Artistic Director prof. Alessandra Schettino

predsednik žirije / presidente giuria / president of the jury

The soprano Vlatka Oršanić was born in Zabok (CRO). She spent her childhood in Varaždin where she, at the age of seven, started learning piano at the School of Music, as 14-year old she transferred to solo singing with Prof. Ankica Opolski. At the age of 16 she entered Ljubljana Academy of Music, studying voice under Prof. Ondina Otta-Klasinc. Already during her studies she received The Prešern Student Award for the role of Susana in of The Marriage Figaro. In September 1978 she made her debut in the role of Sophie in opera Werther at Ljubljana Slovene National Theatre Opera and Ballet, where she graduated in spring 1979 in the role of Gilda in Rigoletto. In 1979 she won the 1st award at Mario del Monaco Opera International Vocal Competition for Singers in Italy and in 1980 she won the 2nd award at international television competition in Belgium. In the period 1985-1990 she took additional studies in Vienna with Kms Olivera Miljaković. In the first period of her career, as a very young soloist, she achieved great success in the roles of Gilda, Lucia and Violetta, with which she made guest appearances at all opera houses in the former Yugoslavia. At that time she sang The Queen of the Night, Adina, Rosina, Pamina, Olympia and Elvira (Puritans). Later on her most significant roles were, among others, Jenufa, Katerina Ismailova, Lady Macbeth, Tosca, Tatyana, Rosalinda, Vitellia, Katja Kabanova, Abigaila, Leonora (Trubadur), Donna Anna, Electra (Idomeneo), Rusalka, Marzenka (The Bartered Bride, The Sold Bride), Mila (Destiny), Cho-Cho-San, Aida, Magdalena (Andrea Chénier), Ariadne (Ariadne on Naxos) and Margaretha (Faust). She appeared at various opera houses, such as Semperoper Dresden, Komische Oper Berlin, Staatstheter Dramstadt, Aaltotheater Essen, Oper Leipzig, Festspielhaus Salzburg, Teatro Communale Firenca and Oper Bonn, at music festivals such as Salsburg Summer Festival, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Edinburgh Festival, Autumn Festival in Paris, The Wiener Festwochen (Vienna Festival) as well as at some most important European concert halls such as Musikverein and Konzerthaus (Vienna), Konzerthaus Berlin, Alte Oper (Frankfurt), Philharmonie (Köln), Théâtre du Châtelet (Paris) and Auditorio Municipal (Madrid). The conductors she collaborated with were, among others, Michael Gielen, Lovro von Matačić, Semyon Bychkov, Vladimir Jurowski, Kirill Petrenko, Uroš Lajovic, Hans Graf, Pinchas Steinberg, Daniel Harding, Stefan Soltesz and Michael Schønwandt. The directors with whom she revived the leading roles in opera performances, among others were Joachim Herz, Harry Kupfer, Christine Mielitz, Liliana Cavani, Andreas Homoki, Uwe Eric Laufenberg and Pet Halmen, its partners were Elina Garanča, Anja Harteros, Piotr Beczała and Peter Schreier. As the concert soloist, with the repertoire that includes works from baroque to contemporary music, she appeared with the orchestras like The Vienna Symphony, ORF Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, SWF and MDR as well as Zagreb Philharmonic, Slovenian Philharmonic and Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestar. In 2003 she became a professor of voice professor at the Academy of Music in Zagreb, where she was the head of Voice Department from 2007 to 2016. In the period from 2006 to 2010 she was a professor of voice professor the Academy of Music in Ljubljana. Her students are the soloists at the European opera houses among which is worth to mention Staatsoper (München), Deutsche Oper (Berlin), Semperoper (Dresden), Grand Bayerische Théâtre de Genève, Národní divadlo (Prague), Teatro Fenice (Venice), Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Gran Teatre del Liceu (Barcelona) as well as Slovenian and Croatian opera houses. She is the leader of the vocal-singing seminars for singers and vocal pedagogues, the member of the jury for home and international singing competitions as well as the cofounder and director of Zinka Milanov international competition for young opera singers in Rijeka.

