From his first steps on stage, Michele Kalmandy’s performances have been met with enthusiastic international critical acclaim. Reviews highlight his richly coloured voice, brilliant singing technique and charismatic stage presence.
He was only 24 when he graduated from the G. Dhima Music Academy Cluj-Napoca performing the title role of Verdi’s Nabucco which has since become one of his signature roles and was also the one to mark the start of his international career at Trieste’s Teatro Verdi. Numerous invitations to perform leading baritone roles followed, leading him to major opera houses, open air stages and concert halls across the world such as Teatro dell’Opera Rome, Terme di Caracalla, Teatro di San Carlo Naples, Teatro Massimo Bellini Catania, Wiener Musikverein, Tonhalle Zürich, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Royal Swedish Opera Stockholm, Barbican Centre London, Festival Theatre Edinburgh, Grand Théatre Bordeaux, Státní Opera Prague, Mikhailovsky Theater Sankt Petersburg, Hungarian State Opera Budapest, Savonlinna Opera Festival, Sala Sao Paulo, New Zealand Opera Wellington, Beijing Opera House, Seoul Opera House, etc.
His iconic performances of Wagner’s Flying Dutchman have prompted the artistic direction of the famous Seged Open Air Festival in 2016 to stage the first ever Wagner opera in the history of the then 85. year old festival, with resounding success.
During this time Kalmandy has worked with renowned conductors such as Lamberto Gardelli, Tiziano Severini, Pier Giorgio Morandi, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Fabrizio Maria Carminati, János Ács, Ervin Lukács, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Kent Nagano to name just a few. His most important partners on stage were, among others: Éva Marton, Edita Gruberova, Ana Netrebko, Andrea Rost, Daniela Dessì, Hanna Lisowska, Sylvia Sass, Norma Fantini, Patrizia Ciofi, Sanja Anastasia, José Cura, Piotr Beczala, Marius Vlad Budoiu, Gustavo Porta, Ferruccio Furlanetto and Yevgeny Nesterenko.
For his artistic achievements Kalmandy was awarded the title Kammersänger at the end of the theatrical season 2012/13. In spring 2015, the audience chose him as a new member of the Society of Immortal Artists, an honour which resulted in his footprint being immortalised in the pavement of Budapest’s theatre district. He has also been awarded the prestigious Juventus-, Bartók-Pásztory- and Melis György-awards. In November 2018 he has received the Závodszky Zoltán-award for his uniquely outstanding Wagner-interpretations.
In spring 2019 he has been awarded with the highest Hungarian state award for artistic achievements, the Kossuth-prize.