Iurii Samoilov

Ukrainian baritone Iurii Samoilov has recently been praised for his “warm tone and emotional expressivity” (El País), his convincing character portrayals (OperaWire), and his “effortless technique” (Houston Press). 

The 2025–26 season opens with Samoilov returning to The Cleveland Orchestra for Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, conducted by Franz Welser-Möst. He will then make his role debut as Sharpless in Madama Butterfly at Irish National Opera. Following that, Samoilov returns to the Metropolitan Opera as Schaunard in La bohème and appears at Houston Grand Opera in a new production of Kevin Puts’s Silent Night as Lieutenant Audebert. Additionally, he returns to the Gran Teatre del Liceu to perform Manon Lescaut and makes his role debut as Robert in Iolanta at Finnish National Opera. 

Recent operatic highlights include engagements at Houston Grand Opera, the Salzburg Festival, Teatro Real Madrid, Opéra National de Paris, and Dutch National Opera. On the concert platform, Samoilov has appeared with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Orchestre de Paris, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and numerous other orchestras. He also appeared on the 2023 New Year’s Eve Concert at the Staatskapelle Dresden under Franz Welser-Möst. 

Samoilov grew up in Yuzhne, Ukraine. He graduated from the National Music Academy in Kyiv, where he studied vocal performance with Roman Mayboroda. He also pursued postgraduate studies at the Dutch National Opera Academy and became a member of the Dutch National Opera Studio. At the beginning of his career, Samoilov participated in numerous academies and projects for young artists, including the Solti Academy, Accademia Rossiniana (Pesaro), Mozart Academy (Aix-en-Provence), and the Young Singers Project (Salzburg). From 2012 to 2022, he was a member of the Oper Frankfurt ensemble, where he performed iconic baritone roles in The Barber of Seville, The Magic Flute, Eugene Onegin, Don Giovanni, and Peter Grimes, among others. 

Samoilov was a finalist at the 2017 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition and a recipient of the Päsel Foundation Award.