+++
date = "2017-03-23T13:28:00+00:00"
discipline = "Tenor"
lastmod = "2017-03-23T13:28:00+00:00"
primary_image = "https://res.cloudinary.com/schmopera/image/upload/v1545409169/media/webhook-uploads/1490275435170/2017-03-22---SAIMIR_PIGRU-Paul-Scala.jpg.jpg"
primary_image_credit = "Paul Scala"
publishDate = "2017-03-23T13:28:00+00:00"
related_companies = ["scene/companies/the-metropolitan-opera.md","scene/companies/teatro-alla-scala.md","scene/companies/salzburg-festival.md","scene/companies/wiener-staatsoper.md","scene/companies/royal-opera-house.md","scene/companies/deutsche-oper-berlin.md","scene/companies/gran-teatre-del-liceu.md","scene/companies/opra-national-de-paris.md","scene/companies/staatsoper-berlin.md"]
slug = "saimir-pirgu"
title = "Saimir Pirgu"
website = "http://saimirpirgu.com/home.html"
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Saimir Pirgu figures among the brightest stars in today’s international operatic firmament and has been celebrated 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 Opéra, the Berlin Staatsoper and Deutsche Oper, the Zurich Opera, Barcelona’s Liceu, the San Francisco Opera, and the Salzburg Festival.

A protégé of Luciano Pavarotti, he completed his singing studies with Vito Maria Brunetti in Italy, where, at the mere age of twenty-two, he was chosen by Claudio Abbado to interpret Ferrando in *Così fan tutte* in Ferrara, the same role with which in 2004 Mr. 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 Opéra National de Paris, *La bohème* 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 of 2013 he was awarded the coveted “Pavarotti d’Oro” (Gold Pavarotti Award).
