The Croatian baritone Leon Košavić studied at the Zagreb Academy of Music with Giorgio Surian. He went on to complete the training programme at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel under José van Dam.
In 2011 he made his debut as Papageno (Die Zauberflöte) at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, where he has returned to sing Masetto (Don Giovanni), Moralès (Carmen) and Malatesta (Don Pasquale). He won third prize in both the Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition in Helsinki and the International Stanisław Moniuszko Vocal Competition in Warsaw. In 2015 he received the Emmerich Smola Scholarship.
Highlights of his career have included Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), Ping (Turandot) and Masetto (Don Giovanni) at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden; Ottokar (Der Freischütz) at the Zurich Opera House; Ping at La Monnaie in Brussels; Mercutio (Roméo et Juliette) at the Theater an der Wien; the title role in Don Giovanni at the Stuttgart State Opera; Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro) and Guglielmo (Così fan tutte) at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège; Ruggiero (La Juive) and Harlequin (Ariadne auf Naxos) at the Opera Vlaanderen; Masetto at the Opéra de Lausanne; Figaro (Il barbiere di Siviglia) at the Opéra national du Rhin in Strasbourg; and Malatesta at the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki.
Leon Košavić began his singing career as an ensemble member at the Theater St Gallen, where his roles included Papageno and Giorgio Germont (La traviata).
In concert he has sung in cities including Hamburg (at the Elbphilharmonie), Liverpool, São Paolo, Bergen, Paris, London and Atlanta. He has also performed in concerts with the European Union Youth Orchestra at the Berlin Konzerthaus and the Grafenegg Festival.
Recent engagements have included his house debuts at the Zurich Opera House, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg and the Teatro Regio in Turin, along with Dr Falke (Die Fledermaus) at the Theater an der Wien, Masetto under Riccardo Muti at the Fondazione Prada in Milan and the Spring Festival in Tokyo, Melot (Tristan und Isolde) at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam and Escamillo (Carmen) for Opera Vlaanderen.
