Richard Trey Smagur

Richard Trey Smagur’s career is one of steady progress. He was an Apprentice Singer at the Santa Fe Opera in 2017, when he assumed the role of Prince Gvidon in The Golden Cockerel and sang in the choruses of Die Fledermaus and Lucia di Lammermoor. He returned to the Santa Fe Opera stage in 2019 as Steva in Jenůfa. This year he will portray Erik in The Flying Dutchman, alongside Nicholas Brownlee and Bille Bruley, also former Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Singers. (See adjacent profiles.) 

Born and raised in Clarksville, Georgia, this talented young tenor won the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions in 2017 and was a member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio program for young artists in 2018 and 2019. He has since returned to the HGO to sing the role of Don José in Carmen, which he also portrayed for the San Jose Opera and Atlanta Opera.

Mr. Smagur was remarkably busy in 2022. He made his Met Opera debut as the First Armored Man in The Magic Flute and covered the role of Junge Diener in Elektra for that same company. He also sang principal roles in Wolf Trap’s production of La traviata (Alfredo) and Die Walküre (Sigmund) for Virginia Opera.

He has performed in concert with the Reno Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Aspen Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, and the Tucson Desert Song Festival.

Mr. Smagur has won many awards and grants. In addition to the Met Opera’s National Council Auditions, he was awarded a development grant from the Sullivan Foundation, the Richard F. Gold Career Grant from the Shoshana Foundation, and the Sarah Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation. He earned his Bachelor of Music from Shorter College and a Performer’s Diploma from the prestigious Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, where he was a Georgina Joshi Fellowship Scholar. Here is a LINK to Mr. Smagur’s website.