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, Krešimir Stražanac joined the Zürich Opera roster as an ensemble member. He appeared among others as Ping in ’Turandot ’, Harlequin in ’Ariadne auf Naxos’ or Don Fernando in ’Fidelio’ under the batons of such conductors as Nello Santi, Peter Schneider, Franz Welser-Möst, Bernard Haitink, Placido Domingo and many others.
Krešimir Stražanac won numerous competitions, for example 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).
Krešimir 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’, Bruckner’s ‘Te Deum’, and many additional works spanning early Baroque to contemporary music.
In the last years he appeared on stage together with Tokyo Symphony Orchestra under Jonathan Nott, Oslo Filharmoniske Orkester under Herbert Blomstedt, European Union Youth Orchestra under Manfred Honeck, Koninklijk Concertgewouworkest, Staatskapelle Dresden, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Bamberger Symphoniker, or WDR Symphony Orchestra. The concerts took him the Salzburg Festival, the Vienna Musikverein, the London Barbican Center, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Auditorio Nacional de Música Madrid, the Leipzig Gewandhaus as well as to many other concert halls.
Moreover, Krešimir Stražanac frequently performs vocal recitals (art songs and operatic arias) all over Europe. His discography includes many recordings ranging from Beethoven’s ’Fidelio’ to Peter Eötvös’ ’Tri sestri’.
