Kostas Smoriginas

What are you supposed to do, being born into a family of one of the most celebrated Lithuanian actors? Kostas Smoriginas made his choice by becoming one of the most celebrated Lithuanian baritones. Speaking of the High Priest of Dagon played by Kostas in Samson et Dalila, we could hardly avoid discussing his artistry. He clearly has a gift of feeling at ease and in his element on stage, being open to the great diversity of characters he has to enact, but high level stage portrayals become convincing only after a lot of persistent work and effort, even though it looks like the five-finger exercise. There is also an inborn streak of darkness in him, which becomes reflected as anger, grief, or grievance depending on his role. After all, it was the High Priest who really murdered Samson with the help of Delilah in Camille Saint-Saëns’ opera. Kostas effectively uses speech, song and voice to enthrall audiences in major opera venues like London’s Covent garden, Milan’s La Scala, Moscow’s Bolshoi, San Francisco and Washington opera, Bregenz and Salzburg Festivals to name but a few. His voice is an amazing combination of sombre, thunderous, and at the same time velvety tones.