KS Miljenko Turk

The Croatian baritone completed his vocal studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz and completed his studies with Hans Sotin at the Cologne University of Music. In 2004, he made his debut at the Dresden Semperoper (‘Celan’) and at the Bayreuth Festival (‘Parsifal’). This was followed in 2005 by appearances at the Garsington Opera Festival (‘Le comte Ory’) and at the Volksoper Vienna (‘Der Graf von Luxemburg’). From 2001 to 2010, Miljenko Turk was a member of the Cologne Opera ensemble for the first time, where he was awarded the Offenbach Prize in 2006 in honour of his achievements. From 2006, he was engaged at the Salzburg Festival (‘La finta semplice’/‘L'oca del Cairo’), at the Leipzig Opera and at the Bayreuth Festival, among others. The baritone also has a wide-ranging concert repertoire; he has performed several times at the Cologne Philharmonie, the Gasteig in Munich and the Tonhalle in Düsseldorf.

He has been a member of the Cologne Opera Ensemble since 2015. Cologne audiences know him as Napoleon (‘War and Peace’), Marcello (‘La Bohème’), Harlequin (‘Ariadne auf Naxos’), Eumaios (‘Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria’), Don Giovanni, Guglielmo (‘Così fan tutte’), Papageno (‘Die Zauberflöte’), Gabriel von Eisenstein/Dr. Falke (‘Die Fledermaus’), Sigismund Sülzheimer (‘Im weißen Rössl’), Fieramosca (‘Benvenuto Cellini’) and Wolfram von Eschenbach (‘Tannhäuser’). In Wolfgang Rihm's ‘Jakob Lenz’ (venue: Trinitatiskirche), he took on the role of the title protagonist, and in ‘Die Eroberung von Mexico’ - also by Wolfgang Rihm - he played Cortez. In 2019, he performed the role of Walter Benjamin in Peter Ruzicka's opera ‘Benjamin’ as a guest of the Heidelberg Theatre. His roles in Cologne include, among others Valentin in Gounod's ‘Faust’, Frank/Fritz in Korngold's ‘Die tote Stadt’, the Broom Binder in ‘Hänsel und Gretel’, Le Dancaïre in ‘Carmen’ and Claudio in Berlioz' “Béatrice et Bénédict”, Mirza/Myrtenmirza in the German premiere of ‘Der Gesang der Zauberinsel’, Marcello in ‘La Bohème’, John in the world premiere of Arnaud Petit's ‘La Bête dans la Jungle’, David Hennessy in Frank Pesci's ‘The Strangers’ and Count Danilo in ‘Die lustige Witwe’.

He sang Melot in ‘Tristan und Isolde’ at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo and at the Tonhalle Düsseldorf. At the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, he appeared as Papageno in ‘The Magic Flute’. He also reprised the role of Haudy in a staged production of Zimmermann's ‘Die Soldaten’ by Calixto Bieto at the Kölner Philharmonie, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and the Philharmonie de Paris.

In May 2022, he was appointed Cologne Chamber Singer.

His current roles at the Cologne Opera include the donkey in ‘Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten’, Marello in ‘La Bohème’, Dancairo in ‘Carmen’ and the baritone role in the world premiere of Philippe Manoury's ‘Die letzten Tage der Menschheit.“