Dimitri Platanias

Baritone

Biography

Born in Greece, he is now recognised as one of the foremost Verdi Baritones of his generation. Winning the Alexandra Trianti Scholarship enabled him to study in Italy under Masako Tanaka Protti and at the showcase concert for the winners of this bequest, Rodney Milnes said in Opera Magazine: The most impressive singer was the baritone Dimitris Platanias, who on this showing could sing Rigoletto anywhere in the world: beautifully warm, heroic tone, a dynamic range from forte to a pianissimo that lost nothing in colour or substance, musicianship and instinctive feeling for text – a name to watch out for in the current dearth of Verdi baritones.

He went on to make his debut at Greek National Opera and his first appearance in Italy as Gerard ANDREA CHENIER. His debut at La Fenice di Venezia was as RIGOLETTO, a role that he has since made his own and it was as RIGOLETTO that he made his highly acclaimed debut at the Royal Opera Covent Garden, leading Richard Morrison of The Times to say: …and the stunning Greek baritone Dimitri Platanias, making his Covent Garden debut. As for Platanias, I have rarely heard the title role sung with such gloriously sustained tone and line, or such thrilling power… a voice that I would like to hear much more.

Debuts followed at the Bayerische Staatsoper as SIMON BOCCANEGRA, where he also returned for the title role of NABUCCO and Montfort LES VÊPRES SICILIENNE. His debut in the role of STIFFILIO at Teatro La Fenice, was repeated at Oper Frankfurt where he also appeared as Iago OTELLO and Scarpia TOSCA. At the Osterfestspiele Salzburg he appeared as Tonio I PAGLIACCI (released on DVD) and his debut at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia was as NABUCCO. He combined both Alfio CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA and Tonio I PAGLIACCI at the Royal Opera Covent Garden (released on DVD) to much acclaim and repeated these two roles for his USA debut at San Francisco Opera. The San Francisco Chronicle said: and Platanias, whose singing as the malevolent Tonio – and especially in the opera’s prologue – displayed a wondrous new fluency and luster, James Ambroff-Tahan of the San Francisco Examiner called him: the smoldering baritone Dimitri Platanias, who was making his SFO debut and Opera Warhorses referred to the I Pagliacci Prologue as spectacularly sung by Platanias.

He returned to the Concertgebouw Amsterdam for an outstanding SIMON BOCCANEGRA and to ROH Covent Garden again for RIGOLETTO, streamed in cinemas internationally. He made his debut at Teatro Maggio Musicale Fiorentino as NABUCCO and returned to Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie for CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA. His debut at the Hamburgische Staatsoper was as MACBETH, returning to sing NABUCCO in the challenging production by Kirill Serebrennikov. He made his debut at Teatro Real Madrid as Conte di Luna IL TROVATORE and enjoyed an outstanding success at ROH Covent Garden as Gérard ANDREA CHENIER, about which Richard Morrison of The Times wrote: it’s a showcase for great voices. And here you get one firing on all cylinders. Unfortunately, it doesn’t belong to the two lovers. It’s the Greek baritone Dimitri Platanias, singing with magnificent clarity and passion as the conflicted Gerard, a Scarpia with a conscience. And Ditlev Rindom of Opera Magazine praised him as follows: Dimitri Platanias gave one of his most committed London performances yet as Gérard, marrying his always rock-steady baritone to increasing levels of introspection. “Nemico della patria” was rightly a highlight, propelled by Platanias’s excellent breath control and his sure sense of scale.

At Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie he sang Giacomo GIOVANNA D’ARCO, which was enthusiastically received by the critics. OperaOnLine wrote: A leurs côtés, le baryton grec Dimitri Platanias campe un Giacomo de haut vol. Avec son cantabile d’une grande noblesse et son phrasé souverainement raffiné, il offre une incarnation bouleversante de son personnage.

At the beginning of 2023 he made an outstanding role debut as Falstaff for Greek National Opera, which was praised by John Allison of Opera Magazine April 2023: At the head of an almost entirely Greek cast, Dimitri Platanias was singing his first Falstaff and proved himself again a serious performer with absolute grasp of the way text and music work together… This was a Falstaff supremely confident in his own considerable skin, not playing the role unduly for laughs. In the first scene his interplay with Bardolfo …Pistola, Dr Caius…and his Page… was nicely judged.

And at the Athens Festival in summer 2023 he appeared once again as Nabucco, causing Helena Matheopoulos in Opera Now October 2023 to write: At the premiere the title role was sung by Dimitri Platanias, a baritone well known and loved by Covent Garden audiences, who delivered one of the most rounded and moving portrayals of his career. One expected his booming baritone voice to soar in Nabucco’s triumphant moments, but what surprised those who have followed his career, was the extreme vocal sensitivity and variety of colours with which he expressed his deep compassion for the crushed hero’s vulnerable moments. Seldom have I been so deeply moved by a portrayal of this role.

