Béla Mavrák
Béla Mavrák (born April 7, 1966 in Baden near Vienna ) is a Hungarian singer who specializes in lyric tenor .
Life
Early years and studies
Béla Mavrák was born in Baden near Vienna ( Austria ) to Hungarian parents. He grew up in Zrenjanin in Vojvodina in the former Yugoslavia . As a child he took piano lessons at the local music school. He finished high school medical direction and was being prepared for medical studies. During his compulsory year in the army, he got more involved in music and tried to write his own songs. After his military service, he asked the music professor Bursać to help him develop his compositional skills. Bursać was the first to notice Mavrák's singing talent and encouraged him to enroll in the Belgrade Music Academy in 1989, where he was tutored by the Yugoslav tenor Zvonimir Krnetić. At the invitation of his uncle, a saxophonist who lived in Germany, Mavrák moved to Cologne in 1991 to continue his studies there.
In addition to his training under Wilfried Jochims at the Cologne University of Music , he received private lessons from Franco Corelli in Milan and Gianni Raimondi in Bologna. He also followed master classes with Gianni Raimondi and Nicolai Gedda . In 1994 he finished his studies and received his artistic diploma. He lives in Cologne.
Career
In 1993 Mavrák won the gold medal and first prize at the international singing competition in Santa Margherita Ligure (Italy) with the Rodolfo aria from Puccini's opera La Bohème . He also sang in a CD production of Rossini's Petite messe solennelle. After his success in Santa Margherita Ligure, the Belgrade State Opera engaged him for his first operatic role as Rodolfo in the 1994 production of La Bohème.
He sang in a CD production of Antonio Vivaldi's Magnificat and also appeared in the Beethoven Hall in Bonn together with the Philharmonia Hungarica in a production of Verdi's Requiem . He sang the world premiere of Marianna Martinez ' In Exitu Israel and Dixit Dominus in the Cologne Philharmonic .
He repeated his role in Verdi's Requiem a year later at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and at the Teatro Municipal in São Paolo (Brazil). Also in 1995 he sang the leading role of "Faust" in Berlioz ' Faust's Damnation at the Salzburg Festival Hall (Austria). He continued this role in a new production when the German National Theater Weimar engaged him for two years in 1998 as part of the European Capital of Culture festivities in Weimar. During these two years he played in ten different opera productions. His roles included Faust in Charles Gounod's Faust , Don Ottavio in Mozart's Don Giovanni , Pinkerton in Puccini's Madama Butterfly and the Italian singer in Richard Strauss ' Der Rosenkavalier . In 1999, still as part of the Capital of Culture program, he sang in the European premiere of Giya Kantscheli's Music for the Living.
In 1999 Mavrák would have had one of the highlights of his career: he sang in a concert for the benefit of the Menuhin Fund, which was conducted by Yehudi Menuhin himself.
Since 2000
In 2000 Mavrák became one of the three platinum tenors , along with Gary Bennett and Thomas Greuel . From 2000 to 2003 Mavrák was engaged as a guest singer in several German theaters. Roles from this period include: Prince Sou Chong in Franz Lehár's The Land of Smiles , Sandor Barinkay in Johann Strauss ' Der Zigeunerbaron and Edwin in Emmerich Kálmán's Die Csárdásfürstin . He sang in the first Berlin performance of Paul McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio in the Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt in 2003. In 2004 he sang in Mendelssohn's hymn of praise in the Berlin Philharmonic.
That year he also sang Tamino in Mozart's Magic Flute more than 20 times . In 2005 he sang the role of Alfredo in Verdi's La traviata at the Budapest State Opera. In 2005 he began working with André Rieu in Mavrák's role as one of the three platinum tenors. So far they have performed more than 600 times at concerts such as the Semperoper in Dresden, the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna and the Radio City Music Hall in New York. They also appeared in several CD and DVD productions.
A new direction
In 2010 Mavrák recorded his solo CD in Cuba, Un soplo en el aire (A breeze in the wind). He worked with the Stars of Buena Vista while recording the CD in the Abdala and Radio Progreso studio in Havana. Among them are prominent Cuban musicians such as Guillermo Rubalcaba and José "Maracaibo Oriental" Castañeda. The CD was first released in Mexico in November 2010, and since then it has continued to appear in more and more countries and attracted the attention of Universal Music Group. Mavrák has chosen for a mix of Cuban songs with classic Hollywood songs and more traditional songs from his childhood.
Trivia
- In 2008 the city of Maastricht (Netherlands) awarded Mavrák the Gold Medal of Merit in recognition of his services to the city as part of the André Rieu and Strauss Orchestra.
- In his spare time, Mavrák travels to distant parts of the world and in 2008 came into contact with a tribe in western New Guinea who had never been in contact with modern civilization before.
- In addition to singing and traveling, Mavrák enjoys collecting shoes and antiques.
Web links
- Literature by and about Béla Mavrák in the catalog of the German National Library
- Béla Mavrák's official website
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Bernhard F. Löwenberg: Kölner Personalitäten 1996 edition , Edition Cologne, Cologne undated, p. 127
- ↑ Michaela Boland, Interview with Béla Mavrák, November 22, 2009 ( Memento of the original from January 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Remscheider Generalanzeiger November 23, 2001
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from April 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.abendblatt.de/kultur-live/article270471/Papagena-stand-im-Regen.html Abendblatt August 16, 2004
- ↑ http://www.andrerieu.com/en/andre-jso/the-orchestra/the-platin-tenors André Rieu official website
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from October 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated February 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Cologne Express June 15 2008
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mavrák, Béla |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Hungarian singer in lyric tenor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 7, 1966 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Baden near Vienna |