Richard Samek

Soloist of the Prague State Opera

Richard Samek was born in Třebíč. He graduated from the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno where he as a baritone studied opera singing in the class of Professor Anna Barová. After graduation he made his debut under the guidance of Natália Romanová on the stage of the National Theatre in Brno by singing the part of Faust in Mephistopheles by Boito. Subsequently he appeared at the same venue as Pierre Bezuchov in Prokofiev’s War and Peace, as Junoš in Smetana’s The Brandenburgers in Bohemia; and in the stage production of Mozart’s Requiem. At present he is a soloist of the Prague State Opera where he appears in Bernstein’s Candide (Governor-Vanderdendur-Ragotski), Puccini’s Turandot (Pang), Manon Lescaut (Edmondo), Verdi’s Nabucco (Ismael) and Donizetti’s Lucia Di Lammermoor (Arturo). Since 2006 he has performed as the standing guest at the J. K. Tyl Theatre in Plzeň as the Prince in Dvořák’s Rusalka; currently he sings the parts of Cassio (Othello) and Ismael (Nabucco). Since 2007 he has performed as the standing guest at the National Theatre in Brno and the South Bohemian Theatre in České Budějovice. Richard Samek has won a number of prizes and awards from international competitions, including the third prize in the opera category, the second prize in the song category, the Talent of the Year Award from the Antonín Dvořák International Voice Competition in Karlovy Vary and third prize and Promising Talent Award from the Mikuláš Schneider-Trnavský Voice Competition. He also performs on concert stages: in addition to a number of European countries, he gave guest appearances in Canada and Japan.