Štefan Margita
Štefan Margita (born on 3 August 1956 in Košice) is a tenor opera singer. He has performed in the most prestigious opera houses in the world, such as La Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden in London, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Paris National Opera Bastille as well as in San Francisco, Chicago, Turin, Madrid, Tokyo, Brussels, Lyon, Naples and Dallas. He became world-renowned and gained recognition from critics and audience mainly for his performance in Janáček’s operas Káťa Kabanová, From the House of the Dead and Destiny, the role of Tambourmajor in Alban Berg’s opera Wozzeck, as Captain Vere in Benjamin Britten’s opera Billy Budd and as Loge in Wagner’s The Rhinegold.
Plans of Štefan Margita include Friedrich Wilhelm in Henze’s Der Prinz von Homburg in Stuttgart, his debut in the part of Aegisth in Elektra in Valencia, Tichon in Katja Kabanova at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Loge in Das Rheingold in Chicago, Captain Vere in the revivals of Britten’s Billy Budd in Prague as well as Shuiskij in Boris Godunov in Washington. Many concerts are scheduled in the Czech Republic.
In January 2018 he gave his highly acclaimed debut in the part of Captain Vere in Britten’s Billy Budd in Prague.
Štefan Margita was first acknowledged for his interpretation of Laca in Janáćek’s ůڲ, a role he performed in almost all important opera houses in Europe and in Japan. Another signature role of his career was Kudriash in Katia Kabanova and in 2017 he gave his debut in the part of Tichon.
Patrice Chéreau’s new production of Janacek’s From the House of the Dead under Pierre Boulez made Luka / Filka Morozow become another important role of his career. He sang it also under Esa Pekka Salonen for his New York Metropolitan Opera debut in 2009, subsequently in Milan and Lisbon and under Simon Rattle at Staatsoper Berlin. He performed the same role in different productions in Palermo, Prague, Paris, London, Brussels and Lyon.
After his highly successful debut in the part of Loge in Wagner’s Das Rheingold in 2008 under Donald Runnicles in San Francisco he was quickly invited to sing the same part again in San Francisco, at Metropolitan Opera under Fabio Luisi, 2012 in a new production at Bayerische Staatsoper under Kent Nagano and in Amsterdam under Hartmut Haenchen. He repeated the role in 2013 in Munich, 2014 in Amsterdam and Houston, 2016 in Chicago and 2018 again in San Francisco.
Another signature role has become Shuiskij in Boris Godunov, he already performed in 2011 at Chicago Lyric Opera and 2012 under Haenchen in Madrid.
But also Tambourmajor in Wozzeck, he performed in Paris, Rome and 2013 under Daniel Barenboim in Berlin, or Endrisi in Szymanowski’s Krol Roger are important roles of his current repertoire.
In 2014 he performed Valzacchi in a new production Der Rosenkavalier with Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Simon Rattle and staged by Brigitte Fassbender in Baden-Baden.