About Martina Zadro

One of the leading Croatian-Slovenian sopranos today, Martina Zadro very soon proved herself an integrated scenic personality, continuously present at the international operatic scene entrancing audiences across Europe, from Japan to South America. The winner of the 1999 “Lucia Popp” and the “Antonin Dvořák” International vocal competitions, Martina has been gaining international recognition ever since with her clear and expressive voice and her completely devoted stage presence.

 

Martina was the last student of the legendary soprano Anna Moffo, with whom she studied from 2004 – 2006 in New York. After graduating and mastering in singing at the Zagreb Music Academy with prof. Snježana Bujanović-Stanislav, Martina continued her studies at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Graz, further specializing with Croatian baritone Vitomir Marof and Slovak pedagogue prof. Eva Blahovà.

 

Establishing herself in operas by Verdi, Mozart and Puccini, her interpretation of Violetta, Mimi, Contessa, Pamina and Susanna brought her to the Narodni divadlo Prague, Teatro Municipal in Santiago, Teatro Municipal Lima, Narodni Divadlo Brno, Schlossfestspiele von Thurn und Taxis Regensburg, Teatro Campoamor in Oviedo, Salzburg Landestheatre, Bunkamura Orchard Hall Tokyo…

 

Since 2003 the principal soloist of the Slovene National Theatre Opera and Ballet in Ljubljana, Martina Zadro has been performing numerous roles as the leading soprano and achieved great international success in the role of Armgard, of the rediscovered (Boosey & Hawkes) first Offenbach’s opera “Die Rheinnixen” in 2005. Her upcoming performances include Antonia and Donna Anna at Slovene National Theatre Opera and Ballet in Ljubljana. Her opera debut was in 1995 at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, where she has since sung many parts, highlighted by an outstanding production of opera ‘Crux dissimulata’ by contemporary Croatian composer Srećko Bradić, the part of Rose written for Martina, which earned her the Award of the 2009 Croatian Theatres best role in opera, among other important vocal recognitions she has received for her artistic achievements (The Prize Marjana Radev, The Prize Milka Trnina).

 

Martina’s distinguished performance with the legendary tenor Jose Carreras was part of his farewell World tour in 2016.

 

Expanding her repertoire to Verdi’s Desdemona, Martina gave a triumphant Otello with Jose Cura at Ljubljana Festival 2016. In 2018 Martina’s interpretation of Janacek’s heroine Kata Kabanova at the Opera Rennes, was highly acclaimed by the French critics.

 

At concert podium Martina performes at numerus festivals, such as The Prague Spring, Dvorak’s Praha and Al Bustan Festival, with the Czech philharmonic, the Prague  philharmonic, the Zagreb philharmonic and the Slovene philharmonic. She has collaborated with today’s remarkable conductors, such as Yves Abel, Tomaš Netopil, Serge Baudo, Milan Horvat, Pavle Dešpalj, Massimo Zanetti, Ivan Repušić, Dmitrij Kitajenko, Elio Boncompagni, Vjekoslav Šutej, Loris Voltolini, David de Villiers, Uroš Lajovic, Marko Gašperšič, Jan Chalupecký, Johannes Wildner, Gianluca Marcianò, David Gimenez and others. Martina Zadro has been collaborating also with many distinguished opera directors: Lutz Hochstraate, Manfred Schweigkofler, Emilio Sagi, Arnaud Bernard, Charles Roubod, Jean Louis Grinda, Caterina Panti Liberovici, Vito Taufer, Krešimir Dolenčić, Frank van Laecke and others.

 

At the opening of Maribor European Capital of Culture 2012., Martina’s performance was broadcast TV live all over Europe.
In solo recitals Martina is mostly accompanied by her sister, pianist Lana Bradić. She has been perfecting her acting skills through the Method Acting School with Janez and Andrej Vajevec and with her husband, actor Zvonko Novosel.

 

Since 2005 Martina has also been a pedagogue, an associate professor at the singing department of the Music Academy in Zagreb; among her diplomants are young rising stars Jelena Kordić (mezzosporano) and Marko Mimica (bass).