Biography
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).
In the season 2010/11, Kostas made his US opera debut as Figaro in 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 in Opera North’s new production of Carmen, having made his debut in the role at Berlin’s Staatsoper. He appeared in Aix-en-Provence as Baron Duphol in La Traviata under Louis Langree’s baton, and sang Brahms’ Deutsche Requiem in concert in Budapest. Other successes include his appearance at the Royal Opera House as Colline in La Bohème, and with The Israeli Opera in the role of Tomsky in Pique Dame.
In the season 2011/12 Kostas Smoriginas returned to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, covering Rene Pape as Méphistophélès (Faust). He travelled 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 appeared at the Salzburg Easter Festival as Escamillo (Carmen) under the baton of Simon Rattle with the Berlin Philharmonic, a role he repeated in concert for a recording on EMI, and later in the year during the Salzburg Summer Festival. He made his debut as Leporello (Don Giovanni) at Opera de Bordeaux, France, and appeared in the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme
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 Glagolitic Mass, and much more, including standard Russian repertoire. He won rave reviews for his BBC Proms debut in Stravinsky’s Les Noces under the baton of Ed Gardiner at the Royal Albert Hall.
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