Metropolitan Opera selects first Estonian for young artists program

Estonian tenor Filipp Varik has become the first Estonian selected for the Metropolitan Opera’s young artists development program, saying luck and timing helped him get there, ERR reported.

Varik told ERR’s “Ringvaade” that a recommendation after he sang at a festival in France last summer led to an invitation to audition in Paris. The program’s director happened to be there in April, and Varik received an email asking him to audition five days later.

“Of course you need skill and you have to work a lot, but you also have to be in the right place at the right time. I was simply lucky,” said Varik, who has spent the past two years singing at the Lyon Opera Studio in France.

He said the audition was one of the calmest he had experienced and that the program’s leaders were impressed not only by his singing but also by his stage presence.

Varik’s singing teacher, Juhan Tralla, said talent was essential alongside hard work. He described Varik’s voice as a valuable lyric tenor, praising its distinctive timbre. Tralla said Varik had shown a spark and promise from the time he began studying with him at 19.

After his time at the Metropolitan Opera, Varik hopes to return to Europe and find a home theatre in Germany or Austria. He also said he would be glad to sing at Estonia’s national opera house, Estonia.