
Biography
Lithuanian mezzo-soprano Justina Gringytė has received high praise for her “knockout technique” (The Times) and “thunderously powerful voice” (The Telegraph). She was awarded Young Singer of the Year at the 2015 International Opera Awards, and is a graduate of the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
In the 2022/23 season she sings the title role in Massenet's Thérèse and title role Carmen for Scottish Opera, and Fenena Nabucco with Staatsoper Hamburg. She also performs Les Béatitudes of César Franck with Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège.
Recent operatic highlights include Maddalena Rigoletto (Opéra national de Paris; Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Teatro Real, Madrid; English National Opera and Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow); Amneris Aida (Israeli Opera); title role Hänsel Hänsel und Gretel (Korean National Opera and Vilnius City Opera); Suzuki Madama Butterfly (Gran Teatre del Liceu); Dalila Samson et Dalila (Vilnius City Opera); Romeo I Capuleti e i Montecchi (Lithuanian National Opera); Tigrana Edgar (Scottish Opera); title role Carmen (English National Opera, Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, Lithuanian National Opera, Teatro Massimo Palermo, Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre); Sara Roberto Devereux, Preziosilla La Forza del Destino and Fenena Nabucco (Welsh National Opera); Marguerite La damnation de Faust (Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow); Kaled Le roi de Lahore and Dulcinée Don Quichotte (Chelsea Opera Group); and Meg Page Falstaff (City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra).
Equally in demand on the concert platform, recent performances include Mahler’s Symphony No.2 ‘Resurrection’ with Euskadiko Orchestra, Corigliano’s One Sweet Morning and Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang, Op. 52 with the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society, Boulanger’s Psalm 130 (City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra at the BBC Proms); Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall); Mahler Symphony No 3 (Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra); Mahler Symphony No 8 (Philharmonia Orchestra); Verdi Requiem (Simón Bolívar Orchestra); Dvořák’s Stabat Mater (Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra); Raminta Šerkšnyte’s Songs of Sunset and Dawn (Lithuanian National Philharmonic Orchestra); Respighi Il tramonto and Britten Phaedra (Klaipėda Chamber Orchestra); a concert with Frankfurt Radio Symphony; and the closing concert of XV International Tytuvenai Festival with Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet House Orchestra.
Her debut recording The Complete Rachmaninov Songs (Delphian, with Iain Burnside) was shortlisted for the 2014 Gramophone Awards and her recording of Medtner songs, also with Iain Burnside, was released in 2018 to great acclaim, with Gramophone praising the disc’s “fresh new perspective”. Recent recitals include a recital of Rachmaninov songs with Julius Drake in Antwerp, a Wigmore Hall recital with Iain Burnside as part of their Russian series, and a series of recitals with Petras Geniušas.
J. Gringytė studied at Lithuania’s Academy of Music and Theatre, the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and the National Opera Studio in London.