Zdeněk Plech

Bass Zdeněk Plech was born in Brno, where he graduated from the Janáček Academy of Music. In 2002 he was a finalist of the prestigious Ferruccio Tagliavini bel canto singing competition in Graz. Between 2000 and 2004 he was a soloist of the National Theatre in Brno. Since 2004 he has been a soloist at the National Theatre in Prague.

His operatic repertoire includes e.g. Mozart’s Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte), Masetto and Commendatore (Don Giovanni), Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, Verdi’s Ramfis (Aida), Puccini’s Collin (La bohème), Tchaikovsky’s Gremin (Eugene Onegin) and from the Czech repertoire among others Smetana’s Kecal (The Bartered Bride).

In 2003 he was invited to the opera festival in Cincinnati (USA) and in 2004 he appeared in the role of Tom (Verdi: Un ballo in maschera) at the festival in San Sebastian (Spain). In the years 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2009 he performed at the open air festival in Gars am Kamp, Austria. Since 2006 he has been a permanent guest of the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, where he has performed the role of Oroveso (Bellini: Norma), Wagner’s Fasolt (Das Rheingold) and Hagen (Götterdämmerung), Don Fernando in Beethoven’s Fidelio and others. In 2006 he debuted in the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin (Ramfis in Aida), and in the years 2007 and 2010 he sang in the Metropolitan Opera Phoenix (USA) in La bohème and Die Zauberflöte.

He also devotes to concert activity, oratorios, cantatas (Dvořák: Stabat Mater, Rossini: Petite messe solennelle, Bach: Weihnachtsoratorium), and songs (Tchaikovsky, Musorgsky, Grieg). In 2004 he sang Dvořák’s Stabat Mater in Spain and Japan. With soprano Eva Urbanová he recorded a Christmas CD for Supraphon label. His other recordings include Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen (BBC) and The Excursions of Mr Brouček (Deutsche Grammophon, the best recordings of the year 2009), and Dvořák’s Stabat Mater (Sony Classical). In 2008 he recorded his first solo CD with Dvořák’s Biblical Songs (BBC London). Zdeněk Plech is a laureate of the prize offered by the Czech bank Komerční banka for the best performance on the stage of the National Theatre in the year 2005.