After studying in Zagreb and Amsterdam, the Croatian tenor Kresimir Spicer started his career at the Festival of Aix en Provence in 2000 with a much noticed interpretation of Ulisse in Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in patria by Monteverdi under the baton of William Christie. The success of this production leads him to take part in an international tour(Lausanne, Bordeaux, Paris, London, New York and Vienna (Wiener Festwochen)). René Jacobs invites him at Berlin’s Staatsoper to take this role again which he also sings in Geneva under the direction of Attilio Cremonesi and at the opera of Francfort with Paolo Carignani.
Through this experience he gains international status. On the most famous stages, he does particularly well in baroque repertoire: Orfeo by Monteverdi (title role) in Zagreb and Toronto, Alcina at Beaune festival and La Didone by Cavalli at Théâtre des Champs-Elysées conducted by William Christie, Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno and La Grotta di Trofonio by Salieri at the opera of Zurich, Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas by Purcell at the festival of Baden-Baden under the direction of Thomas Hengelbrock, Telemaco by Scarlatti in Schwetzingen, Testo in Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda in Los Angeles, Joabel in David et Jonathas by Charpentier at the festival of Aix-en-Provence, at Edinburgh festival, at Opéra Comique and in New York …
Besides, he sets his highest standards in classical and Mozart repertoires : Alessandro in Il Re pastore by Mozart at Salzburg festival and in Verbier, Tito in La Clemenza di Tito under the baton of Paul Daniel at the festival of Aix-en-Provence, a role he then takes again in Luxemburg, Amsterdam and Baden-Baden, Idomeneo (title role) in Lille and Toronto, Lucio Silla (title role) at la Scala in Milan, Pylade in Iphigénie en Tauride by Gluck, Orlando Paladino (title role) by Haydn at the Châtelet…
His great musical qualities and his skills as an actor entitle him to appear more and more often in various repertoires : Die ägyptische Helena by Strauss under the baton of Fabio Luisi in Salzburg, Oedipus rex (title role) and Le pêcheur in le Rossignol by Stravinski in Strasbourg, Max in Freischütz at the Opéra Atelier in Toronto, Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoorin Los Angeles, Le Maître de Ballet in Manon Lescaut with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle at the festival of Baden-Baden, or also La Chauve-souris (Eisenstein) with Hervé Niquet in Zagreb…
He has recently appeared in Theodora (Septimus) conducted by William Christie in Paris, New York and Amsterdam, Rodelinda at the opera of Versailles in Il Pomo d’Oro, Ulisse in Oslo and Innsbruck, Lucio Silla in Toronto, Der Rosenkavalier (Valzacchi), Le Nozze di Figaro (Basilio) and Bajazet in Tamerlano (alternately with Plácido Domingo), La Chauve-souris (Dr Blind), La Finta giardiniera (Podestà), Ariadne auf Naxos and Idomeneo at la Scala in Milan, Nancy, Metz et Massy, Eumete in Il Ritorno d’Ulisse (together with Rolando Villazon in the title role) at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris and in Dijon, Berio’s Orfeo at la Philharmonie de Paris, Il Primo Omicidio by Scarlatti in Montpellier and Salzbourg, Idomeneo in Baden-Baden, Il trionfo del tempo e del Disinganno in Paris, Israël in Egypt with Le Concert spirituel in Grenoble, Der Rosenkavalier in Avignon, Il Trionfo del tempo at the Auditorium de Lyon, Ariodante on tour with Les Arts florissants and Idomeneo in Aix-en-Provence,
In concert, Kresimir Spicer has also performed at the Gewandhaus of Leipzig under the direction of Herbert Blomstedt, at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam under the baton of Christian Zacharias, in Rome with Yuri Temirkanov, in Rome and Paris conducted by Myung-Whun Chung, in Berlin by Kent Nagano, in Saint-Petersburg, Tallinn and Riga with Philippe Herreweghe and in Strasbourg with Carlo Rizzi.
Recent and future projects include Die Fledermaus on tour with Les Musiciens du Louvre, Idomeneo at the Capitole de Toulouse, Werther at the Baden-Baden Festival, Der Rosenkavalier at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées...
His recordings include Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in patria (DVD Virgin Classics), Il Re pastore (DVD Deutsche Grammophon), La Didone (DVD Opus Arte), David & Jonathas (DVD BelAir Classiques), Theodora (DVD Erato).
Février 2024
