Born in 1961, Egils Silins studied at the Latvian Music Academy. He won various prizes in singing competitions in Vienna, Paris, Hamburg, Barcelona, Bilbao, Toulouse and Washington, and made his début at the Lithuanian National Opera as Boito’s Mefistofele, subsequently joining the ensemble of the Frankfurt Opera and the Basel Theatre.

He made his breakthrough in 1996 with his Méphistophélès in Gounod’s Faust at the Vienna Volksoper, where his later rôles have included Boris Godunov. His rôles at the Vienna State Opera have included Boito’s Mefistofele, Sir Giorgio in I Puritani, Prefetto in Linda di Chamounix, Phanuel in Hérodiade and Procida in I vespri siciliani.

He has appeared as a guest artist in Geneva, Glyndebourne, the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, Stuttgart, the Bregenz Festival and Zurich. Other performances include appearances in Linda di Chamounix at La Scala, Milan, as Basilio at the New York Metropolitan Opera and in Handel’s Rinaldo at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.