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The Slovenian baritone, Jaka Mihelač, studied at the Music Academy Ljubljana (Akademija za glasbo Ljubljana) with Professor Matjaž Robavs. He is the winner of the 1st Prize in the 2016 Slovenian national singing competition, 1st Prize and Mozart prize in the 2017 Ferruccio Tagliavini competition, the Wil Keune prize in the 2018 Belvedere Competition and 4th Prize in the 56th Francisco Viñas competition.
Prior to joining the Opera Studio at Staatsoper Berlin in September 2019, Jaka Mihelač appeared in a staged version of Orff’s Carmina Burana, produced by Christoph Hagel, in Berlin and the Meistersängerhalle in Nuremberg, as Ottokar in Der Freischütz at Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg, Yamadori in Madama Butterfly at the Slovenian National Opera in Ljubliana and Valentin in Charles Gounod's Faust at the Slovenian National Theatre in Maribor. He has also premiered new operas by Dušan Bavdek, Aleš Makovac und Tom Kobe.
Between 2019 and 2021, Jaka Mihelač was a member of the International Opera Studio at Staatsoper Berlin, where his roles included Marullo in Rigoletto, Dancaïro in Georges Bizet's Carmen, Notar in Der Rosenkavalier, Perückenmacher in Ariadne auf Naxos, Varsonofyev in Khovanshchina, 2nd Philistine in Camille Saint-Saëns's Samson et Dalila, Fiorillo in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Sciarrone in Tosca, Don Alfonso in Jobst Liebrecht’s La Piccola Cubana, Kilian in Der Freischütz and Sid in Fanciulla del West. More recently, he gave his house debut at Opera National de Montpellier as Marullo, performed Igor Stravinsky's Pulcinella with the Slovenian Philharmonic and returned to Staatsoper Berlin for the world premiere of Péter Eötvös' opera Sleepless, as Harlekin in Ariadne auf Naxos and in the title role in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. He was also chosen to take part in the Académie du Festival Aix-en-Provence last summer.
Highlights in the season 2022-2023 include his debut in the title role of Eugene Onegin for Slovenian National Opera, where he will also appear as Harlekin in Ariadne auf Naxos, Gustav Mahler's Lied von der Erde with Ensemble Dissonance and Jonathan Stockhammer at the Ljubljana Festival, and his return to Staatsoper Berlin as Dancaïro in Carmen and for the title role in Georg Friedrich Haas’ Thomas.
Jaka Mihelač's concert repertoire ranges from J.S. Bach's Passions to works by Benjamin Britten and Michael Tippett. He has performed with the Staatskapelle Berlin, the orchestras of the Gran Teatre Liceu, Teatro Real Madrid and Slovene National Theatres Maribor and Ljubliana, the Berliner Symphoniker, the Slovenian Phillharmonic orchestra, the Orchestra of Radio Serbia and worked with conductors including Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Vladimir Jurowski, Peter Ruzicka, Thomas Guggeis, Massimo Zanetti Alessandro De Marchiand directors such as Claus Guth, Alvis Hermanis, Bart Sher and Martin Kušej. |
