About this Artist
ŽELJKO LUČIĆ, a native of Serbia, continues to garner acclaim for his performances of the dramatic baritone repertoire in the world’s leading opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, San Francisco Opera, and L’Opéra National de Paris. Of his appearance in La forza del destino with San Francisco Opera, the Financial Times declared, “with this Don Carlo, Željko Lučić served notice that he is one of today's pre-eminent Verdi baritones.”
In the summer of 2011 Lučić made his Salzburg Festival debut in the title role of Macbeth in a new production directed by Peter Stein and conducted by Riccardo Muti. In season 2011/12 Lučić returns again to the Metropolitan Opera to sing the title role in Nabucco; to Stadtische Bühnen Frankfurt as Scarpia in Tosca and Iago in Otello; to Opéra de Paris in the title role of Rigoletto, also to Oper Köln in the same role; to Bayerische Staatsoper (Munich) as Miller in Luisa Miller; and to Wiener Staatsoper as Germont in La traviata and Scarpia in Tosca. He sings the title role in Rigoletto for both San Francisco Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago in the 2012/13 season.
He returned once again to the Metropolitan Opera in the 2010/11 season to sing Di Luna in Il trovatore, the title role in Rigoletto, and Enrico in the company’s Japan tour of Lucia di Lammermoor. He also performed the role of Scarpia in Tosca at Teatro alla Scala, Don Carlos in La forza del destino with Wiener Staatsoper, and Miller in Luisa Miller with Bayerische Staatsoper.
Recent season highlights include his return to the Metropolitan Opera to sing Michele in Il tabarro; the title role in Nabucco with both Wiener Staatsoper and Oper Frankfurt; Don Carlo in Ernani with Asociación Bilbaína de Amigos de la Opera; the title role in Simon Boccanegra with Oper Frankfurt; Iago in Otello with Deutsche Oper Berlin; and Germont in La traviata with Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He also performed at the annual Richard Tucker Gala in New York City.
After his monumental success in the title role in the Metropolitan Opera’s live, international HD broadcast production of Macbeth, Željko Lučić returned to sing the title role in Rigoletto, Germont in La traviata, and Count di Luna in Il trovatore. Other successes include the title role in Macbeth, Miller in Luisa Miller, and Germont in La traviata with the Bayerische Staatsoper; a return to Oper Frankfurt to perform as Rodrigo in Don Carlo in a gala concert, as well as Zurga in Les pêcheurs de perles; and the title role in Rigoletto for Teatro Real in Madrid.
Other career highlights include Lučić’s debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Barnaba in La Gioconda. In the summer of 2007, he made his Boston Symphony Orchestra debut at Tanglewood as Rodrigo in a concert performance of Don Carlo under James Levine, and sang Amonasro in Aida for Staatsoper Dresden.
Željko Lučić’s extensive performance repertoire also includes Lescaut in Manon Lescaut with Bayerische Staatsoper; Guy de Montfort in Les vêpres siciliennes with Radio Filharmonisch Orkest at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw; Sharpless in Madama Butterfly at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, Semperoper Dresden, and Oper Frankfurt; and both the title role in Eugene Onegin and Graf von Nevers in Les Huguenots with Oper Frankfurt. He has also appeared with many orchestras, including the Hessischer Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra, the Belgrade Filharmony, and the RTB Symphony Orchestra.