
MASTER CLASSES: CREATING DRAMATIC OPERA CHARACTERS 1.8.-10.8.2024 Jelsa, Hvar


The Creating a Dramatic Character Workshop aims to help young, beginning opera singers feel natural and relaxed on stage while mastering the basic craft techniques of this art.
The course will focus on technical and movement improvement, as well as superstructure, according to the individual needs and levels of development of the participants. The workshop will also emphasize teamwork on stage, including work related to props and costumes. Regarding character creation, our focus will be on articulation, sound colour, and facial expressions, as well as other relevant aspects to master our craft. It is crucial for young singers to gain confidence and a clear understanding of character and character development when performing each musical number. We will teach them how to approach the study of an operatic role and all its requirements.
The workshop is open to singers who wish to perform and interpret not only opera but also song literature or church music. Attendees will have the opportunity to apply their knowledge by performing in several concerts, including Songs, Church Music, and a final performance featuring fragments from operas. The workshop will take place in Jelsa, a picturesque seaside city on the island of Hvar in Croatia. This work was produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union.
pedagogical leadership
doc. Mgr. Klaudia Račić Derner, ArtD.- Singing – character on stage
Academy of Arts Banská Bystrica
Mgr. art. Jana Juríčková, ArtD.- Singing – vocal preparation
Music and art academy of Ján Albrecht Banská Štiavnica
Mgr.art. Peter Dekrét- piano, musical preparation
Academy of Arts Banská Bystrica
Mgr. art. Zulfizar Zázrivá, PhD., ArtD.- piano, music preparation
Academy of Arts Banská Bystrica
Klaudia Račić Derner The opera singer completed her studies at the Apsolvent Music Academy and earned her doctorate in Bratislava under the guidance of doc. Magdalena Blahušiaková. As a student, she was engaged by the Slovak National Theatre and made her debut in the opera La Boheme as Mimi. She has been a soloist at the Slovak National Theatre for 25 years, performing in numerous productions. Her leading roles have primarily focused on Slavic works, although her repertoire also encompasses pieces by other composers from around the world.
She has won numerous prizes in several international competitions. She was awarded the International Thália Award and the Alfréd Radok Award for her performance in a leading female role in the Czech Republic. She has participated in numerous workshops and courses, primarily in Italy under the guidance of Maestro Carlo Bergonzi, as well as with Gabriela Beňačkova and Margaret Honig. She has also collaborated with Miloslava Sopirova and Zlatica Livorova. For several years, she lectured at the Academy of Music on creating the dramatic character. This experience led to her developing a deeper relationship with young people, which she continues to enjoy. She is an active professor and leads several educational programmes. At the request of a Japanese manager, she created a number of performances of opera and operetta (Carmen, Don Giovanni, La Traviata, Elisire dámore, Die Csárdásfürstin…), which were successfully toured in Japan, where she herself tried to introduce young opera singers. She continued with the idea of providing opportunities for young artists and promoting their work by inviting them to various performances. Currently, the individual works as a professor at
the Academy of Arts in Banska Bystrica.
Jana Juríčková The Slovak soprano-coloratura was a long-time soloist of the Slovak National Theater Opera. She studied singing at the Academy of Music in Bratislava under the guidance of doc. Magdalena Blahusiaková.
During her studies, she made her debut at the Slovak National Theater in Bratislava as Blonde in Mozart’s opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail in 1999. Since then, she has appeared in several roles, including Norina in Donizetti’s ‘Don Pasquale’.Adina (L’Elisir d’ amore) and Lucia di Lammermoor, Mozart’s Zerlina (DonGiovanni), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Queen of the Night (Die Zauberflöte), Gilda (Verdi: Rigoletto), Oscar (Verdi: Ballo di Maschera), Zerbinetta (R. Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos) … At the National Theatre in Brno she guest-starred in the roles of Terinka (Dvořák: Jakobin), Verdi’s Gilda, Puccini with Musetta (La Boheme), Mozart’s Queen of the Night – (she performed this role in the Czech Republic, Japan and Germany) 2010. It is performed at the Opera of the National Theatre in Prague as Olympia in Les Contes ‘Hoffmann and as Armida in Handel’s Rinaldo. Since 2016 she is teaching voice at the Conservatory in Bratislava. Currently, she is a professor at the Ján Albrecht Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Banská Štiavnica.
Peter Dekrét – a young pianist who graduated from the Academy of Arts in Banská Bystrica and is currently pursuing doctoral studies at the same institution. Additionally, he works at the University’s Department of Piano Collaboration and as an accompanist at the Opera Studio. He already has several collaborations at the international level, for example Masterclasses on the topic of Creating a Dramatic Character Croatia-Hvar 2022, Slovakia-Banská Bystrica 2022, Hvar 2023 and Slowakia-Devín 2023… He is a well-known and highly sought-after partner for chamber and solo concerts in classical music circles. Additionally, he collaborates with the State Opera in Banská Bystrica to pursue his passion for opera.
Mgr. Zulfizar Zázrivá, PhD., ArtD studied piano in the class of the renowned professor Jelena Michajlovna Zabolocka at the Music School in Dushanbe. She won 3rd prize at the Sergei Prokofiev State Piano Competition. She continued her studies at the Faculty of Music and Pedagogy of the Ural Pedagogical University in Ekaterinburg in the piano class of T. Salazkina and also gained experience in choral conducting and singing. She continued her piano studies with prof. Marcela Štefka, ArtD. and Mgr. Aleš Solárik at the Academy of Performing Arts in Banská Bystrica. She continued her education at the Matej Bella University in Banská Bystrica in the field of theory of teaching subjects of general and professional nature, specialising in theory of music education, and in 2010 she defended her doctoral thesis under the supervision of Prof. Ladislav Burlas. Ladislav Burlas. In 2018 she graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Banská Bystrica. She took part in the International Piano Forum Sanok, Artur Jaroń, Viera Nosina and international piano courses Forum per tasti – Zuzana Paulechová-Niederdorfer, Otto Niederdorfer, Oleg Mantur, Zdeněk Hnat and other concert events in Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic. She completed her vocal studies at the Bratislava Conservatory under the guidance of doc. Magdaléna Blahušiaková and at the Academy of Performing Arts in Banská Bystrica. At present she works as an external doctoral student under the supervision of Mária Tomanová in the field of singing and as an assistant professor at the Academy of Performing Arts, tutoring in the violin class of prof. Jela Špitková, flute class of doc. Ivica Gabrišová and in the singing class of M. Popović. As an assistant she studied opera with the students of the Opera Studio: Antonio Vivaldi: Juditha triumphans devicta Holofernis barbarie, Henri Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi: La serva padrona, Christoph Willibald Gluck: The Improved Drunkard, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: The Magic Flute, The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Gaetano Donizetti: The Marriage of Figaro, Antonín Dvořák: Rusalka, Engelbert Humperdinck: Hansel and Gretel, and many fragments of operas and operettas. He teaches ensemble singing and piano at the Ján Levoslav Bella Conservatory in Banská Bystrica. He has participated in master singing courses with Pavol Bršlík and Adriana Kučerová.