AmCham Slovakia

Štefan Kocán has performed at the world’s leading opera houses and sung productions for the MET live in HD series, but initially he was not so well-known in Slovakia. This started to change after his first concert organized by two agencies – Kapos and House of Music. The Slovak public became aware of the great voice of Štefan Kocán and he began to be a regular on the Slovak concert circuit. The next big step in Štefan Kocán’s career will be his concert on February 11, 2015 in the Concert Hall of Slovak Philharmonic in Bratislava.

Štefan Kocán was born into a music-loving family in Trnava, Slovakia. He studied classical voice at the University of Music in Bratislava and later at the Conservatory of the City of Vienna under the legendary Russian bass, Yevgeny Nesterenko. After finishing his studies at the conservatory, he sang at the Landestheater in Linz, Austria, where he sang leading bass roles such as Sarastro in The Magic Flute (Mozart), Filippo in Don Carlos (Verdi), Osmin in The Abduction from the Seraglio (Mozart), Mephisto in Faust (Gounod), Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti), Banco in Macbeth (Verdi), and Kecal in the Bartered Bride (Smetana).

Štefan’s basso profondo voice and artistry impressed Ioan Holender, the Director of the Vienna State Opera and he engaged him as a guest artist. Štefan made his debut there as Il Commendatore with Edita Gruberová as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni (Mozart) and from 2004 until 2010 he performed the roles of The Grand Inquisitor and Filippo in Don Carlos (Verdi), Sarastro in The Magic Flute (Mozart), Padre Guardiano in La Forza del Destino (Verdi), Banco in Macbeth (Verdi) and Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor (Verdi) with Anna Netrebko.

Then came Kocán’s American debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Il Re in Aida (Verdi) in the 2009/10 season and also other engagements at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In the 2011/12 season, Štefan Kocán was invited to make his debut at La Scala as Masetto in the season-opening production of Don Giovanni, featuring Anna Netrebko, Bryn Terfel and Peter Mattei. In the 2012/13 season, he returned to sing Banco in Macbeth and then in the 2013/14 season he sang The Grand Inquisitor and Filippo in Don Carlos (Verdi).

Since making his debut at the MET, Kocán has established himself as an electric performer both vocally and physically. Since his debut, he has returned to the MET every season performing Sparafucile in the Otto Schenk production of Rigoletto (Verdi), Ferrando in Il Trovatore (Verdi), Il Commendatore (Don Giovanni, Mozart), Ramfis in Aida, Sparafucile a second time in a new production, Gremin in Eugen Onegin (Tchaikovsky), and Khan Konchak in Prince Igor (Borodin). Kocán’s performances at the MET have been met with great critical acclaim.

Štefan Kocán’s concert on February 11, 2015 will include the most famous bass operatic arias and is sure to be one of the big highlights of the 2014/15 season.

Ján Korecký, Promoter, Kapos agency