Bass-bariton

Egils Silins was born in Latvia in 1961 and studied at the Latvian Academy of Music under professors Gurijs Antipovs and Leonīds Vīgners. He made his debut at the Latvian National Opera in 1988, performing in ‘Mephistopheles’ (Boito).

From 1990 – 1993, Egils Silins was a soloist at the Frankfurt opera (Stadtische Buhnen Frankfurt am Main), from 1993 – 1996 at the Basel opera.

From 1996 to 2000, he was engaged as a soloist in Vienna, making his acclaimed debut at the Vienna People’s Opera (Wiener Volksoper) as Mephisto in Gounod’s ‘Faust’. He made his debut at the Vienna State Opera (Wiener Staatsoper) in ‘I Puritani’ (Bellini) performing alongside Edite Gruberove and Giuseppi Sabatini. 
He gained huge international acclaim singing the title role in ‘Le Demon’ (Rubinstein) as part of the 1997 Bregenz festival. He has also performed the roles of Orcika in ‘Mazeppa’ (Tchaikovsky) and Fotis in ‘Greek passion’ (Martinu) at the Bregenz festival, in 1991 and 1999 respectively.

1998 witnessed his successful debut at La Scala in Milan, where he performed the role of Prefetto in ‘Linda di Chamonix’. Egils Silins has also debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 2000, singing the role of Colline in ‘Boheme’ and Basilio in ‘Il Barbiere di Seviglia’. His debut at the Hamburg State opera followed in 2001, where he performed the role of Rangoni in a new production of ‘Boris Godunov’.

In addition to his operatic career, Egils Silins gives regular chamber music concerts and performances of solo parts in vocal instrumental works. The latter includes Beethoven’s 9th symphony, Dvorak’s ‘Stabat Mater’, Mozart’s and Verdi’s Requiems, Brahms’s German Requiem, Mendelssohn’s ‘Elijah’, Stravinsky’s ‘Les Noces’, Mussorgsky’s ‘Songs and Dances of Death’ and Berlioz’s ‘The Damnation of Faust’.