Krešimir Stražanac
Croatian bass-baritone, Krešimir Stražanac, was born 1983 in Croatia.
He studied voice with Dunja Vejzović and art song interpretation with Cornelis Witthoefft at the State University of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart and privately with Jane Thorner Mengedoht and Hanns-Friedrich Kunz.
After the studies, Mr. Stražanac joined the Zürich Opera roster as an ensemble member. He appeared as Baron Tusenbach in the opera house premiere of Péter Eötvös’s Three Sisters, Ping in Turandot, Harlequin in Ariadne auf Naxos, Don Fernando in Fidelio and Dr. David Livesey in the world premiere of Frank Schwemmer’s Die Schatzinsel under the batons of such conductors as Nello Santi, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Peter Schneider, Franz Welser-Möst, Carlo Rizzi, Bernard Haitink and Placido Domingo. In 2017 he had his debut at the Bavarian State Opera Munich with the role of Pietro Fléville in the new production of Umberto Giordanos Andrea Chénier.
The bass-baritone won the International Cantilena Competition in Bayreuth (Opera/Operetta Division) and the International La Voce Competition of Bavarian Radio and Television (Art Song Category) as well as the International Hugo Wolf Competition in the composer’s birthplace (Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia). He earned further prizes at the International Paula Salomon Lindberg Competition in Berlin and the Opera Competition of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb.
Mr. Stražanac has an extensive oratorio and concert repertoire, including J.S. Bach’s and Telemann’s Bass Cantatas, the Passions, B-minor Mass (BWV 232) and Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248), Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Haydn’s The Creation, the Brahms and Mozart Requiems, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and St. Paul, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle and Stabat Mater, Franck’s Les Béatitudes, Bruckner’s Te Deum, and many additional works spanning early Baroque to contemporary music.
During the 2015-2016 season the bass-baritone made debuts with the following ensembles: Tokyo Symphony Orchestra (Schoenberg’s Survivor from Warsaw and Brahms’s Requiem) led by Jonathan Nott; the WDR Symphony Orchestra, performing Bach’s Cantatas (BWV 43, BWV 140, BWV 127, BWV 11, BWV 92) and Christmas Oratorio for three special concerts at Cologne’s Philharmonic Hall; Concerto Köln and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (Bach’s St. John Passion); Collegium 1704 (Händel’s Messiah); La Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias (Brahms’s Requiem); the Staatskapelle Halle (Franz Schmidt’s The Book with Seven Seals); the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra (Schubert’s Mass in A-flat Major); the Staatsorchester Stuttgart (St. John Passion, under the baton of Manfred Honeck); the Gächinger Kantorei (Bach’s Magnificat and Cantata BWV 63); the Collegium Vocale Gent – Orchestre du Champs-Elysées, conducted by their founder, Philippe Herreweghe (Brahms’s Vier ernste Gesänge, Op. 121 and Requiem); the Frankfurt Symphony Orchestra (Robert Schumann’s Paradies und die Peri); the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin (St. John Passion); and the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln (Brahms’s Requiem).
Mr. Stražanac also returned to perform with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (a Mendelssohn Program) and the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart (Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion). In March 2017 the bass-baritone had his debut with the BRSO performing Bach’s St. John Passion with Herbert Blomstedt on the podium (Munich, Herkulessaal).
Planned for the 2017-2018 season are debuts with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders (Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony);the Orchestre of Klangverwaltung (Haydns Creation with Enoch zu Guttenberg), the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Bach’s B-minor Mass); the Gewandhaus Orchestra (Bach’s St. John Passion); Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música (Mozart’s Requiem); and the Oslo Philharmonic (St. John Passion).
It should be noted, moreover, that Mr. Stražanac frequently performs vocal recitals (art songs and operatic arias). Venues for these events have included Grand Théâtre de Dijon, Venice Casino, Bayreuth Stadthalle (Municipal Auditorium), Zagreb’s HGZ (Croatian Music Institute) and Lisinski Concert Hall, and the Klagenfurt Konzerthaus. The cities of Lienz, Périgueux, Stuttgart, Ljubljana (Slovenian Philharmonic), and Dubrovnik (Summer Festival) have also hosted the bass-baritone in recital. Additionally, the artist has completed several recital tours of Japan.
On CD/DVD/Blu-ray Krešimir Stražanac is featured in complete recordings of Carmen (Welser-Möst, Decca), Fidelio (Haitink, BBC Opus Arte) and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (van Zweden, Quattro Live). A CD as well as a DVD of Bach’s St. John Passion semi-staged was issued in January 2016 (Bavarian Radio Orchestra/Concerto Köln, BR Klassik). Awaiting imminent release are recordings of Mendelssohn’s Psalms with the Munich Radio Orchestra (directed by Howard Arman) and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Gächinger Kantorei (conducted by Hans Christoph Rademann).