Mentors
International Summer Opera Studio
Dunja Vejzović began her career at the Zagreb National Theatre. From 1971 to 1976 she was a member of the Nürnberg Opera, and to 1980 of the Opernhaus Frankfurt, where she appeared in principal roles such as Carmen (Carmen), Venus (Tannhäuser), Dido (Dido and Aeneas), Klytemnestra (Elektra), Azucena (Il Trovatore), Marie (Wozzeck), Amneris (Aida), Gräfin Geschwitz (Lulu) and Dalila (Samson et Dalila).
She made her international debut at the Bayreuth Richard Wagner festival where she sang the role of Kundry in Parsifal for three seasons.
With Herbert von Karajan, she recorded three great roles of the Wagner opus: Kundry - Parsifal (DGG), Ortud- Lohengrin (EMI) and Senta-Flying Dutchman (EMI), and gave delightful performances with Karajan at the Easter Festival in Salzburg in 1980, 1981 and 1984. She won high respected prizes such as Orphee d`Or - Fanny Heldy (1981, 1982), Ortrud (1984) and became famous as an outstanding performer of Wagnerian roles.
She has performed a wide range of works on the most famous opera stages worldwide, such as Tannhäuser (Metropolitan 1978 Levine); Troyens (Scala 1979 Pretre); Le Cid - Concert (Paris 1981 with Domingo); Wozzeck Suite (Wien 1982 Kleiber, i London- 1985, Claudio Abbado); with Lorin Maazel she performed in Verdi's Requiem (Cleveland, New York 1982); Flying Dutchmann (Vienna State Opera 1983, Hamburg, Milano, Brussels); Suor Angelica (Scala Milano1983 Gavazzeni); Nabucco (Caracalla Rome, 1984); Medea and Salambo (Paris Opera 1986); Alceste (Stuttgart 1987 Eschenbach); Parsifal directed by Wilson (Hamburg 1990, Houston 1991); Fierrabas and Lohengrin under Claudio Abbado (Vienna State Opera 1990).
Since 1995 she has been teaching and transferring her huge artistic experience to younger generations (Graz 1996/97, Zagreb 1995-2000 and “Hochschule fur Musik und darstellende Kunst” in Stuttgart, 2000-2012).
Apart to a lot of Masterclasses (Italy, Germany, Holland , Mexico and Croatia), Mrs. Vejzovic is also active as member of the Jury in vocal competitions.
An important Monography “Documenta” of 216 pages is issued with complete documentation of her appearances.
In October 2010 the president of Federal German Republic honoured her with the Cross of honour for her activities on the field of culture exchange an social works.
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Diana Haller is Croatian singer with Italian roots studied at the Giuseppe Tartini Conservatory in Trieste, at the Royal Academy of Music in London and at the State University of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart with Dunja Vejzović. She is still coached by Brigitte Fassbaender.
Highlights of the 2024/25 season include her role debut as Elettra (Idomeneo) and Fremde Fürstin (Rusalka), her return to the Musiktheater an der Wien with the operetta Das Spitzentuch, concerts in Rijeka, with the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, in Lisbon and Stuttgart, among others.
After a year in the opera studio of the Stuttgart State Opera, Diana Haller became the youngest member of the ensemble in the 2010/11 season. The artist can be heard there in her wide-ranging repertoire, which includes roles from baroque to bel canto to parts by Richard Strauss. In 2021, she was awarded the title of Kammersängerin at this house. Guest engagements have taken the singer to the Salzburg Festival, the Handel Festival in London, the Bregenz Festival, the Rossini Festival in Bad Wildbad, where she received the prestigious Belcanto Prize, the Savonlinna Festival and the opera houses in Zurich, Dresden, Milan, Strasbourg, Cologne, Hamburg and Frankfurt, among others.
The winner of numerous international competitions, including 1st prize at the 8th International Competition for Lied Art at the Hugo Wolf Academy and the 5th Manhattan International Competition, she is equally in demand as a Lied and concert singer and can be heard on all major concert stages. In concert she works with conductors such as Philippe Herreweghe, Jordi Savall and Diego Fasolis as well as with the symphony orchestras of the WDR, MDR and NDR and the orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin.
At the Maggio Fiorentino she sang Mahler's 8th Symphony under Fabio Luisi, as well as the same symphony at the Bregenz Festival under the direction of Kirill Petrenko. She has given recitals at the Hugo Wolf Academy, at the Stuttgart Opera, at the Eppan Song Festival, at the Schubertiade Hohenems, in Mexico, at the National Theater in Rijeka, in Vienna, Zagreb and elsewhere.
