FAMOUS CROATS, Vladimir Ruždjak

Vladimir Ruždjak, baritone, composer and opera director (Zagreb, 21 September 1922 – Zagreb, 9 October 1987) is one of the greatest Croatian composers of the 20th century. He graduated from the Academy of Music in Zagreb in 1946, majoring in solo singing in the class of prof. Milan Reizer. He was the first post-war graduate of that department. On 4 July 1946, he made his debut at the Croatian National Theater in Zagreb in Gianni Schicchi by G. Puccini. From 1948 to 1955, he was permanently engaged at the Croatian National Theater as a soloist in the opera. In 1948, he won the Yugoslav Competition of Musical Artists in Zagreb, in 1949, he won the Geneva International Singing Competition, and in 1950, he won the 1st prize at the International Singing Competition in Verviers, Belgium. On 14 November 1954, he made his debut in Hamburg in Verdi’s Il Trovatore. From 1954 to 1972, he was the leading opera singer in Hamburg, where he performed numerous leading roles and participated in several world premieres. At the same time, he performed as a guest artist on numerous major opera stages worldwide (San Francisco Opera, Sadler’s Wells Opera, Covent Garden Opera in London, the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, etc.). From 1962 to 1964, he was a member of the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He was also a regular guest at the Croatian National Theater Opera in Zagreb and performed on numerous concert stages in his country and abroad, developing a career as a concert singer. He performed around a hundred opera roles and had an extensive concert repertoire. For his rich international artistic activity, he was awarded the honorary title of Kammersänger on 21 August 1962. In the mid-1960s, he decided to add directing to his activities in composition and performance. Over the following years, he had around twenty opera productions. In 1970, he began his pedagogical work. As a full professor at the Academy of Music in Zagreb, he trained many high-quality singers. Whichever artistic activity he pursued, he always put his whole heart into it because the artistic act always involved a complete intellectual and emotional engagement. The need for synthesis, for finding a focus where all his aesthetic and moral principles would converge, was essential. He learned with ease and kept high performance standards. His beautiful baritone voice formed the basis for his exceptional technical skill and musicality, shining brightest in concerts and solo performances, where he dedicated much of his compositional work. In his compositions, he increasingly relied on folk sources. Erika Krpan, musicologist and a member of the Croatian Composers’ Society