Matjaž Stopinšek – lyric tenor

Matjaž Stopinšek was born in Celje (Slovenia) and began his musical training while still attending middle school in Maribor, where his main course of study was voice. After completing his Matura, he attended the University for Music and the Performing Arts in Graz, studying with Prof. Wolfgang Gamerith and Prof. Horst Zander.

While still a student, he sang his first Mozart roles, debuting in 1997 as Tamino (“Die Zauberflöte”), followed by Don Curzio (“Le Nozze di Figaro”) in the Theater im Palais in Graz. Engagements followed with the Styrian Musikverein, where he again sang Tamino and later Belmonte (“Die Entführung aus dem Serail”), and in the Stadttheater Leoben, where he was heard as Don Basilio (“Le nozze di Figaro”) and Baron Kronthal (“Der Wildschütz”). The early phase of his career was also marked by numerous successes in operetta: Caramello in “Eine Nacht in Venedig” for the Slovenian National Theater Ljubljana, Jan in “Der Bettelstudent”, the title role in Lehár’s “Der Zarewitsch” and Georges Duménil in Heuberger’s “Der Opernball”, all with the Stadttheater Leoben.

In 2003 he became an ensemble member of the Slovenian National Theater Ljubljana, where he expanded his operetta repertoire with roles such as Eisenstein (“Die Fledermaus”), Graf Stanislav (“Der Vogelhändler”) and Edwin (“Die Csárdásfürstin”), while taking on mainstream operatic roles such as Pinkerton (“Madama Butterfly”) and Don Narciso (“Il Turco in Italia”), and garnering successes in operatic rarities as Florindo in “Le Donne Curiose” by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari and as Franz Waldung in Jacques Offenbach’s romantic opera “Les Fées du Rhin”, a role he would repeat in the Festspielhaus St. Pölten, the Theater Winterthur and in the Theater Bozen. In 2008 he was engaged by Karen Kamensek at the Slovenian National Theater Maribor, where he scored his first major success as Don José in “Carmen”. Further roles in Maribor included Ferrando, Pinkerton, Alfredo and Janez, in the Slovenian opera “Zlatorog“ (“Goldhorn”) by Viktor Parma. The same season sang in another Slovenian opera, “Teharski plemici“ (“The peers of Teharje“) by Benjamin Ipavcek at the Slovenian People’s Theater Celje, and he made an acclaimed guest appearance at the Theatre Baden near Vienna as Barinkay in “Der Zigeunerbaron“ by Johan Strauss Jr.. In the 2009-10 season Matjaž Stopinšek’s roles at the Slovenian National Theater Maribor included Werther, Eisenstein and Tschekalinski (“Pique Dame“), he made guest appearances at the Slovenian National Theater Ljubljana as Don José and in the summer as Edwin in Emmerich Kálmáns operetta “Die Csárdásfürstin“ with the Lehár Festival Bad Ischl (Austria).

Upcoming engagements include his return to the Theatre Baden, first as Sou Chong (“Das Land des Lächelns”) and then in the title role of Gounod’s “Faust”.

Concert and oratorio appearances have brought him throughout Austria, Slovenia and Hungary, as tenor soloist in Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana”, “Elias” by Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Mozart’s “Requiem”, Saint-Saëns’ “Christmas Oratorio”, Bruckner’s “Te Deum” and many other works. In the summer of 2010 he made his debut with the Munich Symphony Orchestra in an opera gala.