Diana Haller has also expanded her repertoire to include individual soprano roles and has already enjoyed great success as 'Elettra'/Idomeneo. Future roles include 'Leonora'/“Il Trovatore”, 'Desdemona'/“Otello” (Rossini) at the Bad Wildbad Festival, as well as the title role in “Norma”.
Since 2022 Diana Haller has been assigned a position as coach and singing teacher at the State University of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart.
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Alessandro Cadario since 2016 holds the position of Principal Guest Conductor of I Pomeriggi Musicali – one of the oldest Italian symphonic orchestras, based in Milan. Widely appreciated as a refined and expressive conductor, Cadario brings a highly charismatic, profound and determined leading in his musical direction. An eclectic musician, his interpretations of the symphonic and operatic repertoire are always attentive to the performance practices of different styles.
Over the course of his career, he conducted renowned orchestras such as Mariinsky Orchestra, Orchestra del Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Russian National Orchestra, Orchestra del Teatro Regio di Torino, Monte Carlo Philharmonic, Filarmonica della Fenice, Tatarstan National Symphony, Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Orchestra of Royal Opéra de Wallonie Liège, Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova, Orchestra del Teatro Massimo di Palermo.
He gained public recognition in 2015 by conducting at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and for the highly acclaimed interpretation of Rossini’s Stabat Mater at Teatro Petruzzelli of Bari (“With Cadario, Rossini is Great” La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno).
The year 2015 also marked his debut at La Scala in Milan, conducting the Sinfónica Juvenil de Caracas, followed in 2016 by a debut in China with the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong for Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor K.427.
In 2017, he was chosen to conduct the Christmas concert from the Aula of the Italian Senate, broadcast live by RAI. The following season, he made his debut at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg and at the Teatro Regio di Torino with Verdi’s Quattro pezzi sacri, establishing himself as a sensitive conductor of the symphonic-choral repertoire.
In 2019 he leaded Norma by Bellini at the Croatian National Theatre of Rijeka, La Cenerentola by Rossini and The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky at Teatro Massimo of Palermo. He also conducted Cimarosa’s Missa pro defunctis during the season of the Fondazione Arena di Verona.
The 2020-21 season marked his debut at the Rossini Opera Festival with Il Viaggio a Reims and a return to the Teatro Carlo Felice with Donizetti’s Elisir d’amore and a new production of Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti in a double bill with Pergolesi’s La Serva Padrona.
In the 2021-22 season, he was invited to the Royal Opera House in Muscat and the Festival della Valle d’Itria, conducting the world premiere of Opera Italiana by Campogrande. He also returned to the Teatro Regio di Torino and the Teatro Massimo di Palermo for the world premiere of Tutino’s opera L’eredità dei giusti, for the Requiem for the victims of the mafia, and conducted Mozart’s Don Giovanni.
In the past season he returned at Teatro Filarmonico conducting the Orchestra of Arena di Verona, he made his debut at Rome Opera Theatre in the frame of Caracalla Festival conducting Prokofiev’s Cinderella and he returned at Teatro Massimo di Palermo.
He has recently returned in the season of Tatarstan National Symphony Orchestra, Montenegrin Symphony Orchestra, Teatro Carlo Felice, Krakow Philarmonic Orchestra for the Handel’s Messiah and at the 88th Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Festival for the world premiere of Jeanne Dark by Vacchi. He also conducted in the last edition of Rossini Opera Festiva and of MITO SettembreMusica Festival, in this season he returend to Teatro Petruzzelli, Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Royal Opera House in Muscat and debuted at Teatro Bellini di Catania and at Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège. Moreover he debuted with the Orchestra of Accademia del Teatro alla Scala and returned to Teatro dell’Opera di Roma for Strauss’s Die Fledermaus.
His upcoming engagements include a new production of Don Giovanni by Mozart at Caracalla Festival 2025, performances at the Teatro Filarmonico di Verona of Le Villi by Puccini as well as debuts with the Zagreb Philharmonic and Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana.
He graduated in Orchestra Conducting at Conservatorio G. Verdi in Milan and at Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, where he received two First Class Honors, with Distinction. He also completed diplomas in Violin, in Choral Conducting and in Composition.
He is passionate about astrophysics and quantum physics.
Filip Fak is currently serving as the General Manager of Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra,
professor of piano at the Music Academy of the University of Zagreb
and the President of the Croatian Society of Music Artists.
He finished his piano studies in 2005 at the Academy of Music in Zagreb in the class of
prof. Đorđe Stanetti, and at the Schola Cantorum in Paris in the master class of Eugen
Indjić, at the end of which he obtained the Diplome de Concert with the highest
marks.
