J. Offenbach: Belle nuit, o nuit d'amour - duet from the opera  Hoffman`s Tales

 

G. Donizetti: Una furtiva lagrima - aria from the opera L`elisir d`amore

 

G. Bizet: Habanera - arja from the opera Carmen

 

W. A. Mozart:  Fin ch,handal vino - aria from the opera Don Giovanni 

 

F. Lehar Meine Lippen sie küssen so heiss -aria from the operetta Giuditta

 

W. A. Mozart: Deh vieni alla finestra - aria from the opera Don Giovanni

 

E. Kalman: Arija Tassila Kom zigany- Tassilo` aria from the  operetta Countess Maritza

 

W.A.Mozart: Là ci darem la mano- dueto from the opera Don Giovanni

 

J. Strauss: Champagne Lied

 

F. Lehar: Lippen schweigen - dueto from the operetta The Merry Widow

 

G. Bizet: Sequidilla - aria from the opera Carmen

W.A. Mozart: La Vendetta - aria fron the opera The Marriage of Figaro

 

F. Lehar: Vilja Lied

 

G. Donizetti: La donna e un animale – dueto of Nemorino and Belcoreo from the opera L`elisir d`amore

 

J. Strauss Mein Herr Marquis – Adele`s aria from the operetta The Flittermouse

 

F. Lehar: Dein ist mein ganzes Herz - aria from the operetta The Land of Smels

 

V. Herbert: Art is callin for me- arja from the operetta The Entchantress

 

G. Verdi: Libiamo ne' lieti calici- Drinking Song from the opera  La Traviata

SOLOISTS
Anja Papa, soprano
Dragana Popović, mezzosoprano
Ljubomir Popović, tenor
Berislav Jerković, bariton

Ante Blažević, piano

 

OPERA PANNONICA

Opera Ensemble Osijek

 

OPERA PANNONICA - is an opera ensemble from Osijek founded in 2010 and gathers music artists from Osijek as well as numerous guests from the country and abroad (Serbia, Hungary, Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, South Africa, Poland, United States of America, Italy, Germany, Italy, Israel, Switzerland, Canada ...). In addition to full stage opera performances, the ensemble also performs concerts of opera and operetta program, and performs all diversity of vocal literature (cantatas, oratorios, solo songs ...). Among the most important opera titles are the performances of Dido and Aeneas (Purcell), Nikola Šubić Zrinjski (Zajc), Gianni Schicchi (Puccini), La boheme (Puccini), The Bat (Strauss Jr.), Cosi fan tutte (Mozart), Love potion (Donizetti), Figaro Feast (Mozart), Don Giovanni (Mozart) as well as numerous concert performances. The ensemble collaborates with domestic and foreign guests as well as institutions: Academy of Arts from Novi Sad, Faculty of Music and Visual Arts Pécs, Academy of Music Ljubljana, Westminster Choir College, Princeton (USA), conductors Simon Peter Dešpalj, Balazs Kocsar, Andrej Bursać, as well as numerous vocal soloists. So far, the ensemble OPERA PANNONICA has performed in Pécs, Sarajevo, Belgrade, Szeged, Amman (Jordan), Skopje, Bitola, Split, Hvar, Kotor, Dubrovnik, Cavtat, Grožnjan, Buje, Umag, Bale, Đakovo, Valpovo, performed in Guarnerius Music Center, Kolarac Concert Hall (Belgrade), Rector's Palace - Dubrovnik, Szeged Symphony Orchestra Hall, Kodaly Center - Pécs, Hvar Summer Festival, Osijek Summer of Culture, Sarajevo Winter, Jerash Festival Jordan, Skopje Summer, BitFest, KotorArt concert season, Pécs-European City of Culture, Valpovo Summer, Stip Cultural Summer, KonavleArt Festival, as part of the program Jeunesses musicales Croatia - Grožnjan ... Operas are directed by Robert Raponja, Ivan Leo Lemo, Caterina Panti Liberovici and Berislav Jerković. The full ensemble consists of about 20 vocal soloists, 20 members of the choir and about 30 members of the orchestra, which together form a unique opera ensemble, which in just a few years has firmly entered the map of cultural events and presented artistic qualities and potentials domestic and foreign public. The artistic director of the ensemble is prof. Dr. Berislav Jerković.

