Lithuanian Kristian Benedikt began his career as a lyric tenor, over the last years he has established himself as one of the world's most promising and exciting dramatic tenors of his generation. St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Amsterdam and Tallinn celebrates him in many roles.
Lithuanian tenor Kristian Benedikt began his career at the National Opera of Vilnius, where he sang more than 20 roles. His international breakthrough came in 2002 at Munich Rundfunk Orchestra where he recorded Ponchielli’s La Gioconda with Marcello Viotti and Plácido Domingo. In 2004 at Nederlandse Opera (DNO-Amsterdam) he sang in Verdi's Don Carlos with Riccardo Chailly. Other highlights following were singing Don José (Carmen) in 2005 at the Mariinsky Theatre, and Canio (I Pagliacci) in 2006 at Estonian National Opera. From 2007 to 2009 he was a regular guest at operas in the Baltic Countries in roles such as Hoffmann (Les contes d’Hoffmann), Cavaradossi (Tosca), Duca (Rigoletto), Manrico (Il trovatore) and Alfredo (La traviata). In 2009 he had his debut in Verdi‘s Requiem with European Union Choir and the 2009/10 season included important debuts in four roles as Andrea Chenier, Des Grieux (Manon), Corrado in Ponchielli's I Lituani and as Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly). In 2010/11 he sang successfully Eleazar (La Juive), the title role in Otello, Turiddu (Cavalleria Rusticana), and Calaf (Turandot) at Opera houses in Russia, Baltic countries and at the Danish Royal Opera. He has sung at such prestigious venues as the Bavarian State Opera in Munich; the Mariinsky Theater in Saint Petersburg; the Royal Opera House in Copenhagen; the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki; the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam; the Estonian National Opera in Tallinn; Liceu theatre in Barcelona; and the theaters of Piacenza, Modena and Cagliari in Italy.