Born in Gorizia, she graduated in vocal studies from the Conservatory of Venice and earned a degree in Modern Literature from the University of Trieste. She attended masterclasses with Peter Maag and Regina Resnik, Rockwell Blake and Claudio Desderi, Elio Battaglia and Claudio Strudthoff, specializing in the Rossini and Baroque repertoire.
She has performed in European theatres and concert halls (Santa Cecilia in Rome, Ravenna Festival, Amici della Musica in Florence, MITO Festival, Wiener Konzerthaus, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, La Monnaie in Brussels, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Cité de la Musique and Salle Pleyel in Paris, Opéra Royal de Versailles, Barbican Centre and Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Glyndebourne Opera Festival, Lucerne Festival, Teatro Real and Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, the festivals of Avignon, Nantes, Utrecht, Krakow, Bratislava and Warsaw, Potsdam Musikfestspiele Sanssouci, Berwaldhallen in Stockholm, Megaron Musiki and the Onassis Foundation in Athens), at Lincoln Center in New York, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, and in Australia, Korea and Japan.
She has collaborated with some of the most prestigious orchestras, including Accademia Bizantina, Concerto Italiano, Il Complesso Barocco, I Barocchisti, Cappella della Pietà de’ Turchini, Le Concert des Nations, Europa Galante, Ensemble 415, Ensemble Matheus, Les Arts Florissants, Les Musiciens du Louvre, King’s Consort, Modo Antiquo, Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Zefiro.
She has sung under the direction of distinguished conductors such as Maag, Viotti, Mackerras, Jurowski, Savall, Brüggen, Curtis, Alessandrini, Biondi, Minkowski, Christie, Haïm, McCreesh, Spinosi, Dantone, Fasolis, Marcon, King, Sardelli, Gatti and Ferro.
She has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, Naïve, Glossa, Classic Voice, EMI/Virgin, Sony/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi and Decca.

Born in Seoul, Joo Cho graduated at the “Verdi” Conservatory in Milan and continued her studies with Peter Schreier and Helmut Deutsch.
She has performed operas, oratorios and sacred music in venues such as: Opera House in Seoul, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, Tiroler Festpiele Erl, Teatro Comunale in Modena, Auditorium della Conciliazione in Rome, Auditorium Mahler in Milan, Teatro Bibiena in Mantua, Teatro Lirico in Cagliari, Teatro Regio in Parma.
She has sung under Gustav Kuhn, Donato Renzetti, Flavio Emilio Scogna, Romano Gandolfi, John Anderson, Christopher Fifield, Carlo Frajese, Tito Ceccherini, Fabián Panisello, Massimo Zanetti.
Among her performances: La Traviata by Verdi, La Bohème by Puccini, Così fan tutte and Die Zauberflöte by Mozart, Der Ring des Nibelungen and Parsifal by Wagner, Messa da Requiem by Verdi, Exsultate, jubilate by Mozart, 4th Symphony by Mahler, Requiem by Mozart, Les Illuminations by Britten, Betulia liberata by Mozart, Stabat mater and Petite Messe Solennelle by Rossini, Mirjams Siegesgesang by Schubert.
Joo Cho is very interested in Lied repertoire and has sung Lied Concerts in Palacio Marqués de Salamanca in Madrid, Musée Debussy in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Musée Würth in Strasbourg, Festival MiTo in Milan, Salone del Conservatorio in Turin, Palais Sternberg in Vienna, Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon, Charterhouse in Godalming, Hayward Theatre in Ely, Sala della musica in Lugano, Palais Sternberg in Vienna.
She has often sung twentieth century and contemporary music: she also sang the posthumous world premiere of Sette by Niccolò Castiglioni (in Passionsspielhaus Erl), and she performed world premieres by Giacomo Manzoni, Adriano Guarnieri, Vladimir Rannev, Luca Francesconi, Yotam Haber, Stefano Gervasoni, Gabriele Cosmi, Alessandro Solbiati, Rossella Spinosa, Alessandro Melchiorre, Corrado Rojac, Gabriele Manca, Nicola Sani and many others, in Festivals and venues such as Musica/Realtà, Milano Musica, Trieste Prima, Chamber Music Festival in Cervo, Italian Cultural Institute in San Francisco.

