 Saimir Pirgu
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 Born in 1981, he began his musical studies in 1988 at the Liceo d’Arte in his hometown Elbasan (Albania) as a violinist and continued studying singing at the Conservatories of Tirana and Bolzano, with Vito Brunetti, who still is his teacher. After moving to Italy, he won in 2001 the prize as “Best Young Singer” at the “Umberto Sacchetti” Competition in Bologna and in 2002 the International Competition “Enrico Caruso” in Milan. Later that year he also won the “Tito Schipa” International Competition in Lecce.
First engagements brought Saimir Pirgu to Strasburg and to the Rossini Festival in Wildbad, where he performed as Ermanno in L’equivoco stravagante with Alberto Zedda. Soon after he had his debut as Belfiore in Il viaggio a Reims at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, where he also sang the role of Alì in Rossini’s Adina under the baton of Renato Palumbo in 2003. Daniel Oren called him to sing the role of Lord Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, and with Giovanni Antonini he sang Paolino in Il matrimonio segreto in Bolzano. 2004 is a very successful year and can be considered the international breakthrough of Saimir Pirgu. He debuted in several operas by Mozart, singing the role of Ferrando in Così fan tutte, with Claudio Abbado in Ferrara, Reggio Emilia and Modena. After his first performance in Albania as Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, staged at the National Opera Tirana, he was called by director Ioan Holender to sing the same role at the Vienna Staatsoper. This debut brought him the prestigious prize “Eberhard Waechter Gesangsmedaille”. In Summer 2004 he has his debut at the Salzburger Festspiele as Ferrando in Così fan tutte directed by Philippe Jordan. In Autumn 2004 he appeared as Fenton in Falstaff, another great debut at the Wiener Staatsoper, where he also sang again the role of Nemorino and Ferrando, and with which he also done the Don Giovanni Japan tour with Seiji Ozawa. At the Teatro Real in Madrid he sang in Ramon Carnicer’s Elena e Costantino, and in Munich as Ferrando in Così fan tutte. At the A.B.A.O. - O.L.B.E. in Bilbao he sang as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni. Have followed engagements in the roles of Ferrando e Fenton at the Wiener Staatsoper.
 During 2006 season he has sang La Traviata (Alfredo Germont) at the Zurich Opernhaus and at the Staatsoper Berlin, Don Giovanni at the Hamburgische Staatsoper, Lortzig’s Szenen aus Mozart Leben and Rendine’s Un segreto d’importanza at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna. He returns to the Rossini Opera Festival 2006 for Rossini’s La cambiale di matrimonio (Edoardo Milfort) and Mozart’s L’obbligo del primo comandamento (Cristiano).
Saimir Pirgu has just recorded is first CD for Universal Angelo casto e bel, a collection of tenor arias by Mozart, Pergolesi, Bononcini, Donizetti, Verdi, Massenet. Forthcoming engagements include Falstaff at the Zurich Opernhaus (October 2006), L’elisir d’amore at the Hamburgische Staatsoper (November 2006), Così fan tutte at the Teatro São Carlos in Lisbona (November 2006), La Traviata at the Staatsoper Berlin (December 2006), Don Giovanni, Falstaff, L’elisir d’amore at the Wiener Staatsoper (2007/2008 season), Falstaff in Bologna (June 2007), Il burbero di buon cuore (Giocondo) at the Teatro Real in Madrid (October 2007), Idomeneo with Harnoncourt at the Styriarte Festival in Graz (May 2008).
Saimir Pirgu will also make important debuts: at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden as Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi (February 2007), as Alfredo Germont in La Traviata at the Santa Fe Opera Festival (2009 season). |  | |
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