Lohengrin, Vida Miknevičiūtė as Elsa - Scene from the the 1st act

Lithuanian-born soprano, Vida Miknevičiūtė, received her master‘s degree in singing at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater in Kaunas. In 2003, she received the Erasmus scholarship that took the young singer to Leipzig, where she continued her studies at the „Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy“ Academy of Music. These studies opened to her the door to Europe. From 2005 to 2007, Miknevičiūtė was a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zürich Opera House as well as had guest engagements with the Festival Aix-en-Provence and Theater Basel. 2008 to 2010 she was engaged at the International Opera Studio of the Hamburg State Opera. Since 2011, Mikneviciute was a member of the ensemble of the State Theater in Mainz. 2017/18 she made her debut as Elisabeth (“Don Carlo”) and as The Great Whore in “Antikrist” by Langgaard. In 2018, at State Theater Wiesbaden, she made her debut as Senta in “Der fliegende Holländer”. After her debut in 2019 in Richard Strauss’ “Elektra” conducted by D. Barenboim in “Unter den Linden”, the German media named her as “a discovery of the night”, and “Miknevičiūtė alone makes the performance worth attending”.
In December 2021, the Spanish controversialist Calixto Bieito finally staged a long-postponed Lohengrin at Staatsoper Berlin. So powerful a performance is astonishing under the circumstances: as Germany is closing its theaters again in response to COVID-19, the production was presented for one performance only without any audience. Moreover, the two leading performers were singing their roles for the first time. Soprano Vida Miknevičiūtė revealed a bright, shimmering voice with an exciting bite on top notes as Elsa and veteran tenor Roberto Alagna took on his first Wagner role with panache and vocal refinement. Miknevičiūtė once again showed her intense soprano with a wide range of dramatic nuances, a mix of melancholy and invincible determination.