He performed as a soloist and chamber musician in all important Croatian cultural centers and
in a dozen European countries, the USA, Mexico and China.
As a soloist with an orchestra, he performed with the most prestigious Croatian orchestras and ensembles (Zagreb
Philharmonic, HRT Symphony Orchestra, Zagreb Soloists, Cantus Ensemble) under the baton of renowned conductors
such as Klaus Arp, Pavle Dešpalj, Alun Francis, Aleksandar Marković, Adriano Martinolli, Ville Matvejeff, Aleksandar Kalajdžić,
Luca Pfaff, Ari Rasilainen, etc. In addition to performing with orchestras, he gave a number of notable recitals and chamber
performances in cooperation with prominent soloists and ensembles, guesting at events such as the Zagreb Music
Biennale, Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Lisinski Saturdays, HRT Masters Cycle, Osor Music Evenings, Musical Evenings
in St. Donatus, Festival of St. Mark, Festival Diapason, etc.
In his solo repertoire, he pays special attention to the performances of contemporary authors, thus premiering many works
of recent date, from piano miniatures and chamber music, all the way to large works with an orchestra (for example, the
Piano Concerto by A. Knešaurek from 2015 and Invisible Cities by D. Gasparini from 2019).
As of 2009 he worked with student singers as an artistic associate at the Music Academy in Zagreb, and as a pianist with
renowned opera singers such as: Dunja Vejzović, Giorgio Surian, Diana Haller, Evelin Novak, Olga Šober, Bojan Šober,
Kristina Kolar, Robert Kolar, Miljenka Grđan, Vedrana Šimić etc.
He was also serving as the artistic director of Opera company at the Croatian National Theatre in Rijeka (2021-2022).
Since 2021 he is a member of the Council for Music at the Office for Culture and Civil Society of the City of Zagreb.
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Ana Majdak Fak (founder and general manager of ISOS) finished her singing studies in 2015. at the Academy of Music in Zagreb in the class of prof. Olga Šober, and currently is at post Master’s studies in the class of prof. Dunja Vejzović. She finished Music School in Križevci (flute and singing).
She graduated with Music Academy singing Mozart’s Exultate jubilate and Bruckner’s Te Deum with orchestra CNT I pl Zajc conducted by Mo Vlajnić.
As a soloist, she worked with conductors: Ville Matvejeff, Tibor Bogányi, Igor Vlajnić, Tomislav Fačini, Matija Fortuna, Kalle
Kuusava, Valentin Egel, Miran Vaupotić etc, and sang with orchestras such as Zagreb Philharmonic, Croatian National Theatre
in Rijeka orchestra, Youth Orchestra Croatia (Orkestar Mladih Glazbenika)...
She worked on her singing on Masterclasses by renowed artists such as Dunja Vejzović, Olga Šober, Gerhard Zeller, Monika
Hauswalter...
NOTABLE ROLES: Adela (Die Fledermaus, Strauss), Annina (La Traviata, Verdi), Frasquita (Carmen, Bizet), Kate Pinkerton
(Madama Butterfly, Puccini), Bastienne (Bastien und Bastienne, Mozart), Betty Schaefer (Sunset Boulevard, Webber), Sancta
Susanna (S. Susanna, Hindemith), Fifth Maid (Elektra, Strauss), Kätchen (Werther, Gounod), Olympia (Power of love,
Eisenhuth), Second woman (Dido and Aeneas, Purcell), Glauka (Medea, Unander- Scharin), Čobanče (Ero the jocker, Gotovac),
Mistress (Evita, Webber), Larissa (Sunset Boulevard), Astrolog (Sunset Boulevard).
She worked with renowned stage directors such as Fabrizio Melano, Janusz Kica, Krešimir Dolenčić, Mathias Behrends, Ozren
Prohić, Lucia Brnić, Mirva Koivukangas, Marin Blažević, Dražen Siriščević, Renata Carola Gatica and choreographers Oxana
Brandiboura Kožul, Osku Heiskanen, Tihana Strmečki, Damian Cortes Alberti, Asa Unander-Scharin.
2018.-2021. she participated as a student on classes of Mental Health by Army Medical Department, Counselling and
Psychotherapy by Seul University, Working with Students with Special Educational Needs by Alison and worked as a
professor on Music workshops with people with Special Needs in Zagreb.
During a work as a High School teacher she put several staged performance with her students as a writer, stage director and
vocal coach (adapted opera - pasticchio-“Something like The Marriage of Figaro”, her own scenario “Opera Director”, “Bastien
und Bastienne” by Mozart ...)
