Egils Siliņš is a Latvian bass-baritone. He graduated from the Latvian Academy of Music and made his operatic debut at the Latvian National Opera in 1988. He has won multiple international singing competitions and since November 5, 2019, he is Chairman of the Board of the Latvian National Opera and Ballet.[1]
Siliņš was born in the Latvian city of Līgatne. He attended the Latvian Academy of Music and completed his education under professors Gurijs Antipovs and Leonīds Vīgners.
Siliņš made his debut on the opera stage at the Latvian National Opera in 1988 as the title role in Boito's Mefistofele. He has won multiple international singing competitions, the Grand Music Award and is the recipient of the Latvian Order of the Three Stars.
He was a soloist at the Frankfurt Opera (1990–1993), the Basel Opera (1993–1996), the Vienna State Opera and the Vienna Volksoper (1996–2000), where he made his debut as Méphistophélès in Gounod's Faust followed by the title role in Boris Gudonov in a production by Harry Kupfer. He made his debut at the Vienna State Opera in I puritani.[2] Other roles at the Vienna State Opera included the title role in Boito's Mefistofele, Silva in Ernani, Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Rodolfo in La sonnambula, Escamillo in Carmen and Procida in Les vêpres siciliennes. Also notable was his portrayal of the title role in Rubinstein's The Demon at the Bregenz Festival in 1997, which was released as a recording in 1998.[3] He has worked as a freelance artist since then. Amongst his most notable house debuts are the Metropolitan Opera in 2000[4] as Don Basilio in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, his Royal Opera House debut in 2011[5] as the Dutchman in Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer and at the Bayreuth Festival in 2018 as Der Heerrufer des Königs in Wagner's Lohengrin, as Antonio in Linda di Chamounix at La Scala and his first Klingsor in Parsifal at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. He made his Holländer debut at La Monnaie, and sung his first Ring Cycle as Wotan/Wanderer in 2009 with Philippe Jordan conducting. They reunited for another production of the Ring at the Paris Opera in 2013. He also starred in the Ring that took place at the Spring Festival in Tokyo in 2012.
Some highlights of his most recent performances include his Wotan at the Vienna State Opera in 2017 in production, Jochanaan in Salome in 2018 with Andris Nelsons conducting at the Royal Opera House, Wanderer at the Bavarian State Opera in 2018 conducted by Kirill Petrenko, Grand Prêtre in Damiano Michieletto's 2016 production of Samson et Dalila, Heerrufer in Claus Guth's 2017 production of Lohengrin, both with Philippe Jordan on the podium, Barak in Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Berlin State Opera in 2018 with conductor Simone Young, Wotan in concert version on tour with the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra in 2019, and Telramund in Lohengrin at the Vienna State Opera in 2020 with Valery Gergiev conducting.
He has also performed at several music festivals, including the Glyndebourne Festival, the Tanglewood Music Festival, the Savonlinna Opera Festival and Chorégies d'Orange, and is engaged worldwide as a Lieder and concert singer.
In his career he has collaborated with many renowned conductors, such as Sir Colin Davis, Christoph von Dohnányi, Mariss Jansons, Zubin Mehta, Christian Thielemann, Riccardo Muti, Fabio Luisi, Seiji Ozawa, James Conlon, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Philippe Jordan, Marcello Viotti, Marc Minkowski, Sir Andrew Davis, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Neeme Järvi, Andris Nelsons, Sebastian Weigle, Kazushi Ōno, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Marek Janowski and Daniele Gatti.
On November 5, 2019, he was named Chairman of the Board of the Latvian National Opera, but he continues performing internationally as a soloist.