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Benedikt, Kristian -

Biography

Lithuanian tenor Kristian Benedikt has built up a reputation as one of the leading international singers of Verdi’s . He sang this most demanding role more than 120 times: at de Bellas Artes in Mexico, Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, Wiener Staatsoper, Bavarian State Opera , at the Mariinski Theatre in St. Petersburg, Modena, Piacenza, Cagliari, Palermo, Ekaterinburg, Santiago de Chile, , Graz, Basel, Stockholm, Latvian Opera Festival and at Victoria’s Pacific Opera, Montreal Opera, Savonlinna Festival and others.

In 2018 he made his debut at the in New York with the role of Samson (Samson et Dalila), and in 2019 he debuted as Andrea Chenier at the and as Calaf at the Teatre Colón along with . He also sang Calaf at Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre (dir. R. Willson), Samson and Herman (with Asmik Grigorian) at Vilnius City Opera, and a Gala concert in Pažaislis festival. Benedikt‘s first CD was released in 2019 by DELOS.

His past engagements include Don Alvaro () in Lisbon and Porto (Portugal), Herman at Vilnius City Opera and Metropolitan Opera. 2020 is market by a double debut of Kristian in Erik (Der fliegende Holländer) at Bilbao Opera with Bryn Terfel. In March 2020, he will sing Calaf and at Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre.

During his latest seasons Benedikt sung at the Wiener Staatspoer (Otello), Royal Covent Garden Opera (Canio), (Otello, Samson, ), Teatro Municipal de Santiago Chile (Otello, Calaf), NCPA (Samson), Moscow (Herman), Hungarian National Opera (Otello, Herman), Torino Regio (Samson), Liceo (), Bergamo Opera (Cavaradossi), Dresden (Otello), Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet theatre (Alfredo, Corrado, Don Jose, Pinkerton, Duca, Eleazar, Otello, Ernani, Siegmund, Calaf), Finland National Opera (Dick Johnson), Odeon in Odense (Siegmund), Vilnius City Opera (Des Grieux, Samson), Macedonian National Opera (Calaf), Savonlinna Festival (Otello), Al Bustan Festival (Otello), Festival Opera pa Skaret (Don Jose, Edgardo) etc.

Amongthe highlights of Benedikt’s repertoire the roles of Don Jose (), Cavaradossi (), Samson (Samson et Dalila), Calaf (), Pinkerton (), Canio (I ) as well as roles like Eleazar (La Juive), Manrico (), Dick Johnson (), Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Hoffmann (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), title roles of Andrea Chenier, Ernani, Rienzi and Lohengrin could be mentioned.

He has performed under the baton of conductors such as , Marco Armiliato, Marcello Votti, Riccardo Chailly, Maurizio Barbacini, Paolo Carigniani, Asher Fisch, Renato Palumbo, Valeri Gergiev, Alexander Vedernikov and is working with stage directors like , Damiano Michieletto, Willy Decker, David Alden, Calixto Bieito, Hugo de Ana, Dmitri Bertman, Eimuntas Nekrošius and Pier Francesco Maestrini.

As a concert singer he has sung among others in Verdi’s , Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, Rachmaninov’s The Bells and Webber’s Requiem.

During 2008-2018 Benedikt has worked with famous Italian tenor Gianfranco Cecchele, paying special attention to the and taking over vocal tradition of . He has also studied with , Jaakko Ryhänen and Robert Lloyd. Repertoire

Opera Symphonic/Oratorio

Bellini, V. Pollione Beethoven, L.van Christ on the Mount of Olives Missa Solemnis Bizet, G. Carmen Don José 9th Symphony

Donizetti, G. Lucia di Lammermoor Edgardo Dvorak, A. Requiem Giordano, U. Andrea Chénier Andrea Chénier Handel, G.F. Messiah Halevy, J. La Juive Eleazar

Mahler, G. Das Lied von der Erde Leoncavallo, R. I pagliacci Canio

Rachmaninov, S. The Bells Mascagni, P. Cavallaria rusticana Turiddu

Massenet, J. Manon Des Grieux Rossini, G. Petite Messe Solenelle Stabat Mater Offenbach, J. Contes d’Hoffmann Hoffmann Stravinsky, I. Oedipus Rex Ponchielli, A. Enzo I Lituani Corrado Verdi, G. Requiem Puccini, G. La fanciulla del West Dick Johnson Madama Butterfly Pinkerton Webber, A. L. Requiem Des Grieux Il tabaro Luigi Tosca Cavaradossi Turandot Calaf

Saint-Saens, C. Samson et Dalila Samson

Tchaikovsky, P. I. Eugene Onegin Lensky The Queen of Spades Herman

Verdi, G. Radames Don Carlo Don Carlo Ernani Ernani La forza del destino Don Alvaro Otello Otello Il trovatore Manrico

Wagner, R. Lohengrin Lohengrin Parsifal Rienzi Rienzi Tannhäuser Tannhäuser Walküre Siegmund Reviews

“The Queen of Spades”, Vilnius City Opera, 2019

As performed by Kristian Benedict, who’s also going to perform Herman at the Met next season, this iteration of the character is definitely a part of Pushkin’s social drama.

