Bass-baritone Krešimir Stražanac is one of the most prominent Croatian singers on the international scene today. His career has been marked by consistent artistic growth and collaborations with the world’s leading orchestras, conductors, and opera houses. A major highlight came in 2023 with his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic under Kirill Petrenko, followed by performances in Berlin, Madrid, and Barcelona. The Europakonzert from the Sagrada Familia reached a global audience through international broadcasts. In 2025, he made another significant debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Emmanuelle Haïm.
Stražanac is particularly admired for his affinity for rarely performed operas and stylistically diverse repertoire. In recent years, he sang the title roles in the premieres of Telemann’s Orpheus in Amsterdam and Caccini’s Liberazione di Ruggiero at the Theater an der Wien, where he also appeared as the Devil in Weinberger’s Schwanda, the Bagpiper. His operatic roles further include Ambrosio in Weber’s The Three Pintos (Leipzig), King Froila in Schubert’s Alfonso und Estrella (Helsinki), and appearances in Handel’s Messiah staged by Robert Wilson in Barcelona. In 2026, he will debut as Sir John Falstaff in Salieri’s Falstaff under René Jacobs.
Born in Croatia, Stražanac studied with Dunja Vejzović and later at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart, specializing in lied with Cornelis Witthoefft, alongside private studies with Jane Thorner Mengedoht and Hanns-Friedrich Kunz. After graduating, he joined the Zurich Opera as a permanent ensemble member, where over seven seasons he performed a wide range of roles, including Harlequin (Ariadne auf Naxos), Baron Tusenbach (Three Sisters), Ping (Turandot), and Don Fernando (Fidelio), working with renowned conductors such as Bernard Haitink, Franz Welser-Möst, and Nello Santi.
His international operatic career includes debuts at the Bavarian State Opera, Frankfurt Opera, and major symphonic appearances such as Frank in Strauss’s Die Fledermaus and Creon in Stravinsky’s Oedipus rex. As a concert soloist, Stražanac is in demand worldwide, performing key vocal-instrumental works including Bach Passions, Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, Brahms’s German Requiem, Dvořák’s Requiem, and Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn and Rückert-Lieder.
He collaborates regularly with leading orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, under conductors including Herbert Blomstedt, Iván Fischer, Philippe Herreweghe, and Jaap van Zweden. Since 2016, his close artistic partnership with Philippe Herreweghe and Collegium Vocale Gent has been especially significant.
Highly regarded as a baroque specialist, Stražanac frequently performs Handel and Bach with ensembles such as Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Concentus Musicus Wien, Collegium 1704, and Freiburger Barockorchester. He also enjoys a strong reputation as a lied singer, giving recitals across Europe, Japan, and Brazil.
His extensive discography spans major international labels. In 2024, he released his first lied album, featuring the first studio recordings of songs by Croatian composer Blagoje Bersa, which received wide critical acclaim and won the 2025 Porin Award for Best Classical Album.
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