Ivan Turšić

Pianissimo is how the qualified construction engineer’s first experiences of playing music could be described: »perhaps because it was obligatory, us boys weren’t too keen on attending the choir at the music school where I was learning accordion. One teacher signed off that we had already been involved in the school choir. So officially, I was a member of both choirs, but I didn’t sing in either.« Ivan’s parents introduced him to a great deal of culture: »Unlike other children, I never got bored at the opera. The music fascinated me, even more than the sets and the costumes.«

After primary school, civil war raged in Yugoslavia. Ivan and his friends went to the neighbouring church – to sing. And he sang a lot there. He was a soloist in choral concerts, and in private classes was told he was a tenor. He made it into the conservatorium in Zagreb, sang at the National Theatre in a baroque ensemble, and experimented with his voice and repertoire, sometimes even with baroque haute-contre parts.

In the summer of 2001 he impressed his future teacher at a course on the Lied on a Croatian island, and was invited to Stuttgart to continue his vocal training. At the opera house there, he performed for many years in Peter Konwitschny’s Magic Flute, sang Don Ottavio at the Wilhelma Theater, and met a Chinese singing student at the music academy. They married, and he moved to Hanover with his family for eight years, where he came across Barrie Kosky’s production of Janáček’s From the House of the Dead at the local Staatsoper. »With him, you really have to be willing to experiment a lot.« If you can do that, you’ll discover new things. »What impresses me most is that I often have to admit how good his suggestions are, even though I would never have thought of them myself. That is really amazing, and helps to build mutual trust.«

When he’s not singing, he’s playing with his children and travelling in his mind to Croatia, to the island of Rab. That’s where he regularly spends his summers, far away from civilisation: »trees, the sea and the stars – perfect!«

MASTERCLASSES WITH
Júlia Hamari, Richard Miller, Ferdinand Radovan, Konrad Richter, Dunja Vejzović

IMPORTANT CONDUCTORS
Wolfgang Bozic, Semyon Bychkov, Gregor Bühl, Antony Hermus, Karen Kamensek, Stefan Klingele, Ivan Repušić, Jonathan Seers, Stefan Soltesz

IMPORTANT DIRECTORS
André Bücker, Matthias Davids, Michiel Dijkema, Frank Hilbrich, Ingo Kerkhof, Barrie Kosky, Balázs Kovalik, Bernd Mottl, Georg Schmiedleitner, Olivier Tambosi

PREVIOUS POSITION
Staatsoper Hannover

IMPORTANT PARTS AT THE KOMISCHE OPER BERLIN
George Dibdin (Der Vampyr), Erich (Geschichten aus dem Wiener Wald), Andrès/Spalanzani/Pitichinaccio (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), David (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg), Wildhüter (Rusalka), Kreon (Medea), Afanassi Iwanowitsch (Der Jahrmarkt von Sorotschinzi), Graf Albert(Die tote Stadt), Truffaldino (Die Liebe zu drei Orangen),Fedja (Anatevka), Monostatos (Die Zauberflöte), Afanassi Iwanowitsch (Der Jahrmarkt von Sorotschinzi), Die Uhr (L’Enfant et les Sortilèges), Iwan (Die Nase), Dr. Cajus (Falstaff), Fatty (Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny), Gastone (La traviata)

ELSEWHERE
Belmonte und Pedrillo(Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Lysander (A Midsummer Night’s Dream),Belfiore (Il viaggio a Reims), Skuratov (Aus einem Totenhaus), Rinuccio (Gianni Schicchi), Števa Buryja (Jenůfa),Truffaldino (Die Liebe zu den drei Orangen), Mime (Das Rheingold), Peppe (Pagliacci), Freddy Eynsford-Hill (My Fair Lady), Jaquino (Fidelio) u. a. an der Staatsoper Hannover und in London (BBC Proms), Stuttgart, Essen, Basel, Bremen, Dessau