Soprano Martina Zadro, a principal of the SNG Opera in balet Ljubljana (Slovenian National Theatre Opera and Ballet Ljubljana), is one of the leading Croato-Slovenian opera artists. She has been performing numerous leading roles from our theatre's opera repertoire since 2003.

She earned her Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Solo Singing at the Academy of Music in Zagreb under Prof. Snježana Bujanović Stanislav. She completed her specialisation in solo song and oratorio at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz under Prof. Gerhard Zeller and later on additionally specialised under Slovak pedagogue Eva Blahova, Croatian National Opera principal Vitomir Marof and under pedagogical supervision of Anna Moffo in New York, thus being one of the last students of the legendary Italo-American soprano.

She made her debut in 1995 in the HNK (Croatian National Theatre) Zagreb, establishing herself rather quickly as an integral theatre personality and sophisticated concert singer. The renowned soprano earned her international reputation with her interpretation of such roles as Violetta, Mimi, Countess, Susanna, Micaela and Pamina (National Theatre and State Opera in Prague, Salzburg State Theatre, Municipal Theatre of Santiago, Teatro Campoamor in Oviedo, Municipal Theatre of Lima, National Theatre in Brno, Bunkamura Orchard Hall in Tokyo, Longborough Opera Festival, Schlossfestspiele Thurn and Taxis in Regensburg).

She has been often appearing on concert stages with some finest symphony orchestras – the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, Croatian RTV Symphony Orchestra, Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra as well as the Czech and Prague Philharmonic Orchestras.

She has so far performed under many renowned conductors - Loris Voltolini, Yves Abel, Massimo Zanetti, Tomáš Netopil, Milan Horvat, Elio Boncompagni, Vjekoslav Šutej, Vladimir Kranjčević and Sergio Baudo.

Martina Zadro is a winner of the Lucia Popp and Antonin Dvořak International Singing Competitions. She also received a number of important Professional Recognition Awards (Milko Trnin Award) for her highly professional theatre and concert achievements.

She has recently performed with the famous tenor Jose Carreras, joining his farewell tour concerts in Pula and Graz. In 2016 Martina Zadro enriched her enviable opera repertoire with her roles of Kat'á Kabanová and Desdemona, in which she also appeared at the Ljubljana Festival with tenor Jose Cura.

Last updated in January 2017