Peter Berger

Biography

Peter Berger studied voice at the Conservatory in Košice, Slovakia, and subsequently attended master classes given by Peter Dvorský and Eva Blahová. While still a student he became a soloist of the Opera of the State Theatre in Košice. In 2007 he won first prize in the Anglo-Czechoslovak Trust competition in London, other successes include the Literary Fund Award for portrayal of the Prince in Dvořák’s Rusalka. His repertoire comprises Donizetti’s Nemorino (L’elisir d’amore) and Ernesto (Don Pasquale), Don Ottavio (Mozart: Don Giovanni), Verdi’s Alfredo (La traviata), Macduff (Macbeth), Ismael (Nabucco) and Duke of Mantua (Rigoletto), Faust (Gounod: Faust), Lensky (Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin), Smetana’s Jeník (The Bartered Bride) and Dalibor, the Prince (Dvořák: Rusalka), Janáček‘s Laca (Jenůfa) and Boris (Katya Kabanova), Michel (Martinů: Juliette), Massenet’s Werther, Don José (Bizet: Carmen), Cavaradossi (Puccini: Tosca) and other roles. In October 2007 he made an acclaimed debut at the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava, performing the role of Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. In 2008 he appeared as a guest at the National Theatre in Split, Croatia, in the roles of Faust and Nemorino, in 2009 at the Prague State Opera he sang the Prince (Rusalka) and with this role he also debuted at the National Theatre in Prague. In September 2011 he became a soloist of the Prague State Opera, from January 2012 to Febraury 2014 he was a soloist of the National Theatre Opera. Recently, he has guest appeared as Lensky in Bremen; Prince in Rusalka at the Teatr Wielki in Łodz, at the Glyndebourne Festival and Teatro Municipal de Santiago, Chile; as Lukáš (Smetana: The Kiss) at the Opera Festival in Wexford; Janáček‘s Boris and Laca in Aarhus, Denmark, or Babinsky (Weinberger: Schwanda the Bagpiper) at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo. In addition to his operatic work Peter Berger is a prolific concert artist, and has sung with the Czech and Slovak Philharmonic Orchestras as well as PKF – Prague Philharmonia, Brno Philharmonic, Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra and the State Philharmonic Košice.
Photo: Marek Olbrzymek