About
Latvian tenor Aleksandrs Antonenko made his Royal Opera debut in 2011 as Luigi (Il tabarro). He has since returned to sing Verdi’s Otello, Cavaradossi (Tosca), Turiddu (Cavalleria rusticana), Canio (Pagliacci), Chevalier Des Grieux (Manon Lescaut) and Calaf (Turandot). In the 2018/19 Season he sings Gherman (The Queen of Spades) for The Royal Opera.
Antonenko was born in Riga and studied at the Jäzeps Medinš College of Music and the Latvian Academy of Music. He made his international debut as Otello in a new production at Salzburg Festival conducted by Riccardo Muti. He sings for major opera companies worldwide, including the Metropolitan Opera, New York, La Scala, Milan, Vienna State Opera, Paris Opéra, Hamburg State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Zürich Opera, Liceu, Barcelona, Rome Opera and Royal Swedish Opera, Stockholm. His repertory includes Verdi and Puccini roles such as Gabriele Adorno (Simon Boccanegra), Radames (Aida), Otello, Des Grieux, Cavaradossi, Dick Johnson (La fanciulla del West) and Calaf and French roles such as Don José (Carmen) and Samson (Samson et Dalila).
Antonenko’s repertory also encompasses Russian and Central European tenor roles, such as Prince (Rusalka), which he has sung with Renée Fleming for the Metropolitan Opera, Grigory Otrepiev (Boris Godunov), Gherman (The Queen of Spades) and Sergei (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk). His many awards include the Jussi Björling Prize (Sweden) and the Grand Prix de la Culture 2014 (Austria).