Egils Siliņš

The bass Egils Siliņš was born in Latvia in 1961 and studied at the Latvian Academy of Music under professors Gurijs Antipovs and Leonīds Vīgners. He made his debut at the Latvian National Opera in 1988, performing in ‘Mephistopheles’ (Boito). From 1990 - 1993 Egils Siliņš was a soloist at the Frankfurt opera (Stadtische Buhnen Frankfurt am Main), where some of his most significant roles included: Colline in ‘Boheme’ (Puccini), Bazilio in ‘Il Barbiere di Seviglia’ (Rossini), Publio in ‘Titus’ (Mozart) and the Chief of Police in ‘Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk’ (Shostakovich). From 1993 – 1996, as a soloist at the Basel opera, he performed the roles of Zarastro in ‘The Magic Flute’ (Mozart), Barak in ‘Woman without Shadows’ (Strauss), Sparafueili in ‘Rigoletto’ (Verdi), Baldassare in ‘La Favorita’ (Donizetti) and Lord Sydney in ‘Il Viaggo a Reims’ (Rossini). From 1996 to 2000 he was engaged as a soloist in Vienna, making his acclaimed debut at the Vienna People’s Opera (Wiener Volksoper) as Mephisto in Gounod’s ‘Faust’. Here, he also performed the role of Orovezo in ‘Norma’ (Bellini) and the leading role in ‘Boris Gudonov’ (Mussorgsky) in two new productions under the direction of Harry Kupfer. He made his debut at the Vienna State Opera (Wiener Staatsoper) in ‘I Puritani’ (Bellini) performing alongside Edite Gruberove and Giuseppi Sabatini. Other roles at the Wiener Staatsoper included the title role in ‘Mephistopheles’ (Boito), the Grand Inquisitor in ‘Don Carlos’ (Verdi), Silva in ‘Ernani’ (Verdi), Raimondo in ‘Lucia di Lammermor’ (Donizetti), Rodolfo in ‘La Sonnambula’ (Bellini), Escamillo in ‘Carmen’ (Bizet)and Procida in ‘Sicilian Vespers’ (Verdi). During the Wiener Staatsoper tour of Japan in 2000, Egils Siliņš sang the role of Prefetto in ‘Linda di Chamonix’ (Donizetti). He gained huge international acclaim singing the title role in ‘Le Demon’ (Rubinstein) as part of the 1997 Bregenz festival. He has also performed the roles of Orcika in ‘Mazeppa’ (Tchaikovsky) and Fotis in ‘Greek passion’ (Martinu) at the Bregenz festival, in 1991 and 1999 respectively. 1998 witnessed his successful debut at La Scala in Milan, where he performed the role of Prefetto in ‘Linda di Chamonix’. Egils Siliņš has also debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 2000, singing the role of Colline in ‘Boheme’ and Basilio in ‘Il Barbiere di Seviglia’. His debut at the Hamburg State opera followed in 2001, where he performed the role of Rangoni in a new production of ‘Boris Godunov’. Many guest appearances by Egils Siliņš include the roles of Feniccio in ‘Hermione’ (Rossini) at Glyndebourne (1996); Mephistopheles in ‘Faust’ at the Zurich opera (1998) and Deutsche Oper in Berlin (1999); the title role in ‘Le Demon’ at the Zurich opera (1999); Philip II in ‘Don Carlos’ in Saint Galin (1998); Selim in ‘The Turk in Italy’ (Rossini) in Bristol (1998); Escamilio in ‘Carmen’ in Amsterdam (1999); Ramphis in ‘Aida’ in Geneva (1999); the title role in ‘Attila’ in Strasbourg (1999); Argante in ‘Rinaldo’ (Handel) as part of the Munich festival (2000); Dulcamara in a new production of ‘L’Elisir d’Amore’ (Donizetti) in Graz (2001); Barak in ‘Woman without Shadows’ at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin (2001); Klingsor in ‘Parsifal’ (Wagner) and the Narrator in ‘The Magic Flute’ at the Chicago Opera (2002); Orovezo in ‘Norma’ at the Staatsoper Berlin (2002) and Dulcamara in ‘L’Elisir d’Amore’ in Hamburg (2002). In 2002, he made his debut performance as Don Juan at the Latvian National Opera. This was followed by his debut in the title role of ‘Der Fliegende Hollander’ in January 2003, again, at the Latvian National Opera. In 2003 his schedule included performances of Lord Sydney in ‘Il Viaggo a Reims’ (Rossini) in Barcelona in March; Don Magnifico in ‘Cinderella’ (Rossini) at the Cologne opera in April; Tomsky in ‘The Queen of Spades’ (Tchaikovsky) in Hamburg in May; Scarpia in ‘Tosca’ (Puccini) at the Sigulda Opera Festival in July and the title role in `The Demon` (Rubinstein) at the Latvian National Opera in December. Has performed programmes of chamber music, as well as large scale vocal pieces. Has participated in several CD recordings.