaged in a world concert tour presenting his new solo album Il mio canto, published by Opus Arte.
Other highlights inlcude: Don Giovanni at the Wiener Staatsoper; a new production of Madama Butterfly in Zurich; La Damnation de Faust (Faust) at Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow; Macbeth and Roméo et Juliette at the Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona; a new production of Rigoletto at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, Damiano Michieletto directing; L’Elisir d’Amore at New National Theatre in Tokyo; Simon Boccanegra and Lucia di Lammermoor at Teatro di San Carlo in Naples. On the concert side, Mr. Pirgu will sing Verdi’s Requiem in Barcelona with the London Symphony Orchestra, in Madrid with Orquesta Nacionales de Espana and in London with the Royal Philarmonic Orchestra and Vasily Petrenko at the Royal Festival Hall; series of concerts in Taiwan; a gala concert at the Chorégies d’Orange. In 2017, he made his debut with Opera Australia in Szymanowski’s King Roger.
In September of 2013 he was awarded the coveted “Pavarotti d’Oro” (Gold Pavarotti Award).