Both Kristian Benedict and Asmik Grigorian are highly acclaimed internationally, and both of them know Russian, which is a good basis for a perfect performance of Tchaikovsky’s opera.

Herman’s parts have these extremely difficult lines and tenor needs a really deep and strong voice with good flexibility to perform it, as well as exceptional dramatic skills. Kristian Benedict made it work. He was not stable emotionally; his portrayal was passionate and lost at the same time. He brought a wonderful dramatic tenor technique to his portrayal of Herman, who was by turns a player, a lover, a madman, a murderer.

– Polina Lyapustina, operawire.com http://operawire.com/vilnius-city-opera-2018-19-review-queen-of-spades

“Otello”, Wiener Staatsoper, 6 Feb 2017

…Kristian Benedikt from celebrated his house debut (6.02.2017, Wiener Staatsoper) as Otello - and fought very well; With much remarkable singing at the performance and in the great monologue... In the end a well-formed "Niun mi tema" wined for him the full sympathy of the audience. – Wilhelm Sinkovicz, diepresse.com

Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Otello" at the Wiener Staatsoper with energy despite obstacles - "Good luck!" Director Dominique Meyer wished before the performance, and it remained open whether he meant the audience, himself or the artists… … the third tenor could actually be the hero of Verdis Otello - with only one rehearsal in the demanding production of . Fortunately, the evening was finally good, as was the Otello of Kristian Benedikt, who celebrated the house debut. With endurance, and limited, but still present and radiating voice, he drew the torments of this tortured soul to the madness of the killing. You certainly couldn’t suspect that this Moor was the third choice. – Daniel Ender, destandard.at

Before the performance began, Mr. Dominique Meyer made the announcement and asked for leniency for the third Otello of this production. Seiffert was sick during the rehearsals, but after two rehearsals, Antonenko was still not healthy enough to take over. So the rescuer Kristian Benedikt arrived late yesterday evening. He only had a short rehearsal, more was not possible. The great duets, the scenes, were an acquaintance directly on stage. The tension was great and the concentration enormous, but everything went very well. Kristian Benedikt gave his house debut at the and proved strong nerves. Otello without rehearsal, this is almost an impossible job. Actually, this could lead to criticism, but he sang both a very good "Esultate" and a good love duet. In the second act he showed nerves, some uncertainties in the phrasing, he simply wanted too much. But after the break he surprised with a poignant "Dio mi potevi". The voice cannot be described as a beguiling one, but he sings technically very well and leads the rather -colored heavy voice effortlessly into beautiful Piani. The audience thanked everyone, especially the Maestro. Now we will see who will be the next Otello? – Elena Habermann, der-neue-merker.eu

***

...the part of brought a resounding success to the tenor. The artist is very temperamental; his voice is strong and steadfast. He is a true tenore di forza! In previous years in more lyrical parts the artist's temperament sometimes would skip over the character's emotional limits, but for the part of Othello his vocal and spiritual structure ideally suited. – The Texture of Arts, 25.3.2011

Eleazar participates in almost all the scenes and ensembles of the opera; the solo episodes in 2 act and the aria in 4 act are rather long. From the point of view of the voice, this part could hardly be ascribed to a concrete type of tenor voice, because its performance requires various possibilities. Kristian Benedikt has got all of them. All the time his voice sounds in all the registers as well as on the scale of the volume of the sound very well (the same quality is demonstrated in frequent peaks of the higher register). One cannot see any efforts of a special performance: the character's behaviour, mimic, the nature of movements are dictated by the situation and the state, whose content is expressed in the most lucid way by the timbre of voice,by its volume, by the articulation of a phrase, and by other peculiarities. – Seven Days of Art, 4.3.2011

...his Don Jose is very suggestive. In his vocal part as well as in the line of the personage he is creating, dramatics smothers lyricism, therefore we can see Don Jose a little different from the usual one. I should say, he is rather Othello having descended from G.Verdi's score, for his rage suddenly becomes violent and at once spills cruelly and uncontrollably. – Seven Days of Art, 27.11.2009

Kristian Benedikt is not only an expressive tenor, but also an actor, who credibly shows the way Cavaradossi changes from a flattering artist into a responsible person, when the crisis in society demands that of him. – Helsingin Sanomat, 5.11.2007