“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, The Metropolitan Opera, 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. In 2025, she was awarded the Der Faust theater prize for her critically acclaimed performance of Salome at the Hamburgische Staatsoper.
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 a semi-staged production of Der Fliegende Holländer at Monte-Carlo Opera. Later in the season, her roles include Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Turandot at Theater Dortmund, Salome and Macbeth at Bayerische Staatsoper, Manon Lescaut at Liceu Barcelona, Tatiana in Eugene Onegin at Metropolitan Opera and Wiener Staatsoper, and Senta in Dmitri Tcherniakov’s production of Der Fliegende Holländer at Bayreuth Festspiele. The 2026 Salzburger Festspiele also sees her make her role debut in the title role of Carmen. 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, Verdi’s Requiem with Cleveland Orchestra. She also revives her acclaimed recital Una Diva is Born with pianist Hyung-Ki Joo at the Wiener Staatsoper. The recital is a unique project about her life, a story about what brought her to stardom.
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.
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, 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, Marie in Drei Bruchstücke aus Wozzeck at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Elbphilharmonie conducted by Zubin Mehta, Iolanta with the Berlin Philharmonic under the baton of Kirill Petrenko and R. Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder with the Orchestra di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Maestro Gustavo Dudamel and at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo.
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.
