Until recently, young Czech baritone Jiří Rajniš Jr. performed mainly abroad, where he attracted attention primarily through his guest appearances at the famous La Scala in Milan. He began his international career while still a student: after graduating from the music and drama department of the Prague Conservatory, he went to Los Angeles to study at the University of California. “There I learned an important principle: ‘Everything is up to you, no one will help you!’ Studying and living in America, auditioning for local productions, coaching at the MET, hundreds of e-mails and hours spent on planes and in cars looking for a job force you to think very independently,” says Rajniš, reflecting on what his sojourn in America gave him. He also mentions another important principle: “You must not be afraid. Fear is the enemy, and no one can ever take away what you know how to do!”
In addition to studying singing, he considers training in acting and drama an integral part of his profession as an opera singer. “When I was a child, I fell in love with theater as a whole. Not only was I inspired by my parents being opera singers, but I was also fascinated by the beautiful scenery of opera productions. That is no longer the case today, but I actually spent my childhood drawing costume and set designs,” recalls Rajniš, who took to the theater and opera stage at a very early age. In 2013, when he was just 21 years old, the Opernglass magazine called him “the youngest Czech Don Giovanni abroad” after his participation in the Sommer Oper Bamberg. From 2017 to 2019, he was a member of the Junge Ensamble of the Semperoper Dresden. His biggest career breakthrough to date came with his debut at La Scala in Milan in the 2022/2023 season, when he played the role of the First Nazarene in Richard Strauss’s opera Salome.
“If you have a ‘stamp’ from a venue like La Scala on your CV, and you also have strong foreign management, great materials, and high-quality recordings, it is much easier to attract the attention of other theater directors,” comments the baritone, who is currently receiving numerous offers from European theaters. He also appeared at La Scala as the Forester in Rusalka (the first-ever production at this opera house) and will appear in Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District in the 2025/2026 season. He shone as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte in Italian and French theaters (Modena, Pisa, Metz); he has also performed in Nancy, Zurich, and Palermo, among other places. He also collaborates with Slovak and Czech theaters and is a regular guest at the National Theater and the State Opera in Prague. He has performed over 30 roles in the international and Czech opera repertoire, both lyrical and dramatic.
In addition to his opera work, he has also given numerous concert performances, for example with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, and has made several guest appearances in concert halls in Berlin, Ingolstadt, Munich, and Vienna. He has shared the stage with Christian Thielemann, Allan Gilbert, and John Fiore, among others. He also performs with his newly formed Napolitan Quartet throughout the Czech Republic, presenting Neapolitan songs in a special modern stylization. In 2022, he released his debut CD Spanish Songs together with soprano Tatiana Hajzušová and guitarist Rastislav Sumega.
