“One of the fiercest dramatic talents in the field” (The New York Times), Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian’s “versatility is astounding” (The Times) with a “wild voice [that is] rich and dark” (Le Monde). Regularly engaged at the world’s leading opera houses, she has recently performed at the Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro Real Madrid, the Salzburger Festspiele, and Teatro alla Scala. She was a founding member of Vilnius City Opera, has twice been awarded the Golden Stage Cross (the highest award for singers in Lithuania), was named Best Female Lead in 2019 at the Austrian Music Theater Awards, Female Opera Singer of the Year in 2022 by the Ópera XXI Association, and Female Singer of the Year at the Opus Klassik Awards in 2023. In 2024, she received the prestigious Österreichischer Musiktheaterpreis in the "Special Jury Prize" category, an award celebrating exceptional contributions to Austria's opera and theater scene, and was named Opernwelt’s Opera Singer of the Year.
2025/26 Season
Her 2025/26 season begins with a return to Teatro Real Madrid in the role of Desdemona in Otello as well as a return to her acclaimed role in Dmitri Tcherniakov’s production of Salome at the Hamburgische Staatsoper and Senta in Der Fliegende Holländer at Monte-Carlo Opera. Later in the season, her roles include Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Salome and Macbeth at Bayerische Staatsoper, Manon Lescaut at Liceu Barcelona and Tatiana in Eugene Onegin at Metropolitan Opera and Wiener Staatsoper. Asmik reunites with pianist Lukas Geniušas for recitals at Berlin Staatsoper, Megaron Hall Athens, Opernhaus Zurich, Santa Cecilia Rome, Musikverein fur Steiermark in Graz and Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Concert performances include Vier Letzte Lieder with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra as well as Verdi’s Requiem with Cleveland Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Welser-Most. She also revives her acclaimed theatrical concert Una Diva is Born with pianist and composer Hyung-Ki Joo at the Salzburg Festival, Wiener Staatsoper – this project is a unique project about her life, a story about what brought her to stardom, with operatic arias and songs by Sting, Lady Gaga and more.
Recordings.
Asmik has released several recordings with Alpha Classics, including her debut album, in collaboration with the pianist Lukas Geniušas, Dissonance, featuring Rachmaninov romances, Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 14, recorded with the l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France conducted by Mikko Franck, and Laws of Solitude, a recording of Strauss’ Four Last Songs, recorded both with orchestra and piano. She is also featured on multiple DVDs of the opera productions, including Elektra and Macbeth from the Salzburger Festspiele, and Rusalka from the Royal Opera House.
“…an absolutely exceptional singer and cannot be assigned to any discipline. Whether as Marie in Wozzeck, the title role in Jenufa, various Puccini operas or just as Jolanthe - Grigorian makes every role her own in every language and epoch with minimal yet haunting gestures and a sensual, mesmerizing, metallically colored voice.”
— DAS OPERNMAGAZIN
Asmik has made a name for herself on both the concert and operatic platforms since her international career began with a triumphant performance in Madama Butterfly at the Royal Swedish Opera. She then went on to perform to conquer role after role including: Salome at the Salzburg Festival (described as “a Salome to end all Salomes” (Financial Times), now available on DVD), Rusalka at the Royal Ballet and Opera and Teatro Real, Jenufa at the Royal Ballet and Opera and Wiener Staatsoper, and Tatiana (Eugene Onegine) at the Bayerische Staatsoper and Teatro alla Scala. Following her internationally acclaimed performance as Salome at the Salzburger Festspiele, she regularly returns, performing roles such as Chrysothemis (Elektra), the three leading soprano roles in Puccini’s Il Trittico, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Marie in Wozzeck (all recorded on DVD) and Polina in The Gambler. As a regularly engaged performer at the Wiener Staatsoper, she has performed the title role in Manon Lescaut, the title role in Turandot, Elisabetta (Don Carlo), Nedda (Pagliacci), Jenufa, and Tatiana (Eugene Onegin). She has also performed Marietta in Korngold’s Die tote Stadt and Liza (Pique Dame) at Teatro alla Scala, Nastasya in Charodeika at Oper Frankfurt, Cio-Cio San at the Arena di Verona, Royal Opera House, Metropolitan Opera, and the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd at Vilnius City Opera, and Senta in Der Fliegende Hollander at the Bayreuth Festspiele (available on DVD).
On the concert stage, she has performed Shostakovich 14 with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Rotterdam Philharmonic, Beethoven IX under Riccardo Muti at the Salzburg Festival, Verdi’s Requiem at the Cēsis Vidzeme Concert Hall in Latvia and with the Gewandhausorchester in Leipzig conducted by Welser-Möst and R. Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder with the Orchestra di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Teatro Massimo in Palermo and the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Maestro Gustavo Dudamel. Asmik also tours internationally with pianist Lukas Geniušas, performing a programme of Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky songs featured from their album, Dissonance.
Asmik works with many of the world's leading conductors including Gianandrea Noseda, Vasily Petrenko, Franz Welser-Möst, Yves Abel, Vladimir Jurowski, Markus Stenz, Mikhail Tatarnikov, Alan Gilbert, and Michael Tilson Thomas. Asmik frequently collaborates with top stage directors including Dmitri Tcherniakov, Romeo Castellucci, Claus Guth, Dalia Ibelhauptaitė, Christof Loy, Barrie Kosky, Alex Ollé, Peter Konwitschny, Robert Wilson, and Vasily Barkhatov to name a few.