Mihai Damian
Baritono
Mihai Damian won the 2025 edition of the Operalia competition, also taking home the Rolex Audience Award and the Cultural Award.
Winner of the 62nd Viñas International Competition, he obtained the second prize and awards such as the Audience Prize, the Verdi Prize, the Houston Grand Opera Prize, the Teatro Real Prize, Best Baritone and European Opera Centre Prize; he stood on the podium at the Eva Marton International Singing Competition in Budapest and won the Eva Kleinitz Award for Young Talents at the Portofino International Opera Competition. In Romania he won the Grand Prix and the Audience Award at the Verum Solitus Vocal Competition, the First Prize at the Mozart International Competition and the Grand Prix at the Alexandru Fărcaș Vocal Competition.
After graduating in 2024 from the Gheorghe Dima National Music Academy, where he studied orchestral conducting and singing, he was invited to join the cast of the Romanian National Opera in Cluj as Belcore in L’Elisir d’amore, Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, the Count in Le Nozze di Figaro, Sonora in La Fanciulla del West and Marcello in La Bohème.
As a guest artist, he performed Masetto in Don Giovanni with the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Escamillo in Carmen at the Romanian National Opera in Bucharest, Paolo in Simon Boccanegra at the Romanian National Opera in Timisoara, Donald in Billy Budd at the Enescu Festival, Guglielmo in Le Villi at the Konzerthaus Berlin and Giacomo in Giovanna d’Arco at the Ópera de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.
In the 25/26 season he makes his debut as Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette in Rome and as Ford in Falstaff at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari. He performs Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death with the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and interprets Daniele in the world premiere of Giordano's Marina in concert with I Pomeriggi Musicali.
His symphonic vocal repertoire includes Carmina Burana, Rachmaninoff's The Bells, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Fauré's Requiem, Puccini's Messa di Gloria and the Messa per Rossini.
He makes his debut at the Arena di Verona for the 2026 Festival in the Unesco special event and in the productions of La Traviata, La Bohème and Carmina Burana.
Biography updated to July 2026
