We are extremely sorry to inform you that due to illness, Cheryl Studer was forced to cancel her participation as a jury member of this year’s “Zinka Milanov” International Competition for Young Opera Singers at the last minute.
However, alongside this unfortunate news, we are glad to inform you that the new member of the jury will be the celebrated Dunja Vejzović, who is not only a prima donna of global career, but also a top pedagogue committed to continuously imparting knowledge and experience to young people at her masterclasses. Due to her extraordinary musicality, powerful voice of great range and her impressive stage presence, Dunja Vejzović is considered one of the greatest (mezzo-)sopranos of the 1980s and 1990s, who, in addition to her performances on the most important opera stages (Metropolitan, Teatro alla Scala, Wiener Staatsoper, Bayreuth, Salzburg…) has also recorded numerous CDs for leading record companies. Among others, she participated in the famous studio recordings of three Wagner operas (The Flying Dutchman, Lohengrin and Parsifal) conducted by Herbert von Karajan for DGG and EMI.
The spectrum of Dunja Vejzović’s musical interests is unusually large, ranging from interpretations of characters in the operas of Händel, Mozart, Cherubini and Gluck to Berlioz, Bizet, Wagner, Verdi, Mussorgsky and Massenet, Bartok, Stravinsky, Berg and R. Strauss.
She has performed in premieres in the world’s largest opera centers, from Milan’s Scala, the Vienna State Opera and the Théâtre National Opéra de Paris to the Teatre dell’Opera in Rome and the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, as well as festivals in Bayreuth and Salzburg. She has also sung in the Metropolitan in New York, the Deutsche Oper in Berlin and Hamburg, in Tokyo, Houston, and a number of other large opera houses. Dunja Vejzović has also collaborated with some of the greatest conductors and directors of her time: Herbert von Karajan, Carlos Kleiber, Lorin Maazel, Silvain Camberling, Claudio Abbado, Zubin Mehta, Ricardo Muti, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Lovro von Matačić, George Pretre, Christoph Eschenbach, Christoph von Dohnány, Armin Jordan, Michael Gielen, Jesús López-Cobos, Nicola Rescigno, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, James Levine, Pavle Dešpalj, Nikša Bareza, Robert Wilson, Hans Neuenfels, Hansgünter Heyme, Werner Düggelin, Peter Konwitschny i dr.
In 1993, Dunja Vejzović founded the theater group VERO Vision, and from 1995 she was a professor of singing at the Academy of Music in Zagreb, at the College of Music in Graz, and from 1999 at the College of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart.
Cheryl Studer and Dunja Vejzović sang together in several productions, one of which was Wagner’s Lohengrin at the Vienna State Opera in 1990, conducted by Claudio Abbado.
Please note that we will publish information about Cheryl Studer’s masterclass or a potential replacement during the weekend.
We wish dear Cheryl Studer a speedy recovery, and hope for her to join us at one of the next competitions!
We wish our Dunja Vejzović a warm welcome!