 

 

 

 

 

Soloists:

 

ANJA PAPA, soprano

 

Anja Papa (1994) received her master’s Degrees in Voice and Piano from the Academy of Arts in Osijek. She took part in international competitions with following prizes: 1st prize in the 7th Lav Mirski International Singing Competition 2019, 3rd prize in the category of solo singers under 15 years of age in 2009 at the International Musical Eisteddfod Competition in Llangollen (UK); 2nd prize in the category of female voices - 2014 in the 1st International Competition Vera Kovač Vitkai, Novi Sad; 2nd prize in the International Singing Competition "Lav Mirski", Osijek, 2015.

She has also performed at numerous concerts and opera performances in Croatia and abroad as a choir, concert and opera soloist. Participated in the concert Musical Legacy of Bela pl. Adamovich Čepinski - production at the Croatian National Theater Osijek; the Concert of Vocal Soloists of the Academy of Arts in Osijek, works by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy - Museum of Fine Arts; County Concert Cycle 2015 at Prandau-Normann Valpovo Castle Chapel; Concert for Peace Dona nobis pacem etc.

Since 2013, she has been conducting the Children's Choir and the Children's Opera Choir "Polifonija”, Osijek. In cooperation with the Croatian National Theater in Osijek, she has prepared the children's opera choir for the performances in operas La Boheme, Tosca and Carmen. In 2015, she successfully debuted as Despina in the opera Cosi fan Tutte, the premiere performance of the Opera Pannonica Ensemble (conducted by Balazs Kocsar) at the Osijek Summer of Culture 2015. She also performed with the Opera Pannonica Ensemble in 2016 as Gianette in the opera L’Elisir D’Amore by G. Donizetti performed in Grožnjan, Umag, Osijek, Pécs, Split and Hvar (conductor Balazs Kocsar), in 2017 with the same ensemble she debuted in the role of Susanna (Mozart’s opera Le Nozze di Figaro) with performances in Grožnjan and Buje, and in 2019 in the role of Pamina in Mozart's opera Die Zauberflöte (conductor: Balazs Kocsar). In 2018, she performed in the role of Nella in Pucini's Gianni Schicchi and as Musetta in the opera La Boheme. In season 2020/2021 she sang role of Donna Anna in Mozarts opera Don Giovanni.  She took part in masterclasses by prof. Michele Creider at Mozarteum University in 2018. She received the Dean's Award in 2016 and the Rector's Award in 2017.

 

 DRAGANA POPOVIĆ, mezzosoprano

 
Dragana graduated in solo singing at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, in the class of Prof. Nikola Mijailović and went on to perfect her baroque repertoire with Marijana Mijanović. She collaborates with the National Theatre in Belgrade, the Belgrade Philharmonic, the Madlenianum Opera and Theatre, and the New Belgrade Opera. She has participated in festivals including BEMUS, Young Opera Schloss Weikersheim in Germany, New Wave in New York, Belgrade Early Music Festival etc. She was especially prominent in the roles of Rosina and Angelina in Rosini's operas The Barber of Seville and La cenerentola, roles of Donna Elvira and Dorabella in Mozart's operas Don Giovanni and Cosi fan tutte, and the role of Octavia in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea.

 

LJUBOMIR POPOVIĆ, tenor


Popović has exceptional vocal abilities and a very rich voice throughout the vocal range, which allows him to interpret a diverse repertoire ranging from baroque to contemporary music of the 21st century. He achieved great success interpreting roles such as: Nemorino (Donizetti – The Love Potion, Belgrade National Theatre), Gerard (Glass - Les Enfants Terribles, D. Radović Theater, Belgrade and Prague National Theatre, Czech Republic), Vladimir Lenski (Tchaikovsky – Eugene Onegin, Belgrade National Theatre), Enjolras (Boublil/Schonberg - Les Misérables, Opera Madlenianum, Zemun), Kutjerma (Rimsky-Korsakov - The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh, Synagogue, Novi Sad), Piangi (L. Webber - Phantom of the Opera, Terazije Theatre, Belgrade). An interesting feature of his repertoire is the role originally written for the female voice, namely the soprano role of Giulietta in Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann. There are also the roles of Alfredo (Strauss – The Bat, Belgrade National Theatre), Arlekin (Leoncavalo – Pagliacci, Belgrade National Theatre and Madelenianum, Zemun), Pera Tocilov (Despić - Pop Ćira i pop Spira, SNP Novi Sad), Shepherd (Monteverdi – Orfeo, New Belgrade Opera), Nikolaj Apolonovič (Popović – Petrograd, Belgrade Youth Home). In his performing oeuvre, Popović has recorded more than 30 roles, more than 250 performances and more than 300 concert performances at home and abroad (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Italy, Germany, Greece, Sweden etc.), which currently makes him one of the most active tenors in the region. In addition to his solo career, he is also involved in music pedagogy as a singing teacher at the Josif Marinković Music School in Vršac.

