Krešimir Stražanac
The Croatian bass-baritone studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart.
OPERA
Krešimir Stražanac was 24 when he became a permanent member of the ensemble at the Zurich Opera House. He stayed with the house for seven years, where he acquired a broad stage repertoire.
The highlights of the past seasons include the title roles Orpheus (Telemann’s “Orpheus”) at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona under the direction of René Jacobs and Ruggiero (“La liberazione di Ruggiero” by Francesca Caccini) at the Theater an der Wien under the direction by Clemens Flick.
His repertoire also includes roles such as Kreon (Stravinsky’s “Oedipus Rex”), St. Peter (Carl Orff’s “Der Mond”), Baron Tusenbach (Eötvös’s “Three Sisters”), Ping (“Turandot”), Harlequin (“Ariadne auf Naxos “) and Frank (Die Fledermaus) at opera houses such as the Bavarian State Opera and the Frankfurt Opera in collaboration with conductors such as Nello Santi, Bernard Haitink, Peter Schneider, Franz Welser-Möst and Placido Domingo.
Planned in 2022 and 2023 are the roles of the devil (Weinberger’s “Schwanda”) at the Theater an der Wien, a Robert Wilson-directed production of Handel’s “Messiah” at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Ambrosio (Carl Maria von Weber’s “Die Drei Pintos” ) with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig conducted by Petr Popelka and König Froila in Schubert’s “Alfonso und Estrella” in the Musiikkitalo Helsinki conducted by Aapo Häkkinen.
CONCERT
In the 2022/2023 season, Krešimir Stražanac will make his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic under the baton of Kirill Petrenko.
As a concert soloist, he is a regular guest with important works from classical to contemporary music with orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the Tokyo and Singapore Symphony Orchestras, the Saxon Staatskapelle Dresden, the WDR, mdr and hr Symphony Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Manfred Honeck, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Jonathan Nott have performed throughout Europe and Asia.
The collaboration with the conductor Philippe Herreweghe is very important for his musical career. With him and his orchestras he regularly sings as a bass soloist in Bach’s Passions, the B minor Mass, Brahms’ “Four Serious Songs”, the Requiem, Schumann’s Paradise and the Peri, Dvorak’s Requiem, the Masses by Schubert, Beethoven’s 9th symphony and many other works.
BAROQUE
He also often works in the baroque field and particularly likes to devote himself to the great works of Johann Sebastian Bach – with other orchestras such as Concerto Köln, the Gaechinger Cantorey, the Collegium 1704, the Concentus Musicus Vienna, the Academy for Early Music Berlin, I Barrochisti and conductors such as Hans-Christoph Rademann, Diego Fasolis, Peter Dijkstra, Vaclav Luks and Giovanni Antonini.
In February 2021, as part of the memorial concert for the destruction of Dresden in February 1945, he sang Bach’s solo cantata “I have enough” with the Staatskapelle Dresden under the direction of Philippe Herreweghe. A CD of this concert was also released by EDITION STAATSKAPELLE DRESDEN / GÜNTER HÄNSSLER in 2021.
2022. He debuts Bach’s Magnificat and Cantatas at the Bach Festival in Montréal, Canada, conducted by Masaaki Suzuki.
ART SONG
In 2021 he made his recital debut at Suntory Hall Tokyo with a Schuhmann – Spohr – Schubert program featuring Japanese pianist Kae Ogawa and Tokyo Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Akira Mizutani.
Other performances where he has sung recitals have been at: Bayreuth Stadthalle, Grand Théâtre de Dijon, Venice Casino, Zagreb Lisinski Hall, the Slovenian Philharmonic in Ljubljana, Zurich, Klagenfurt Konzerthaus and Stuttgart (Wilhelma Theater and Hospitalhof Halls).
His art song repertoire includes works such as Schubert’s “Winterreise” and “Schwanengesang”, Schumann’s “Dichterliebe”, Brahms’ “Four Serious Songs” and “The Beautiful Magelone”, Beethoven’s “An die ferne Geliebte”, Frank Martin’s “6 Monologues from Jedermann”, Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder and many others.
In July 2022, Krešimir Stražanac will also be a member of the jury of the 11th International Competition “Franz Schubert and Modern Art” at the University of Art and Design Graz.
CD/DVD
Krešimir Stražanac’s discography now includes around 20 opera and concert publications, for example Beethoven’s “Fidelio” with Bernard Haitink (Don Fernando, BBC Opus Arte), Peter Eötvös’s “Tri sestri” (OEHMS CLASSICS), Wagner’s “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” (Konrad Nachtigall, QUATTRO LIVE), Bizet’s “Carmen” (Morales, DECCA), or the CD recording of Bach’s Johannes Passion with Bayerischer Rundfunk / Concerto Köln conducted by Peter Dijkstra (BR-KLASSIK).
Other recordings are: the video DVD/Blue-Ray recording of the staged St. John Passion (BR-KLASSIK 900514), Mendelssohn’s “Psalms” with the Munich Radio Orchestra (BR-Klassik (900519), as well as the DVD recording of Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion” with the Gaechinger Cantorey (ACCENTUS AC20408), Handel’s “Messiah” with the Collegium 1704 (ACCENT), St. John Passion (PHI), “A German Requiem” by Johannes Brahms (COVIELLO) , Handel’s “Alexanders Feast” (SONY/ DEUTSCHE HARMONIA MUNDI), Bach’s “St Matthew Passion” (as aria bass, ACCENTUS) as well as CDs with works by Vatroslav Lisinski and Tomaso Cecchini in co-production with Croatian Radio (HRT).
The CD productions of Schubert’s “Winterreise”, a solo album with the pianist Jonathan Ware, a CD with works by the Swiss composer Fritz Stüssi and another solo CD are in preparation.