Latvian soprano Elīna Šimkus received a bachelor’s degree in opera singing from the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music and master’s in vocal music from the Norway Academy of Music. She is the winner of the VII Klaudia Taev Competition for Young Opera Singers. Elīna has participated in workshops taught by Friedemann Röhlig, Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz, Barbara Dobretsberger, and Roger Vignon.

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Elīna has sung the role of Violetta (Verdi’s La traviata), Micaëla (Bizet’s Carmen), Atalanta (Handel’s Serse), Damon (Handel’s Acis and Galatea), Lisa (Bellini’s La sonnambula), Marfa (Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride), Carolina (Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto), Aminta (Mozart’s Il re pastore). She has appeared as guest soloist in opera houses in France, Estonia, Lithuania, and Poland.

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Elīna Šimkus has performed with the Oslo SO, the Brittany SO, the Tallin Chamber Orchestra, the Estonian National Opera Orchestra, the LNSO, chamber orchestra Sinfonietta Rīga, the Liepāja SO, and Baroque orchestra Collegium Musicum Rīga. Elīna has participated in music festivals in València, Düsseldorf, Oslo, Riga, Kiev, Tartu, Tallin, and others. She has teamed with conductors Darrel Ang, Andres Mustonen, Risto Joost, Jan Ola Amundsen, Arvo Volmer, Aleksandrs Viļumanis, Andris Veismanis, Andris Poga, and Māris Kupčs, among others.

Šimkus is an active performer of vocal instrumental music. She has performed the solo in Bach’s passions and cantatas, Handel’s Messiah, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Mozart’s Requiem, Great Mass, and Regina Coeli; Orff’s Carmina Burana; Stabat Mater by Poulenc, Pergolesi and Rossini; Rutter’s Requiem and Gloria, and other works.