Biography
Saimir Pirgu
Tenor
Born in 1981, he starts his musical studies in 1989 at the Liceo d'Arte in his hometown Elbasan (Albania) as a violinist and continues studying singing at the Conservatories of Tirana and Bolzano (Italy), with Vito Brunetti, who is still his teacher. After moving to Italy, he wins in 2002 the International Competition "Enrico Caruso" in Milan and the "Tito Schipa" International Competition in Lecce.
He makes his debut at the Rossini Opera Festival with Il viaggio a Reims and Adina. Later starting an important collaboration with the Wiener Staatsoper, winning the prestigious prize "Eberhard Waechter Gesangsmedaille" for his interpretation of Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore. At Teatro Comunale di Ferrara he sang Così fan tutte directed by Claudio Abbado and at the Salzburger Festspiele with Philippe Jordan. Important debuts follow, which brought him to the major opera houses throughout the world from the Hamburgische Staatsoper, to the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, from the Berlin Staatsoper, to the Teatro dell'Opera and Accademia Santa Cecilia in Rome. He regularly sings at the Opernhaus in Zurich, at the Covent Garden, at the Teatro Real in Madrid; he makes his debut in Valencia, at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna and at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
He collaborates with conductors like Claudio Abbado, Lorin Maazel, Daniele Gatti, Seiji Ozawa, Franz Welser Möst, Gustav Kuhn, James Colon, Antonio Pappano and Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Among his principal roles it is worth mentioning Idomeneo (Idomeneo), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Nemorino (Elisir d'Amore), Rinuccio (Gianni Schicchi), Fenton (Falstaff), Alfredo Germont (La Traviata), Il Duca di Mantova (Rigoletto). He just sang the role of Idomeneo at the Styriarte Festival Steirische in Graz, conducted and directed by Harnoncourt and the role of Duca di Mantova in Rigoletto at the Opernhaus in Zürich. 2008 has also marked his US debut singing Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi at the Los Angeles Opera, Woody Allen directing, James Conlon conducting. He recently sung La Traviata at Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège, Alfano's Cyrano (Christian) at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. In July 2009 he made his debut at the Santa Fe Opera Festival with La Traviata, after that he performer the role of Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni in Zürich. He made his debut in the role of Rodolfo in the Schweizer Fernsehen production of La Bohème staged in Bern, lived broadcasted (2009) on SF 1, TSR 1, RSI LA 1 e Arte. He recently performed La Traviata at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale in Florence and a Recital in Busseto, native village of Giuseppe Verdi, for the Festival Verdi of the Teatro Regio in Parma. He made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York singing Gianni Schicchi (Rinuccio) and in Lucia di Lammermoor (Sir Edgardo di Ravenswood) at the Hamburgische Staatsoper.
He has just sung Idomeneo (title role) at the Zürich Opernhaus; Don Giovanni (Don Ottavio) at the Teatro delle Muse in Ancona; La Traviata at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden
A prolific concert artist among his recent projects it is worth mentioning Mozart's Requiem at the Lingotto Auditorium in Turin with Claudio Abbado and more recently he sung Gianni Schicchi in concert form under the baton of Vladimir Jurowski at the Accademia Nazionele di Santa Cecilia.
Saimir Pirgu's future plans include: La Traviata at the Hamburgische Staatsoper; Rigoletto and La Traviata at the Zürich Opernhaus; Così fan tutte in Toulouse, at the Ravinia Festival and in Los Angeles; Don Giovanni at the Wiener Staatsoper; Lucia di Lammermoor at the Washington Opera; Roméo et Juliette in Salerno; Die Zauberflöte at the Teatro alla Scala; Iolanta at the Theater an der Wien.