Born in Budapest, Hungary, Károly Szemerédy has been singing since at the age of eleven, when he joined the children’s choir of the Budapest National Opera. Subsequently, he trained the voice under Margit Laszlo and studied hospitality and management at Corvinas University. He has a degree from the Escuela Superior de Canto de Madrid, where he studied with Manuel Cid. He has participated in master classes led by Teresa Berganza, Robert Scandiuzzi and Raul Jimenez. Mr Szemerédy is the winner of the 2008 Jacinto Guerrera competition in Madrid and the third-prize winner of Placido Domingo's Operalia in Quebec.
He made his debut at the Teatro Real in Madrid, singing Levitsky in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov (2007), followed Don Basilio in Emilio Sagi and Raul Jimenez’s production of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. In 2009 he made his debut at the Teatro Segura in Lima, Peru, singing Giorgio Vermont/La Traviata. In the 2009/10 season he performed in Jenůfa and Andrea Chénier at the Teatro Real in Madrid. He also sang Villotto in Haydn's La vera costanza under Jesús López Cobos.
In 2010 he took part in the Festival del Mediterrane in Valencia, performing in R. Strauss's Salome under Zubin Mehta. He also made his debut at the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera as Conte Almaviva in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, followed by Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen. He created the role of Andrea Cornaro in Caterina Cornaro at Amsterdam's Concertgebouw. He gave recitals at the music festivals of Segovia, Granada, Toledo and San Sebastian, and took part in a range of concerts in Hungary, Romania, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Peru. Lately, he has performed in Pampeluna (Ivan the Terrible) with the Navarra Symphony Orchestra.
Recent and future operatic engagements include: Escamillo/Carmen in Venice and Turin, Nikitych/Boris Godunov in Madrid and Bayerische Staatsoper, Harasta/The Cunning Little Vixen in Lyon, Michele/Tabarro and the eponymous Gianni Schicchi in Maribor, Swallow/Peter Grimes and Vodnik/Rusalka in Lyon, Orest/Elektra in Antwerp, Leonardo/Vérnász in Budapest, Brutalmonte/Fierrabras in Brussels, Solomon/Queen of Saba in Freiburg and Budapest, Escamillo/Carmen and Riff/West Side Story in Budapest, Palemon/Thais and Orest/Elektra in São Paulo, Adorno in Michel Tabachnik’s Benjamin, dernière nuit in Lyon.
(photo: artist’s archive)
