George Petean is one of the most sought-after Verdi baritones of our time. He appears regularly on the most important international opera stages, such as the Vienna State Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Zurich Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Bavarian State Opera, Metropolitan Opera New York, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Semperoper Dresden, Teatro Real Madrid, Teatro alla Scala, and the Teatro Comunale Bologna, San Francisco Opera, among others.

George studied piano and trombone at the music school in his native Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and later singing at the Music Academy “Gh. Dima.” He improved his technique and artistry with Vicente Sardinero and Giorgio Zancanaro. After graduating from the “Gheorghe Dima” Music Academy, he made his professional stage debut in 1997 in Timișoara in the title role of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. In 1999, he became the Grand Prix winner at the international singing competition “Hariclea Darclée” (Romania) and soon after made his international debut as Marcello in Puccini’s La Bohème at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome.

He was a member of the Hamburg State Opera from 2002 to 2010 and continues to perform regularly at the most prestigious opera houses worldwide. He has collaborated with renowned conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Riccardo Chailly, Zubin Mehta, Nicola Luisotti, Fabio Luisi, Marco Armiliato, and Renato Palumbo, among others.

His repertoire is mainly based on Giuseppe Verdi’s works, but it also includes roles from operas such as Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore and Lucia di Lammermoor, Bellini’s I Puritani and Il Pirata, Puccini’s La Bohème and Madama Butterfly, Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci, and Umberto Giordano’s Andrea Chénier.

Well-known as a ‘Verdi baritone,’ Petean opened the season in the title role of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, under Riccardo Muti. His debut at Teatro alla Scala was in the 2018/2019 season opening, in Verdi’s Attila conducted by Riccardo Chailly.

He recorded Mascagni’s L’Amico Fritz alongside Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna, released on CD by Deutsche Grammophon in 2009. His performance in the title role of Donizetti’s Le Duc d’Albe, conducted by Paolo Carignani at the Vlaamse Opera Antwerp, was released by Dynamic as the world premiere CD recording of this opera. He also appears in recordings of Verdi’s Luisa Miller and Attila, released by BR-Klassik.

His DVD recordings include Verdi’s Il Trovatore (live recording from the Orange Festival, 2015), Verdi’s Rigoletto (Zurich Opera, conducted by Fabio Luisi, 2015), Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera (led by Zubin Mehta, released by Unitel in March 2017), and Giordano’s Andrea Chénier (alongside Kaufmann and Harteros, released by Unitel).

Future projects include new productions of Un Ballo in Maschera at Zurich Opera House, Rigoletto at Teatro Regio di Torino, Il Trovatore in Hamburg, Don Carlo at Bayerische Staatsoper, and La Traviata at Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, among others.