Jozef Benci is a highly esteemed opera and oratorio singer, a soloist of the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava, SK and a soloist of the National Theatre in Prague,CZ, who has worked with the Czech and the Slovak Philharmonic, Jakub Hrůša, Tomáš Netopil or Juraj Valčuha and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek, performed with Edita Gruberová or Nello Santi and other renowned artists.
Jozef Benci performed the bass part in Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass at Berliner Philharmonie in 2018 and for a CD recording for the Supraphon label (2013). In 2017 he had great success as Le Cardinal Broghi in Halevys La Juive in a production by Peter Konwitschny. For a recording with the BBC, Benci sang Filip in Dvořák’s The Jacobin, after having been praised by critics for his Kecal in a concert performance of Smetana’s The Bartered Bride at the London Barbican Center with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Jiří Bělohlávek. Verdi’s Messa da Requiem under Nello Santi is another highlight of his career, as well as appearances with Edita Gruberova in concert performances of Lucrezia Borgia and Anna Bolena at Tonhalle Zurich and Bratislava Music Festival.
Jozef Benci’s repertoire includes a large number of great figures in opera literature, such as Vodník/Rusalka, Sarastro/Die Zauberflöte, Il Commendatore/Don Giovanni, Mephisto/Faust, Colline/La bohème, the title role in Boris Godunow and protagonists in operas of Donizetti, including Dulcamara/L’elisir d’amore and Sulpice/La fille du régiment. In Verdi’s opera his roles include the title role in Attila, Fiesco/Simon Boccanegra, Zaccaria/Nabucco, Ferrando/Il Trovatore, and both Il grande inquisitore and Filippo II. in Don Carlo.
Jozef Benci studied at the Conservatory and at the Academy of Music and Drama in Bratislava in the class of Sergei Koptchak and at the Janáček Academy of Music in Brno. He won prizes in national and international competitions, including the International Singing Competition of Hariclea Darclée 2001, George Enescu Singing Competition in Bucharest 2001 and the Competition Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg 2006.
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