TIRANA, Dec. 8 – Internationally acclaimed tenor Saimir Pirgu has been nominated for the Grammy Awards becoming the first Albanian artist to make the shortlist of the prestigious music awards.
Pirgu, 35, has been nominated at the Best Opera Recording category for his Shepherd role in Szymanowski’s Krà³l Roger that made its premiere in May 2015 at London’s Royal Opera House.
“The DVD/Blu-Ray of Kasper Holten’s staging of Krà³l Roger from the Royal Opera House with Saimir Pirgu as Shepherd, conducted by Antonio Pappano has been nominated for a Grammy Award as Best Opera Recording. Next January Saimir will reprise the role for his debut with Opera,” says UK-based label Opus Arte.
The Albania star hailed the nomination as fantastic news.
“That’s a fantastic news! Very happy that our King Roger, performed at London Royal Opera House, has been nominated as “Best Opera Recording” at Grammy Awards 2017. Congratulation to all my colleagues and let’s keep our fingers crossed,” Pirgu wrote.
Back in 2015, Albania’s most successful tenor received critical acclaim for his Shepherd role in King Roger by several prestigious British media and portals.
“In contrast to the music of court and church, respectively stern and ambiguous, the Shepherd’s music is beguiling and whole-toned. A cor anglais weaves chromatic arabesques around his distinctive vocal line, evocatively sung by the Albanian tenor Saimir Pirgu,” wrote The Guardian.
The Opera Today portal described Pirgu’s performance as “more than equal to the vocal and interpretative demands.”
“The role of the Shepherd — a multi-partite Britten-esque Traveller cum Gondolier — first prisoner, then prophet, then, exchanging colourful silks for sharp suits, confident leader — is an immensely challenging one. Effectively he embodies different aspects of Krà³l Roger’s psyche. Albanian tenor Saimir Pirgu was more than equal to the vocal and interpretative demands, soaring powerfully in sustained lyrical outpourings, at once miraculous, mysterious and malicious,” wrote Opera Today.
Born in Elbasan, central Albania, Saimir Pirgu, initially studied violin at home before moving at the age of 18 to Italy where he graduated in singing from the Bolzano Conservatory.
“Actually, playing any instrument makes a singer a better musician. If I did not have that violin background, I doubt that the great conductor, Claudio Abbado, would have worked with me personally. You have to have much more than just a beautiful voice to be a successful opera singer,” Pirgu has said.
Described as one of the world’s most important interpreters of lyric tenor roles, Saimir Pirgu has performed at every major international operatic venue, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Teatro alla Scala, the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Paris Opà©ra, the Berlin Staatsoper and Deutsche Oper, the Zurich Opera, Barcelona’s Liceu, the San Francisco Opera, and the Salzburg Festival.
A protà©gà© of great Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti, he completed his singing studies in Italy, where, at the mere age of twenty-two, he was chosen to interpret Ferrando in Cosଠfan tutte in Ferrara, the same role with which in 2004 Pirgu would become the youngest singer ever to debut in a principal role at the Salzburg Festival.
His recent successes include Rigoletto at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, La traviata at The Metropolitan Opera New York, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the Berlin Staatsoper, his first Riccardo in Un ballo in maschera in Tel Aviv conducted by Zubin Mehta, L’elisir d’amore at the Vienna State Opera and at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, The Magic Flute at Teatro Alla Scala in Milan, La Clemenza di Tito at the Opà©ra National de Paris, La bohà¨me at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Rigoletto at the Arena di Verona, Verdi’s Requiem at the Salzburg Festival, at the Musikverein in Vienna, at the Bayerische Rundfunks in Munich and at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
Pirgu has collaborated with eminent conductors Riccardo Muti, Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Claudio Abbado, Mariss Jansons, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Seiji Ozawa, Daniel Barenboim, James Conlon, Antonio Pappano and Daniele Gatti.
In September 2013 he was awarded the coveted “Pavarotti d’Oro” (Gold Pavarotti Award).
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