Hungarian bass Bálint Szabó made his Royal Opera debut in 2009 as the Prefect (Linda di Chamounix in concert) and has since returned to sing Prince de Bouillon (Adriana Lecouvreur). In the 2017/18 Season he returns to sing Oroe (Semiramide).

Szabó was born in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and studied at the Gheorghe Dima Music Academy and the International Vocal Arts Institute in New York and Tel Aviv. He was a member of Cluj-Napoca Hungarian Opera 1990–95, of Hamburg State Opera 2003–5 and of Frankfurt Opera 2005–9. Opera engagements include Philip II (Don Carlos), Selim (Il turco in Italia), Sparafucile (Rigoletto) and Publio (La clemenza di Tito) in Hamburg, Don Giovanni, Méphistophélès (Faust), Fiesco (Simon Boccanegra) and Raimondo (Lucia di Lammermoor) in Frankfurt, Procida (Les Vêpres siciliennes) for Dutch National Opera, Greek National Opera and Grand Théâtre de Genève, Méphistophélès in Düsseldorf and Timişoara, Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte) in Strasbourg and Nice, Stromminger (La Wally) and Comte des Grieux (Manon) in Geneva, Fiesco in Zürich, Publio for Paris Opéra, Don Alfonso (Lucrezia Borgia) for Teatro Municipal de Santiago, Walter (Luisa Miller) in Stuttgart and for Opéra Royal de Wallonie and Douglas (La donna del lago) for La Scala, Milan. He regularly sings Duke Bluebeard (Bluebeard’s Castle) in concert and in staged performances, for companies and ensembles including Budapest National Opera, Hamburg State Opera, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse.

In 2004, Szabó was made a Knight of the Order of Merit by the Romanian Government for his services to the arts.

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