Estonian bass-baritone Lauri Vasar was born in Tallinn and studied there and at the Salzburg Mozarteum. He made his stage debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2003 (Die Bakchantinnen, Don Carlos). Notable engagements include appearances as Gunther and Donner in Wagner’s Ring Cycle, Orest (Elektra), Amfortas (Parsifal), the title role of Le nozze di Figaro and Sharpless (Madama Butterfly) for the Staatsoper Berlin; Olivier (Capriccio) for Opéra national de Paris, Lyon Opera and La Monnaie, Brussels; Gunther (Götterdämmerung) for Teatro Real, Madrid; Kovalyov (The Nose) for Zurich Opera; Wolfram (Tannhäuser), Gunther and Amfortas forBudapest Wagner Days; and the title role of Il prigioniero for Athens Opera, Staatsoper Hannover, Royal Festival Hall in London, De Nederlandse Opera, and Opéra national de Lyon.
Other roles in his repertory include Shaklovity (Khovanshchina), Marcello (La bohème), Belcor (L’elisir d’amore), Yeletsky (The Queen of Spades), Escamillo (Carmen), Lescaut (Manon Lescaut), the Forester (The Cunning Little Vixen) and the title roles of Don Giovanni, Il nozze di Figaro and Eugene Onegin.
In the 2025/26 season, Vasar will return to the Staatsoper unter den Linden for their Ring Cycle as Gunther in Götterdämmerung and also will debut as Barak Die Frau ohne Schatten at Teatr Wielki in Warsaw. Last season saw Vasar perform as Schelkalov in Boris Godunov at the Staatsoper Hamburg; Orest Elektra and Amfortas Parsifal, both at Staatsoper unter den Linden and Wolfram Tannhäuser at the Budapest Wagner Days. Recent successes include a highly acclaimed Papageno Die Zauberflöte at San Francisco Opera where Vasar was described as ‘the star of the show’ (Opera Today); Sharpless Madama Butterfly at the Royal Ballet & Opera; Graf von Gloster Lear at Teatro Real and Orest Elektra at Staatsoper unter den Linden.
Other highlights include King Lessons in Love and Violence (Opernhaus Zürich); Orest Elektra (Staatsoper Hamburg); Papageno Die Zauberflöte and Wolfram Tannhäuser (Estonian National Opera); Gunther and Donner Der Ring des Nibelungen (Staatsoper unter den Linden); Gunther Götterdämmerung (Teatro Real); Donner Das Rheingold (Opéra national de Paris); Sharpless Madama Butterfly (Staatsoper unter den Linden); and Don Carlos Betrothal in a Monastery (Staatsoper unter den Linden).
Vasar has sung under the baton of many renowned conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Christian Thielemann, Simone Young, Bertrand de Billy, Sebastian Weigle, Kirill Petrenko, Adam Fischer, Peter Schneider, Gustavo Dudamel, and Phillippe Jordan and has worked with acclaimed directors such as Robert Carsen, Stefan Herheim, Calixto Bieto, Peter Stein, and Christoph Loy.
He nominated for the Faust Prize for his portrayal of Billy Budd at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein.
