Slovenian baritone Jaki Jurgec has performed in more than sixty different operatic roles and is a regular guest on opera, festival and concert stages across Slovenia and abroad. Recently he has also been active as a stage director.
Following his graduation from the Ljubljana Academy of Music he continued his studies under Carlo Bergonzi at the Accademia Verdiana, one of the most prestigious Italian institutions for vocal training. A scholarship from the Slovenian Wagner Society in Ljubljana enabled him to receive further training in Bayreuth. Already as a student he made promising debuts in both Slovenian opera houses in Maribor and in Ljubljana, and after completing his studies he began to appear more and more as a guest artist on stages at home and abroad.
He is a regular performer on concerts and in opera productions throughout Italy (Parma, Busseto, Oderzo, Pordenone, Ancona, Padova), with his appearance in Orff’s cantata Carmina Burana, which had numerous performances throughout Italy, France and Malta, being especially noteworthy. Other guest engagements include appearances in Portugal, Ukraine, Taiwan, Austria, France, Croatia and Montenegro. His most notable operatic roles are Ezio (Attila), Figaro (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Silvio (I Pagliacci), Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte), Sharpless (Madama Butterfly), Dr. Falke/Frank (Die Fledermaus), Baron Dauphol/Giorgio Germont (La traviata), Albert (Werther), Mercutio (Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet), Fra Melitone (La forza del destino), Shaunard and Marcello (La bohème), Dulcamara (L’elisir d’amore), Dapertutto/Lindorf/Coppélius/Doctor Miracle (Les contes d’Hoffmann), Count Tomsky (The Queen of Spades), Amonasro (Aida) and Papageno (Die Zauberflöte). Jaki Jurgec is a regular guest artist at international festivals in Slovenia and abroad, including at the Teatra Astra and the Victoria International Asrts Festival on Malta. He has also performed a concert of operetta arias in the famous Austrian Burgarena Finkenstein.
Active also as a stage director, many of his productions in Slovenia have been well-received by both audiences and critics. At the Slovenian National Theater Maribor he has directed La bella opera and the children’s opera Kdor upa, ne odneha (Whoever Hopes, Never Gives Up) by Vitja Avsec. He directed a production of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro for Play Opera in Tokyo, and in Oderzo (Italy), where he is a regular guest, and has directed Rossini’s comic opera Il barbiere di Siviglia in addition to many gala concerts on the Giuseppe di Stefano Festival.
Jaki Jurgec has received many international awards for his achievements, including the Glazer Award from the city of Maribor for his portrayals of Papageno in Die Zauberflöte and of Taddeo in Rossini’s comic opera L'italiana in Algeri.
