Albanian tenor Saimir Pirgu will make his LA Opera debut as Rinnuccio in Gianni Schicchi (September 2008). Born in 1981, he began his musical studies in 1988 at the Liceo d'Arte in his native city of Elbasan, as a violinist and continued studying singing at the Conservatories of Tirana and Bolzano, with Vito Brunetti who still is his teacher. After moving to Italy, he won in 2001 the prize as "Best Young Singer" at the "Umberto Sacchetti" Competition in Bologna and in 2002 the International Competition "Enrico Caruso" in Milan. Later that year he also won the "Tito Schipa" International Competition in Lecce.

Early engagements brought Saimir Pirgu to Strasburg and to the Rossini Festival in Wildbad, where he performed as Ermanno in L'equivoco stravagante with Alberto Zedda. Soon after he had his debut as Belfiore in Il viaggio a Reims at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, where he also sang the role of Alì in Rossini's Adina under the baton of Renato Palumbo in 2003. Daniel Oren called him to sing the role of Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, and with Giovanni Antonini he sang Paolino in Il matrimonio segreto in Bolzano.

2004 was his breakthrough year. He debuted in several operas by Mozart, singing the role of Ferrando in Così fan tutte, with Claudio Abbado in Ferrara, Reggio Emilia and Modena. After his first performance in Albania as Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore, staged at the National Opera Tirana, he was called by director Ioan Holender to sing the same role at the Vienna Staatsoper. This debut brought him the prestigious prize "Eberhard Waechter Gesangsmedaille". In summer 2004 he had his debut at the Salzburg Festival as Ferrando in Così fan tutte directed by Philippe Jordan. In autumn 2004 he appeared as Fenton in Falstaff, another great debut at the Vienna Staatsoper, where he also sang again the role of Nemorino and Ferrando, and with which he also done the Don Giovanni Japan tour with Seiji Ozawa. At the Teatro Real in Madrid he sang in Ramon Carnicer's Elena e Costantino, and in Munich as Ferrando in Così fan tutte. He sang Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni in Bilbaro, followed by engagements as Ferrando and Fenton at the Vienna Staatsoper.

His most recent appearances include La Traviata (Alfredo Germont) at the Zurich Opernhaus and at the Staatsoper Berlin, Don Giovanni and L'elisir d'amore at the Hamburg Staatsoper, Lortzig's Szenen aus Mozart Leben and Rendine's Un segreto d'importanza at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Falstaff at the Zurich Opernhaus. He returned to the Rossini Opera Festival for La cambiale di matrimonio (Edoardo Milfort) and Mozart's Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots (Cristiano). He also performed Così fan tutte in Lisbon, Don Giovanni in Valencia and La Traviata at the Berlin Staatsoper (December 2006) and at the Zurich Opernhaus (January 2007). Then he sung Don Giovanni (Don Ottavio), Falstaff (Fenton), L'elisir d'amore (Nemorino) at the Vienna Staatsoper and debuted at the Covent Garden as Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi (March 2007). In June 2007 he portrayed the role of Fenton (Falstaff) in Bologna. He has just sung the Petite Messe Solennelle at the Rossini Opera Festival.

He has recorded his first CD for Universal, Angelo casto e bel, a collection of tenor arias by Mozart, Pergolesi, Bononcini, Donizetti, Verdi, Massenet.

Highlights of his future engagements include Il burbero di buon cuore (Giocondo) in Madrid, Don Giovanni in Seville, Idomeneo with Nikolaus Harnoncourt at the Styriarte Festival in Graz, La Traviata in Lausanne, Falstaff in Barcellona. He will be again at the Vienna Staatsoper to perform L'elisir d'amore, Don Giovanni, Falstaff and La Traviata.

In 2008 he will sing at the Los Angeles Opera in a new production of Gianni Schicchi. Saimir Pirgu will also make an important debut as Alfredo Germont in La Traviata at the 2009 Santa Fe Opera Festival.