Martins Smaukstelis

Martins Smaukstelis is a Latvian born tenor who completed his Master of Arts degree at the Royal Academy of Music with Neil Mackie and Jonathan Papp. He was awarded a full entrance scholarship, which was made possible by Leverhulme Trust Postgraduate Scholarship. He had the opportunity to sing in public masterclasses with Dennis O’Neill at the Academy and Roger Vignoles at the Leeds Lieder Festival 2017. Martins sang the role of the Distiller in Royal Academy Opera’s production of Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera May Night and sang in the chorus for Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin and Handel's Ariodante. Recently Martins made his debut as Egisto in Cavalli's L'Egisto with HGO and will be returning in November as Basilio in Mozart's Marriage of Figaro. He also performed the roles of Lucano, Soldier 1 and Littore for New Opera Singapore production of Monteverdi's L’incoronazione di Poppea. In September Martins will sing in Grimeborn Festival 2021 as Adrian in Hopes and fears, Debussy's music with new arrangement and libretto in English with The Opera Makers. As a part of Royal Academy of Music Opera Scenes he performed various roles including Ferrando from Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte, Prunier from Puccini’s La Rondine and Nemorino from Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore. Martins was an understudy for the role of Bergerac in Offenbach's Vert-Vert in Garsington Opera, as well as being in the chorus for Rossini’s Maometto II, Beethoven’s Fidelio, and Mozart’s Entführung aus dem Serail. He has also sung for the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in their productions of Donizetti’s Poliuto, Bizet’s Carmen, Janacek’s Cunning little vixen and Wagner’s Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and for Wexford Festival Opera in their Cherubini’s Medea and Foroni’s Margherita. Martins also has a busy concert life and is appearing in oratorio performances all around the UK. Past performances include Mozart’s Requiem at St Martin-in-the-Fields and Mozart’s Coronation mass with the Buckingham Choral Society. Martins is also generously supported by the Josephine Baker Trust, Drake Calleja Trust and Countess of Munster Musical Trust.