Asmik Grigorian
May 12, 1981 - Vlinius
© Visvaldas Morkevicius
About
“One of the fiercest dramatic talents in the field” (The New York Times), Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian’s “versatility is astounding” (The Times) with a “wild voice [that is] rich and dark” (Le Monde). Regularly engaged at the world’s leading opera houses, she has recently performed at the Wiener Staatsoper, The Metropolitan Opera, the Salzburger Festspiele, and Teatro alla Scala. She was a founding member of Vilnius City Opera, has twice been awarded the Golden Stage Cross (the highest award for singers in Lithuania), was named Best Female Lead in 2019 at the Austrian Music Theater Awards, Female Opera Singer of the Year in 2022 by the Ópera XXI Association, and Female Singer of the Year at the Opus Klassik Awards in 2023. In 2024, she received the prestigious Österreichischer Musiktheaterpreis in the "Special Jury Prize" category, an award celebrating exceptional contributions to Austria's opera and theater scene.
Her 2024/25 season begins with a performance at the Festival Master of Classic in Bucharest, Romania, alongside baritone Andrey Zhilikhovsky, followed by her role debut as Elisabetta in Don Carlo at the Wiener Staatsoper. Asmik then returns to one of her signature title roles, Rusalka, three times this season. The first marks her debut at the Teatro San Carlo in a new production by Dmitri Tcherniakov in the fall, then at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in the summer, as well as the Bayerische Staatsoper, where she also performs Senta in Der Fliegende Hollander in March 2025. This season also includes her debut as the title-role in Bellini’s Norma in a new production at the Theater an der Wien. Ms. Grigorian makes her house debut at Opéra national de Paris, where she reprises all three soprano roles in Puccini’s Il Trittico. In the summer, she reprises the role of Salome in a concert performance with the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Antonio Pappano. Concert performances include recitals with Lukas Geniušas at Les Arts Valencia, Musikverein in Vienna, Luxembourg Philharmonie, Teatro San Carlo, Carnegie Hall, and Berkeley University in California. She performs in concert at the Teatro Real Madrid under the direction of Henrik Nánási as well as R. Strauss’ Four Last Songs both with the Wiener Symphoniker in Musikverein and with The Cleveland Orchestra at Carnegie Hall conducted by Franz Welser-Möst.
Asmik has released several recordings with Alpha Classics, including her debut album, in collaboration with the pianist Lukas Geniušas, Dissonance, featuring Rachmaninov romances, Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 14, recorded with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France conducted by Mikko Franck, and Laws of Solitude, a recording of Strauss’ Four Last Songs, recorded both with orchestra and piano. She is also featured on multiple DVDs of the opera productions, including Elektra and Macbeth from the Salzburger Festspiele, and Rusalka from the Royal Opera House.
Asmik has made a name for herself on both the concert and operatic platforms since her international career began with a triumphant performance in Madama Butterfly at the Royal Swedish Opera. She then went on to perform to conquer role after role including: Salome at the Salzburg Festival (described as “a Salome to end all Salomes” by the Financial Times, now available on DVD), Rusalka at the Royal Ballet and Opera and Teatro Real, Jenůfa at the Royal Ballet and Opera and Wiener Staatsoper, and Tatiana (Eugene Onegine) at the Bayerische Staatsoper and Teatro alla Scala. Following her internationally acclaimed performance as Salome at the Salzburger Festspiele, she regularly returns, performing roles such as Chrysothemis (Elektra), the three leading soprano roles in Puccini’s Il Trittico, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Marie in Wozzeck (all recorded on DVD) and Polina in The Gambler. As a regularly engaged performer at the Wiener Staatsoper, she has performed the title role in Manon Lescaut, the title role in Turandot, Nedda (Pagliacci), Jenůfa, and Tatiana (Eugene Onegin). She has also performed Marietta in Korngold’s Die tote Stadt and Liza (Pique Dame) at Teatro alla Scala, Nastasya in The Enchantress at Oper Frankfurt, Cio-Cio San at the Arena di Verona, Royal Opera House, Metropolitan Opera, and the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd at Vilnius City Opera, and Senta in Der Fliegende Hollander at the Bayreuth Festspiele (available on DVD).
On the concert stage, she has performed Shostakovich 14 with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Beethoven's Ninth under Riccardo Muti at the Salzburg Festival, Verdi’s Requiem at the Cēsis Vidzeme Concert Hall in Latvia and with the Gewandhausorchester in Leipzig conducted by Welser-Möst, Marie in Drei Bruchstücke aus Wozzeck at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Elbphilharmonie conducted by Zubin Mehta, Iolanta with the Berlin Philharmonic under the baton of Kirill Petrenko and R. Strauss’ Four Last Songs with the Orchestra di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Maestro Gustavo Dudamel and at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo.
Asmik works with many of the world's leading conductors including Gianandrea Noseda, Vasily Petrenko, Franz Welser-Möst, Yves Abel, Vladimir Jurowski, Markus Stenz, Mikhail Tatarnikov, Alan Gilbert, and Michael Tilson Thomas. Asmik frequently collaborates with top stage directors including Dmitri Tcherniakov, Romeo Castellucci, Claus Guth, Dalia Ibelhauptaitė, Christof Loy, Barrie Kosky, Alex Ollé, Peter Konwitschny, Robert Wilson, and Vasily Barkhatov to name a few.