Jaroslav Březina

Soloist of the National Theatre Opera. He studied at the Prague Conservatory under the tutelage of Professor Zdeněk Jankovský and after graduating further honed his technique with Václav Zítek. During his studies he became a member of the vocal ensemble Dobrý večer kvintet. His concert activity is extensive, primarily as regards projects pertaining to the baroque and classical repertoire. He has appeared on concert stages in Japan, Austria, Norway, Italy (performances of Dvořák’s Stabat Mater in Rome and Pisa), Germany, France and Spain. He has collaborated with a number of conductors, including Jiří Bělohlávek, Sir Charles Mackerras, Oliver Dohnányi, Serge Baudo, Gerd Albrecht and Tomáš Netopil. Since 1993 he has been a soloist of Prague’s National Theatre Opera, where he has created a host of roles from both the Czech and world repertoire - Mozart’s Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Tito (La clemenza di Tito), Tamino (Die Zauberflöte) and Ferrando (Cosi fan tutte), Count Almaviva (Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia), Benvolio (Gounod: Roméo et Juliette), Dancairo (Bizet: Carmen), Fenton (Verdi: Falstaff), Beppe (Leoncavallo: Pagliacci), Tinca (Puccini: Il tabarro), Zinovy Borisovich (Shostakovitch: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk), Vašek and Jeník (Smetana: The Bartered Bride), Jirka (Dvořák: The Devil and Kate), Yannakos and Panait (Martinů: The Greek Passion), Maškaron (Martinů: The Miracles of Mary), Kudrjáš (Janáček: Káťa Kabanová), Nemorino (Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore), Pedrillo (Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Jiří (Dvořák: The Jacobin), The Spirit of the Masque (Britten: Gloriana) and Alfredo (Verdi: La traviata). He has recorded for Deutsche Gramophon a CD of Ryba’s Czech Christmas Mass. He has also participated in the recording of Zelenka’s coronation opera Sub olea pacis et palma virtutis for the Supraphon label, which won the 2002 Cannes Classical Awards, as well as Janáček’s Šárka and Dvořák’s comic opera The Stubborn Lovers. He has rendered Janáček’s song cycle The Diary of One Who Disappeared at Teatro Real Madrid, the Moravian Autumn and Janáček’s Hukvaldy festivals, within the concert season of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and from 1998 to 2001 regularly within performances of this cycle at the National Theatre in Prague.