Serbian baritone, Željko Lučić, continues to gain recognition for his performances of the dramatic repertoire in the world’s leading opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, San Francisco Opera, l’Opéra National de Paris, Teatro alla Scala and the Wiener Staatsoper. For his appearance in La forza del destino with San Francisco Opera, the Financial Times declared, “with this Don Carlo, Željko Lučić served notice that he is one of today’s pre-eminent Verdi baritones.”

His many engagements back in the 2007/08 season included the Metropolitan Opera, singing the title role in a new production of Verdi’s Macbeth (conducted by James Levine); the Wiener Staatsoper as Germont in La traviata; Staatsoper Dresden for the title role in Rigoletto; and Oper Frankfurt to reprise the title roles of Simon Boccanegra and Macbeth, as Iago in concert performances of Otello, and Michele in Il tabarro and the title role of Gianni Schicchi in Puccini’s Il trittico.

In subsequent seasons, he sang Iago in a new production of Otello at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, La traviata at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and La forza del destino at the Wiener Staatsoper as well as Un ballo in maschera at Teatro alla Scala and Macbeth conducted by Muti at the Salzburg Festival. He also performed in new productions of Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera and Simon Boccanegra at the Bayerische Staatsoper. During the 2015/16 season, he returned to the Metropolitan Opera (Otello, Tosca), to the Lyric Opera of Chicago (Nabucco), to the Oper Frankfurt (Gianni Schicchi), to the Opéra National de Paris (La traviata) and to Covent Garden (Il trovatore). In 2016/17, Željko Lučić sang namely Otello in Zurich and at Covent Garden, Rigoletto at the Paris Opera and Nabucco and Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera. He also appeared at the Met as a soloist in the Opera’s 50th anniversary Gala.

The following season’s engagements included, among others, his return to the Wiener Staatsoper for Salomé and Macbeth and to the Bayerische Staatsoper for Tosca and Simon Boccanegra, as well as to the Paris Opera (Il trovatore) and Covent Garden (Macbeth). He also reprised the title role of Rigoletto at Oper Frankfurt, and appeared again at the Metropolitan Opera in Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliacci.

His most notable engagements during recent seasons included La fanciulla del West, Otello and Macbeth at the Metropolitan Opera; La traviata at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Royal Opera House Covent Garden and Arena di Verona; Tosca at the Opéra National de Paris, Wiener Staatsoper and at the Deutsche Oper Berlin for its 50th anniversary production; La forza del destino and Adriana Lecouvreur at the Opéra National de Paris; Andrea Chénier and Macbeth at the Bayerische Staatsoper; Otello at the Gran Teatre del Liceu; Luisa Miller, Rigoletto, La forza del destino and Il trittico (Il tabarro and Gianni Schicchi) at the Oper Frankfurt; Pagliacci in Coruña and Rigoletto at the Opéra Bastille.

He has also performed with orchestras such as the Hessischer Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra, the Belgrade Philharmonic, the RTB Symphony Orchestra, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In 1997, he was awarded First Prize at the Francisco Viñas International Singing Competition in Barcelona. Lučić has studied extensively with the world-renowned mezzo-soprano Biserka Cvejic. 

His recent performances include Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera and at the Slovenian National Theatre, a role he has also sung at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, and in Seattle; Rigoletto, Nabucco and Falstaff in Wiesbaden; Macbeth at the Liceu; Rigoletto in Zagreb; Otello in Bucharest and Bulgaria; Madama Butterfly at the Teatro Cervantes in Málaga; La traviata in Turkey; as well as a gala tribute to Ondrej Malachovsky. 

Recent and upcoming engagements include Maler at the Novi Sad Synagogue in Serbia, Falstaff at the Frankfurt Opera, Rigoletto and Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera, and Verdi’s Otello in Busan, among other projects.