Richard Samek was born in Třebíč, Czech Republic. He graduated from the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno, where he studied under Professor A. Barová. After completing his studies, he studied privately with N. Romanová.
He is a laureate of several international competitions, for instance the Antonín Dvořák International Vocal Competition, and the M. S. Trnavský vocal competition.
In 2006, he made his debut at the stage of the National Theatre in Brno. At present he is a permanent guest of the National Theatre in Prague and performs as Werther (J. Massenet), Rodolfo (La Boheme), the Prince (Rusalka), Belmonte (The Abduction from the Seraglio), Tamino (The Magic Flute), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) or as Alfredo (La Traviata). He regularly performs also in the J. K. Tyl Theatre in Pilsen, National Theatre in Brno, National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava or in the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava.
He performed in Grand Théâtre de Reims, Opéra Théâtre de Limoges, Opéra de Rennes and in the Staatsoperette Dresden, where he has been a permanent member of the cast since the season 2014 / 2015. Since the same season he has been giving guest performances also in the Theatre Magdeburg as Don Manuel in Z. Fibich’s The Bride of Messina and since 2016 also as Gounod´s Faust. Since the season 2015 / 2016 he has performed at the Staatsoper Hannover as the Prince in Dvořák’s Rusalka or as Rodolfo in Pucinni’s La Bohème. In the 2017/2018 season he gave guests performances as Jeník in Smetana´s Bartered Bride at Aalto-Musiktheater Essen. He will also be singing the same role in 2019 at the Semperoper Dresden.
At the Austrian festival Seefestspiele Mörbisch 2015 he participated at live CD and DVD recordings of Strauss’s opera A Night in Venice, where he played the role of Caramello. In 2015 he participated in the realization of a live recording of Smetana’s Dalibor with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under the baton of J. Bělohlávek and in 2016 he recorded Fibich’s Bride of Messina with the Magdeburg Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2017, he recorded Mahler’s „Song of the Earth“ together with Dagmar Pecková for the Suprahon label.
Richard Samek cooperates with leading chamber and symphonic orchestras – the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Brno Philharmonic, Orchestra Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, PKF – Prague Philharmonia, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Slovak Philharmonic, Slovak State Philharmonic Košice, South Czech Philharmonic or Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. He has been singing under the baton of such conductors as J. Bělohlávek, S. Borisov, T. Brauner, O. Dohnányi, E. Dovico, P. Ch. Feigel, P. Feranec, H. M. Förster, Ch. Garbosnik, J. Hrůša, K. Ishii, R. Jindra, J. Kyzlink, A. Markovič, Z. Müller, T. Netopil, O. Olos, A. Schüller, L. Svárovský, J. Štrunc, E. Theis, R. Válek, K. Zehnder etc.
He has been performing in productions of various famous directors – K. Absenger, R. Alföldi, A. Böge, J. Burian, C. Crombholz, P. Constant, O. Fuchs, O. Havelka, J. Heřman, V. Morávek, M. Oldag, S. Ritschel, R. Schaller, V. Věžník, A. Žargas etc.
Richard Samek has participated at many significant international music festivals – International Music Festival Dvořák Prague, IMF Janáček May, Moravian Autumn, IMF Prague Spring, Seefestspiele Mörbisch, International Opera Festival Smetana‘s Litomyšl, St. Venceslav Music Festival and many others.
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