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 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 Slovene 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 Slovene 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 Slovene National Theater Maribor, where he scored his first major success as Don José in “Carmen”. Further roles in Maribor included Ferrando, Pinkerton, Alfredo, Janez, in the Slovenian opera “Zlatorog“ (“Goldhorn”) by Viktor Parma, Werther, Eisenstein and Tschekalinski. Since 2010 Matjaž Stopinšek works as a freelance artist, and appeared in guest engagements at the Slovenian People’s Theater Celje, where he sang in another Slovenian opera, “Teharski plemici“ (“The peers of Teharje“) by Benjamin Ipavcek, at the Theater Baden near Vienna as Barinkay in “Der Zigeunerbaron“ and Sou Chong in “Das Land des Lächelns”, at the Slovene National Theater Ljubljana as Don José and with the Lehár Festival Bad Ischl (Austria) as Edwin in Emmerich Kálmáns operetta “Die Csárdásfürstin“.

In 2011/12 he made his debut in the title role of Gounod’s “Faust”, and later as the Herzog in Johann Strauss jr.’s “Eine Nacht in Venedig”, both at the Theater Baden. He will return to the Slovene National Theater Maribor for his first Danilo, and in the summer he will sing the role of Jonel in Lehár’s “Zigeunerliebe” at the Lehár Festival Bad Ischl.

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.