Lithuanian tenor Kristian Benedikt has built up a reputation as one of the leading international singers of Verdi’s Otello. He sang this most demanding role more than 120 times: at Opera de Bellas Artes in Mexico, Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, Wiener Staatsoper, Bavarian State Opera Munich, at the Mariinski Theatre in St. Petersburg, Modena, Piacenza, Cagliari, Palermo, Ekaterinburg, Santiago de Chile, Vilnius, 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 Metropolitan Opera in New York with the role of Samson (Samson et Dalila), and in 2019 he debuted as Andrea Chenier at the Trieste Teatro Verdi and as Calaf at the Teatre Colón along with Maria Guleghina. 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 (La forza del destino) 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 Ernani at Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre.
During his latest seasons Benedikt sung at the Wiener Staatspoer (Otello), London Royal Covent Garden Opera (Canio), Mariinsky Theatre (Otello, Samson, Lohengrin), Teatro Municipal de Santiago Chile (Otello, Calaf), Beijing NCPA (Samson), Moscow Bolshoi Theatre (Herman), Hungarian National Opera (Otello, Herman), Torino Regio (Samson), Barcelona Liceo (Rienzi), Bergamo Opera (Cavaradossi), Dresden Semperoper (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.
Among the highlights of Benedikt’s repertoire the roles of Don Jose (Carmen), Cavaradossi (Tosca), Samson (Samson et Dalila), Calaf (Turandot), Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), Canio (I pagliacci) as well as roles like Eleazar (La Juive), Manrico (Il trovatore), Dick Johnson (La fanciulla del West), 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 Antonio Pappano, 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 Giancarlo del Monaco, 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 Requiem, 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 Italian opera and taking over vocal tradition of Mario del Monaco. He has also studied with Virgilijus Noreika, Jaakko Ryhänen and Robert Lloyd