 

BERISLAV JERKOVIĆ, baritone

 

Berislav Jerković, PhD, professor at the Academy of Arts in Osijek (subjects Voice, Opera Studio, Vocal Pedagogy,  Conducting). Graduated in Voice, Choral conducting and Music Pedagogy (Music academies in Zagreb and Pecs, Hungary), postgraduate studies of Voice (at University in Zagreb and at University in Graz) and doctoral study of Vocal pedagogy (University in Zagreb). Sang many solistic roles in operas: Don Giovanni, Gianni Schicchi, L’elisir d’amore, Rigoletto, Cosi fan tutte, Un ballo in maschera, La boheme, Eugene Onegin, I Pagliacci, The Magic Flute, Carmen, La sonnambula, The Marriage of Figaro, Tosca, La serva padrona, Ero the Joker, Il segreto di Susanna etc.  Performed with many orchestras and gave numerous solo recitals at the concerts and festivals in Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Hungary, Jordan, North Macedonia, Germany, Austria, Greece, Italy, Spain, Venezuela, USA, Belgium, China, South Africa …  

He has worked with the Croatian Baroque Ensemble at performances of the old music masters (Caccini, Rameau, Campra, Handel, Bach, Monteverdi ...). He is very active in researching Arts and Science and he has participated in conferences and congresses in Bologna, Paris, Marlborough, Beijing, Rochester, Thessaloniki, Brisbane, Princeton. In addition, he also leads master classes and professional seminars for singers, conductors, choir and vocal ensemble leaders (Croatia, Hungary, UK, France, Canada, USA, South Africa, Jordan, Montenegro, Serbia …). Besides his singing career, he also works as a conductor, per­forming on concerts with choirs, vocal and instrumental ensembles in Croatia and abroad. Finally, he received many awards - as a soloist as well as a conductor. Artistic director of Opera Pannonica ensemble and International singing competition Lav Mirski, Croatia. Author of the books Singing class curricula (2019) and Contemporary singing education (2021). He is the head of the Music department at Academy of arts in Osijek.

 

 ANTE BLAŽEVIĆ, piano

 

Ante Blažević was born in 1983 in Virovitica. He received his elementary music education at the Music School in Slatina in just three years. He attended high music school in Osijek. He completed his piano studies in 2006 at the Zagreb Academy of Music, Osijek Department, in the class of prof. Damir Sekošan. During his music education he performed in Slatina, Osijek, Našice, Požega, Virovitica, Daruvar, Zagreb and the Republic of Hungary. He stands out with performances at two Darko Lukić Memorials (2003 and 2005), performances at the HGZ Zagreb (2004 and 2006), performances at the International Music Festival Days of Milko Kelemen in Slatina in 2005, recitals in Požega 2007 and in 2008 and in Osijek and Našice in 2008 and 2009. For many years he gave concerts with prof. Nikola Jankov (accordion). He studied at seminars of world-renowned pedagogues and pianists: Leonid Sincev (Russia), On Mitania (Japan), Laszlo Baranya (Hungary), Eugen Indjic (France), Ruben Dalibaltyan (Armenia) and Konstantin Krasnitsky (Belarus). He attended the 2011 EPTA International Piano Competition. He started teaching in Slatina in 2004. He has been performing as a solo singer's accompanist at the Academy of Arts in Osijek since 2008. He has also been the accompanist of the string department at the Franjo Kuhač Music School in Osijek since 2011. He is the official accompanist of the International Singing Competition Lav Mirski in Osijek. He is principal pianist of Opera Pannonica ensemble.