KS Miljenko Turk

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

Since 2015, he has been a member of the Cologne Opera ensemble. Cologne audiences know him as Napoleon ("Krieg und Frieden"), 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 title role, and in "Die Eroberung von Mexico" – also by Wolfgang Rihm – he played Cortez. In 2019, as a guest of the Theater Heidelberg, he played the role of Walter Benjamin in Peter Ruzicka's opera "Benjamin". His roles in Cologne include Valentin in Gounod's “Faust,” Frank/Fritz in Korngold's “Die tote Stadt,” the broom maker in “Hänsel and Gretel,” Le Dancaïre in “Carmen,” and Claudio in Berlioz's “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,” Donkey in the children's opera “Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten,” and several prominent roles in the world premiere of Philippe Manoury's “Die letzten Tage der Menschheit.”

In May 2022, he was named a Kammersänger in Cologne.

He sang Melot in "Tristan und Isolde" at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo and the Tonhalle Düsseldorf. At the Croatian National Theater in Zagreb, he appeared as Papageno in "Die Zauberflöte". He also reprised the role of Haudy in a staged production of Zimmermann's “Die Soldaten” by Calixto Bieto at the Cologne Philharmonic, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, and the Philharmonie de Paris. He made a guest appearance at the Leipzig Opera as Ottokar in “Der Freischütz.”

His current roles at the Cologne Opera include Papageno in “Die Zauberflöte,” Donner in “Das Rheingold,” the Father in “Hänsel und Gretel,” and Artisan/Collector in the German premiere of George Benjamin's “Picture a day like this.”