Roles performed

AIDA: Amonasro

ROH Covent Garden
Teatro Regio Torino
Odeon of Herodes Atticus
Thessaloniki Opera
Teatro dell’Opera Giocosa di Savona
Teatro Goldoni di Livorno
Bregenzer Festspiele

ALCESTE: High Priest

Megaron Athens

ANDREA CHENIER: Gérard

Royal Opera Covent Garden
Greek National Opera
Teatro Sociale di Rovigo
Il Politeama di Catanzaro
Teatro Sociale di Trento
Teatro Goldoni di Livorno

UN BALLO IN MASCHERA: Renato

Greek National Opera

LA BOHEME: Marcello

Greek National Opera

CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA: Alfio

San Francisco Opera
Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie
ROH Covent Garden
Odeon of Herodes Atticus
Greek National Opera

DON CARLO: Rodrigo, Marquis of Posa

Teatro Nacional de São Carlos

DON GIOVANNI: Leporello

Greek National Opera

FALSTAFF: Title role

Greek National Opera

FAUST: Valentin

Megaron Athens

LA GIOCONDA: Barnaba

Greek National Opera

GIOVANNA D’ARCO: Giacomo

Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie

LOHENGRIN: Telramund

Greek National Opera

MACBETH: Title role

Hamburgische Staatsoper

MADAMA BUTTERFLY: Sharpless

Odeon of Herodes Atticus

MARATHON-SALAMIS: Xerxes

Greek National Opera

NABUCCO: Title role

Hamburgische Staatsoper
Munich Festival
Bayerische Staatsoper
Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino
ROH Covent Garden
Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia Valencia
Staatstheater Stuttgart
Megaron Athens
Odeon of Herodes Atticus
Teatro Castello di Vigoleno
Teatro dell’Opera Giocosa di Savona

LE NOZZE DI FIGARO: Figaro

Greek National Opera

OTELLO: Iago

Oper Frankfurt
Teatro la Fenice di Venezia
Odeon of Herodes Atticus

I PAGLIACCI: Tonio

San Francisco Opera
ROH Covent Garden
Osterfestspiele Salzburg
Odeon of Herodes Atticus
Greek National Opera

O PROTOMASTORAS: The Master

Greek National Opera/Megaron

RIGOLETTO: Title role

ROH Covent Garden
Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie
London Symphony Orchestra (Barbican Centre)
Teatro La Fenice di Venezia
Teatro Massimo Palermo
Casa da Música, Porto
Greek National Opera
Concertgebouw Amsterdam

SAMSON ET DALILA: Grand Prêtre

Teatro G. Verdi di Trieste

SIMON BOCCANEGRA: Title role

Bayerische Staatsoper
Royal Opera Muscat
Concertgebouw Amsterdam
Greek National Opera

SIMON BOCCANEGRA: Paolo Albiani

ROH Covent Garden
Megaron Athens
Teatro Verdi Salerno

STIFFELIO: Stankar

Teatro La Fenice di Venezia
Oper Frankfurt

TOSCA: Scarpia

Deutsche Oper Berlin
Oper Frankfurt
Megaron Athens
Opera Ireland
Odeon of Herodes Atticus
Oper der Stadt Köln

LA TRAVIATA: Giorgio Germont

ROH Covent Garden
Teatro La Fenice di Venezia
Greek National Opera
Glyndebourne Festival
Odeon of Herodes Atticus

IL TROVATORE: Conte di Luna

Teatro Real Madrid
Odeon of Herodes Atticus

I VESPRI SICILIANI: Guido di Monteforte

Megaron Athens

LES VEPRES SICILIANI: Montfort

Bayerische Staatsoper

Video

Audio

Simon Boccanegra – extracts part 1

Simon Boccanegra – extracts part 2

Conductors and Directors he has worked with

Martin Andre; Philippe Auguin; Maurizio Benini; Bertrand de Billy; Giuliano Carella; Paolo Carignani; Myung Wun Chung; Giuseppe Finzi; Riccardo Frizza; James Gaffigan; John Eliot Gardiner; Leo Hussain; Alexander Joel; Lukas Karytinos; Axel Kober Nicola Luisotti; Gianluca Martinenghi; Diego Matheuz; Myron Michailidis; Carlo Montanaro; Pier Giorgio Morandi; Gianandrea Noseda; Daniel Oren; Antonio Pappano; Renato Palumbo; Evelino Pidò; Carlo Rizzi; Daniele Rustioni; Nello Santi; Giovanni di Stefano; Christian Thielemann.
Daniele Abbado; Robert Carsen; Johannes Erath; Rudolf Frey; Yannis Kokkos; Stephen Langridge; David McVicar; Jakob Peters-Messer; Damiano Michieletto; Elija Moshinsky; Leo Muscato; Nikos Petropoulos; Philip Stölzl; Graham Vick.

Recordings

PAGLIACCI: DVD Osterfestspiele Salzburg, cond. Christian Thielemann – Sony Unitel Classica;
CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA PAGLIACCI: DVD ROH Covent Garden, cond. Antonio Pappano – Opus Arte.

Photos

Scroll to Top