Svatopluk Sem studied Conservatory in České Budějovice. Having graduated, he became a member of South Bohemia Theatre ensemble where he, as an opera soloist, sang several main roles such as Figaro (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Germont (La traviata), Valentin (Faust), Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), Guglielmo (Cosí fan tutte) or Belcore (L´elisir d´amore).
Sem regularly makes his appearance as a guest to perform in most Czech opera houses, above all, the National Theatre in Prague, the National Theatre Brno and the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava. His repertoire includes several dozen roles of different nature.
He has performed under the baton of renowned conductors such as J. Bělohlávek, E. Dovico, E. Fiore, T. Hanus, J. Hrůša, R.Jindra, J. Latham-Koenig, O. Lenárd, T. Netopil, L. Pešek and many others. Not only does he make his appearance at Czech concert and opera stages but he also sings abroad, in Japan, Denmark, South Korea, China, Austria, Spain, Holland, Germany, Russia, Italy and Great Britain performing with orchestras such as the Czech Philharmonic, Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra Zlín, PKF – Prague Philharmonia, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, where he was, for several years, a permanent guest artist.
With National Opera Prague, Sem performed the part of Germont in La Traviata when on a one-month tour in Japan during the season of 2015/2016. In April 2016, accompanied by BBC Symphony Orchestra, he sang together with Karita Matilla at the prestigious BBC Proms festival in London (Royal Albert Hall) in production of Janáček´s The Makropulos Affair and later that year he also appeared in Janáček´s Jenůfa. In Italian theatre Teatro Regio di Torino he performed the role of Gamekeeper in The Cunning Little Vixen directed by R. Carsen and conducted by Jan Latham-Koenig.
He worked on the recording of Smetana´s Bartered Bride for Harmonia Mundi label with BBC Symphony Orchestra under the baton of J. Bělohlávek. His recordings with BBC Symphony Orchestra also include Bedřich Smetana´s Dalibor and Antonín Dvořák´s Jakobin. In 2014, he recorded a documentary "Rolando meets Don Giovanni" for the BBC in which he performed the main role of Don Giovanni.
He has been a frequent guest at prestigious international music and opera festivals such as BBC Proms, IMF Český Krumlov, Dvořákova Praha IMF, Prague Spring IMF, Golden Prague International Television Festival and Smetana´s Litomyšl National Festival. In 2017, he made his appearance at Arts Festival in Hong Kongu and in Shanghai (The Makropulos Affair - L. Janáček).
In 2018, Sem performed twice within European opera project Opera Vision for which he sang the role of Přemysl in Smetana´s Libuše (National Theatre in Prague) and Gamekeeper in Janáček´s Jenůfa (National Theatre Brno), both broadcast live.
He has received several prestigious awards for operatic performance including Opera+ Award 2017, Thalia Awards 2017 (Giorgio Germont im La Traviata) and Moravian-Silesian Jantar 2017 (Kalina in The Secret). He has been awarded Karel Roden Award in České Budějovice three times.
http://www.svatopluksem.cz
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW0vIuAMsrRT48-g8WTEyCY-H1R6475TZ