Richard Smagur, of Clarkesville, Georgia, was named a winner in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions earlier this year, and was seen this summer as Tsarevitch Gvidon in The Golden Cockerel at Santa Fe Opera. He has appeared professionally as Tamino in The Magic Flute with OK Mozart and covered Des Grieux in Manon at Des Moines Metro Opera. In concert, he has performed in Elijah with the Tucson Desert Song Festival and as a tenor soloist with the Cincinnati Boy Choir. During the summer of 2016, he was a fellow at the Steans Music Institute at Ravinia Music Festival. He participated in HGO’s Young Artists Vocal Academy in 2012. Smagur’s roles during his training at Indiana University include the title role in Peter Grimes, B.F. Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly, Don José in Carmen, Tamino in The Magic Flute, Ralph Rackstraw in H.M.S. Pinafore, and the Prince in Cendrillon.

He will sing Gastone de Letorières in La traviata and Young Servant in Elektra during the 2017–18 season at Houston Grand Opera, where he will be a member of the studio