Tenor

Saimir
Pirgu
Saimir Pirgu

Albanian tenor Saimir Pirgu has performed at and continues a close association with the world’s finest opera houses and festivals including Teatro alla Scala, Wiener Staatsoper, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Metropolitan Opera, Staatsoper Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper, Gran teatre del Liceu, Arena di Verona, Salzburger Festspiele.

Saimir enjoys enviable relationships with conductors including Riccardo Muti, Christian Thielemann, Philippe Jordan, Zubin Mehta, Antonio Pappano, and formerly with the late Mariss Jansons and Claudio Abbado (with Abbado he made his opera debut at the age of 22).

In 2016 he took part in the Bolshoi Theatre production of La Damnation de Faust, singing the role of Faust.

Awards

Franco Corelli Prize of the Teatro delle Muse of Ancona for the performance in La traviata (Alfredo)

2009

“Pavarotti d’Oro” (Gold Pavarotti Award)

2013
Repertoire

Rodolfo (La bohème) — Gran teatre del Liceu, Teatro Colón, Palau de las Artes Rein Sofia in Valencia, Wiener Staatsoper (01.2023)

Alfredo (La Traviata) — Metropolitan Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, San Francisco Opera, Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Arena di Verona

Il Duca di Mantova (Rigoletto) — Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Gran teatre del Liceu, Staatsoper Berlin, Opernhaus Zürich, Arena di Verona

Faust (Faust) — Opernhaus Zürich

Steva (Jenufa) — Royal Opera House Covent Garden

Chevalier des Grieux (Manon) — Opera de Lyon, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées

Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly) — Opernhaus Zürich, Semperoper Dresden

Macduff (Macbeth) — Bayerische Staatsoper

Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) – Wiener Staatsoper

Tamino (Die Zauberflöte) — Teatro alla Scala, Wiener Staatsoper

Nemorino (L’elisir d’amore) — Wiener Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper in Berlin

Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor) — Los Angeles Opera, Washington National Opera, Staatsoper Hamburg

Count Almaviva (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) — Teatro Colón

Idomeneo (Idomeneo re di Creta) — Styriarte (Graz, Austria)

Tito (La clemenza di Tito) — Opéra national de Paris

Tebaldo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi) — San Francisco Opera

In concert: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Bruckner’s Te Deum, Puccini’s Messa di Gloria, Dvorak's Stabat mater, Requiems by Mozart, Verdi and Berlioz, Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle, Haydn’s Die Schöpfung, Stravinsky’s Pulcinella.

On the concert platform, Saimir appears with Musikverein in Vienna, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Orchestre philharmonique du Luxembourg, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Bayerische Rundfunks in Munich, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra and others. 

Discography
2015
Król Roger by Szymanowski

Royal Opera Chorus, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, conductor Antonio Pappano. Saimir Pirgu as Shepherd. Opus Arte: DVD. Nominated in the Best Opera Recording category at the Annual Grammy Awards

2015
Il Mio Canto

Arias by Verdi, Puccini, Gounod, R. Strauss, Cilea, Donizetti, Massenet. Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, conductor Speranza Scappucci. Opus Arte: CD

General partner of the Bolshoi Theatre — insurance company «Ingosstrakh»
Privileged sponsor of the Bolshoi Theatre — Tinkoff Bank
Privileged partner of the Bolshoi Theatre — GUM