Lithuanian mezzo-soprano Eglė Šidlauskaitė has been acclaimed for her intense and dramatic performances in repertoire encompassing Mozart, Donizetti, Bellini, Verdi, Wagner, Tchaikovsky and Strauss. Her recent engagements include Jeanne d’Arc the Maid of Orlèans for Domstufen-Festspiele Erfurt, Romeo i Capuleti ed i Montecchi for the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre of Vilnius and Eboli Don Carlos at the Lithuanian National Opera, Latvian National Opera, Riga, and Estonian National Opera, Tallinn. Other recent engagements include Olga Eugene Onegin and the role of the Countess in Onutė Narbutaitė’s Cornet for the Lithuanian National Opera, the title-role Carmen for the Music Theatre of Klaipėda, Dorabella Così fan tutte at the Verbier Festival, Gertrud Hänsel und Gretel at the Vilnius City Opera, Azucena il Trovatore with the Compagnia d’Opera Italiana di Milano, which later toured Germany, Austria and France.
Upcoming engagements include the reprise as Eboli Don Carlo at Lithuanian National Opera and her debut as Venus Tannhäuser at New National Theatre Tokyo.
Her roles in Germany have included the already mentioned lead role from the Maid of Orlèans at Domstufen-Festspiele Erfurt; Fenena Nabucco at Theater Freiburg and Dritte Dame die Zauberflöte, Blumenmädchen Parsifal and Sonyetka Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at Staatstheater Kassel. She covered Ekaterina Gubanova in a production of Don Carlos at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, conducted by Zubin Mehta.
On the concert platform Ms Šidlauskaitė’s has performed Beethoven Missa Solemnis with the Vilnius Philharmonic, Berlioz la Mort de Cleopatra with the National Lithuanian Philharmonic and Elgar music makers op. 69 at the Teatro de Colón with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia. She is featured on commercial recordings of Rigoletto as Giovanna starring Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Nadine Sierra and Simon Boccanegra as Amelia starring Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Barbara Frittoli, the latter of which won the Grammy for best Opera Recording. She has collaborated with Thomas Quasthoff at the Verbier Festival and given concerts with Kiri te Kanawa in Dublin conducted by Patrik Ringborg.
Following undergraduate studies at the Lithuanian Academy of Theatre and Music Ms Šidlauskaitė undertook graduate studies at the Conservatorio di Musica Giuseppe Verdi in Milan and went on to win the Special Prize »Deutsche Oper am Rhein« at the competizione dell’opera, First prize at the international competition Giuseppina Cobelli, Italy, First prize at the competition Capriolo in Franciacorta, First Prize at the international competition Antonina Campi, Poland, the Special Prize City of Crema Competizione Lirica Internazionale Portofino and in 2013 was a finalist in the bbc Cardiff singer of the world. She has also won the Lithuanian golden cross, the highest award for performing arts for her performances as Eboli Don Carlos, and the Lithuanian Opera Award – artist of the year in 2016.
