Born in the city of Istog in Kosovo, Rama Lahaj started to sing seriously at the age of 21 and continued his studies at the Albanian University of Arts in Tirana. After earning his degree, he spent two years working as the artistic director of a Kosovar television channel, a period when he was not actively engaged with music. He made his first foray into the international opera world at the 50th anniversary Eutin Festival in Germany and enjoyed his first major success in 2011, at the Hungarian State Opera, where he made his debut as Macduff. His next major role was as Rodolfo in La bohème, which he first sang in Dortmund. His repertoire expanded with breakneck speed, and he received more and more invitations. In 2016, he won Operalia, the singing competition established by Plácido Domingo, in Mexico, and this sealed his international reputation.
His signature roles include the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto, Alfredo in La traviata, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, the title role of Faust and Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore. He has taken the stage at many opera houses, including the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Staatsoper Berlin, the Opéra National de Lyon, the Opéra National de Montpellier, Palermo’s Teatro Massimo, Dresden’s Semperoper, London’s Royal Albert Hall, La Monnaie in Brussels, Salzburg’s Mozarthaus, the Polish National Opera in Warsaw, Opera Las Palmas, the Sydney Opera House, the Opéra National de Paris and Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu. He has also toured in South Korea and has collaborated with such artists as Plácido Domingo, Marina Rebeka, Daniel Oren, Angela Gheorghiu and Tugan Szokhiev.