Soprano Elvira Hasanagić holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from the University of Music and Theatre and the August Everding Theatre Academy in Munich. Her artistic career has taken her to Staatsoper unter den Linden in Berlin, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires, Nationaltheater Mannhein, Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich, SNG Opera and Ballet Ljubljana and Maribor, Staatstheater Saarbrücken, Kassel, Schwerin, under the batons of conductors: Zubin Mehta, Ulf Schirmer, James Conlon, Julian Salemkour, Uroš Lajovic and Christian Schumann. In collaboration with Bavarian Radio and their orchestra, she recorded the opera »La Lodoiska« by the composer Simon Mayr in the role of Resiska. With Deutschlandradio Kultur she recorded a CD of autobiographical songs by Wolf, Berg, Lajovic, Babić, Zajc, Prebande and Osterc. In cooperation with the RTVSLO Cassette and Record Publishing House, her CD of ElSoprano’s self-penned works – Hrepenenje / Longing was released. Her second solo album will soon follow, this time with Verdi arias in collaboration with the RTV SLO Orchestra under the baton of Simon Krečič. For her artistic achievements in 2017, the City of Dresden and the German Association for the Support of Opera Singers awarded her the title Young Artist of the Year 2017. She is regularly invited as a jury member at international opera and solo singing competitions and as a mentor at solo singing courses – Stignani Competition Imola, Italy, Solo Singing Competition Bitola, Macedonia, Musica Goritiensis, Gorizia, Italy, Glasbena mladina, Slovenia.

Bass-baritone Eugenio Leggiadri-Gallani studied singing with the soprano Cecilia Fusco and after with Elena Baggiore, Katia Ricciarelli, Raina Kabainvanska, Luciana Serra, Yoko Takeda. He made his debut in 1995 in Tarragona (Spain) in the role of Colline in La Boheme, participating also in the 3rd Festival D’art Lirique of Never in France. He played the role of Sigismondo in the operetta “Al cavallino bianco”, Dulcamara in “Elisir d’amore”, Alidoro in “Cenerentola”, Blansac in “Scala di seta” (Manchester and Hannover theaters). He was the protagonist in “Il maestro di Cappella” at the Tibor Varga Festival and in “Una partita” by Zandonai at the Politeama of Lecce. Between 2002 and 2003 he sang in “Carmen”, “Barber of Seville”, “Bell of the Apothecary”, at the Operetta Festival at the Verdi Theatre of Trieste and at the Theatre of Istanbul. He sang at the Odeon Theatre in Athens “Le Avventure di Pinocchio”, an opera commissioned to represent Italy in the Olympic year under the direction of Mº Donato Renzetti. He also performed in “Cenerentola” at the Theatre of St. Gallen (Switzerland) and at the Theatre of Trieste (at the invitation of Maestro Daniel Oren). For the inauguration of the theater of San Severo (Foggia) he sang in the “Barbiere di Siviglia” directed by M° Michele Mirabella and in the “Trovatore”.  With “Barbiere di Siviglia” he also performed at the Theatre of Spoleto for the 60th anniversary of the Foundation and at the Theatre Regio of Turin in the summer season 2007. Intense is also the concert activity in Naples, Taranto, Rome and Foggia and in acclaimed recitals in St. Petersburg, Malaga, Naples, Bari, Rome, Florence, Pisa, Turin, Milan, Treviso, Pesaro, etc.. He has recorded for Naxos and Rai – Italian Radio Television. His latest engagements include performances in Florence and Vicenza, in the Region of Umbria for the circuit and the Pan Opera Festival in Panicale, in opera productions in Germany (Dortmund, Heidenhaim, Cottbus, Lubeck, Nuremberg, Koblenz) and in a tour in China.