Saimir Pirgu

After his recent success as Alfredo in La Traviata at the Wiener Festwochen, Saimir Pirgu returns to Austria for two prominent engagements: Dvorak’s Stabat Mater in Graz with Nikolaus Harnoncourt at the Styriarte Festival and then to the Salzburg Festival for Berlioz’s Messe Solennelle under the baton of Riccardo Muti. Other future engagements include: La Traviata at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York; I Capuleti e i Montecchi in San Francisco; Rigoletto at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London and Zurich; La Favorita and Rigoletto at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse; L’Elisir d’Amore in Vienna; Great mass in C minor with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Chicago again under the baton of Riccardo Muti, with whom he will perform also as Conte in I due Figaro in Buenos Aires; Macbeth at the Teatro alla Pergola in Florence with James Conlon; La Bohème in Washington; Mozart’s Requiem in Munich; and Don Giovanni with the Wiener Staatsoper on tour in Moscow.

Pirgu’s whirlwind advance from conservatoire in Italy to the leading roles on the world’s premier opera stages sees him already positioned as the new generation lyric tenor of choice for leading conductors such as Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Antonio Pappano, Claudio Abbado, James Conlon and Riccardo Muti. From the outset the humble but determined singer was identified as a major future talent.