Ilja Aksionov
tenor
© Christian Kleiner
The Lithuanian tenor Ilja Aksionov started his career as a boy, singing the title role in Rachel Portman's The Little Prince and as soloist in Leonard Bernstein's MASS. He started studying with Virgilijus Noreika at the Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy in Vilnius, and then with Konrad Jarnot at the Robert Schumann Conservatore in Düsseldorf. Last season he was a member of Les Arts Florissant's Le Jardin des Voix, touring Europe and North America with a production of Purcell's The Fairy Queen under William Christie and Paul Agnew. This young singer's repertoire includes Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Flute (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Gherardo (Gianni Schicchi) and the Teapot, Old Man and Tree Frog in Ravel's L’enfant et les sortilèges. He sang Alfred (Die Fledermaus) and Prince Ramiro (La Cenerentola) at the Ettlingen Festival. Other engagements have included Rodé in Peter Eötvös Three Sisters at Theater Hagen and Orphée in Glucks Orphée et Eurydice in Enschede. He recently sang in the semi chorus in Brett Dean's Hamlet at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich under Vladimir Jurowski. He has won various awards, including 1st prize at the 2015 Kaunas Sonorum International Competition and 2nd prize at the Città di Barletta competition in Italy. He was awarded a scholarship for the 2021/22 season by the Richard Wagner Verband Düsseldorf.