Steponas Zonys

INTRODUCTION

Baritone Steponas Zonys is an ensemble member of the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre. He has a charming full lyric voice characterized by its delightful quality and powerful delivery. His achievements have been recognized with awards such as the Opera Hope of the Year and Best Opera Singer of the Year at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre for 2021 and 2022.

RECENT AND FUTURE ENGAGEMENTS

Steponas Zonys’ most recent engagements at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre include a role debut as Sharpless in Madama Butterfly (a co-production with the Metropolitan Opera and English National Opera); role debuts as Titas in Lamb of God and Rodrigo Posa in Don Carlos; the title role in Don Giovanni; Faninal in Der Rosenkavalier; Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia; the title role in Eugene Onegin; Escamillo in Carmen; Valentin in Faust; Ping in Turandot; Marcello in La bohème; and Danilo in Die lustige Witwe (a.o.).

His 25/26 projects at the LNOBT include Arnoldo in I Lituani, Ping in Turandot, Rodrigo in Don Carlo, the title role in Don Giovanni, Demetrius in a new staging of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Britten, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, and Michele in Il tabarro.

International appearances include a role debut as Michonnet in Adriana Lecouvreur at the Estonia Opera Festival; Escamillo in Carmen at the Teatro Politeama Greco in Lecce, Michonnet (cover) in Adriana Lecouvreur in Parma, Modena, and Piacenza, and Strauss’ The Gypsy Baron in Chicago, USA.

In concert, he has performed Morel in Thérèse (concert version) at the Pažaislis Festival with the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, Fauré’s Requiem with the Lithuanian National Philharmonic, and The Creation of the World by L. Vilkončius with the Lithuanian Symphony Orchestra.

BIOGRAPHY

Baritone Steponas Zonys graduated from Lithuania Music and Theatre Academy with studies of Vocal Performance in 2016 (class of prof. Eduardas Kaniava). During his studies, he had been working at Klaipėda State Musical Theatre (2014-2019), where he sang several major baritone roles. In 2016-2017 the singer participated in the LNOBT Opera Trainee Programme.

Since 2019 he has been an ensemble member of the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre.

Recent Past Engagements

In 2021, Steponas portrayed Valentin in Faust and Faninal in D. Michieletto’s production of Der Rosenkavalier at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre. His versatility shone through in 2019 with roles such as Marcello in La bohème, Don Giovanni in the production of the same name at Klaipeda State Musical Theatre, Maximilian in Candide, and Mr. Astley in V. Barkhatov’s production of The Gambler at the Lithuania National Opera and Ballet Theatre.

Zonys has a string of notable performances, including Eisenstein in Fledermaus (2019), Ping in R. Wilson’s production of Turandot (2019), and Figaro in Il barbiere di Seviglia(2018) at Klaipeda State Musical Theatre. His earlier contributions to the opera repertoire include the roles of Count Danilo in Die lustige Witwe (2017), Silvio in I Pagliacci (2017), Robert in Iolanta (2017), Belcore in L’elisir d’amore (2016), and Schaunard in La bohème (2016), all performed at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre.

Awards

Steponas Zonys is laureate of many republic and baltic states competitions. In 2019 he was given the Opera Hope of the Year award at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre and the Most Beloved Artist prize chosen by the audience at Klaipėda State Musical Theater. In 2021 and 2022 he was given the Best Opera Singer of the Year award at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre. The singer has been awarded the Lithuania President Dalia Grybauskaitė’s award for international merits to Lithuania.