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photo: John Hart |
Kreshnik Zhabjaku began his singing career at the age of four. When he was twelve, he won First Prize in the "Young Voices" competition in his native Albania. In 1993, he graduated from the artistic lyceum Jordan Misja. He received his first graduate degree in 1997 from Tirana's Academy of Fine Arts and went on to perform with many outstanding orchestras in Europe and appeared regularly in France, Italy and Austria. He also received a Masters Degree in Vocal Performance from the Mannes College of Music in New York.
Recently, Mr. Zhabjaku sang Belcore in Donizetti's L'Elisir d'amore in his company début with Houston's Opera in the Heights and was enthusiastically praised when he returned to sing his first Don Giovanni in the United States. He made his company début with L'Opéra Français de New York as the Grand Priest in Rameau's Castor et Pollux with Maestro Yves Abel conducting and returned to Bel Canto at Caramoor.
He performed and served as emcee for the Fifteenth Annual Albanian Folk Music Festival at Lehman College in the Bronx, NY. He also débuted with The Monmouth Civic Chorus as soloist in Händel's Messiah at the historic Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, NJ.
Mr. Zhabjaku sang his first Aeneas in a new production of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas with the One World Symphonyand gave a "command performance" at the German Consulate in New York of Beethoven's six-song cycle An die ferne Geliebte. He made his US concert début as soloist in Händel's Messiah with the Duluth-Superior Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Markand Thakar, and was enthusiastically acclaimed for his stirring performances in the all-Schumann programs at New York's Weill Hall.
He has appeared as guest soloist with the Radio-Television Symphonic Orchestra and with the Symphony Orchestra of the Albanian National Opera. Even as a student he was engaged to perform many operatic roles in opera including Mozart's Figaro, the title role in Don Giovanni, and Germont in Verdi's La Traviata. He was also regularly featured as baritone soloist in numerous recitals and concerts and as Masetto became the first student to appear on the stage of the Albanian National Opera House in a special production of Mozart's Don Giovanni for the Austrian Minister of Culture. Another first was marked with his performances as Gaudenzio in premiere of Rossini's Il Signor Bruschino.
Among his many distinctions and honors, Mr. Zhabjaku performed by special invitation in concerts at the Music University of Vienna and at the Annecy Festival in France; he participated in master classes on old Andalusian Music in Marseilles; he won First Prize as "Best Young Singer" in Europe's Art Song Performance competition and he was winner of the prestigious Arleen Auger Memorial Fund Scholarship for 2001.
Mr. Zhabjaku's latest CD entitled Voce D'Angelo is available on the One Soul Studio label.
GUEST SOLOIST | Celebrating Russian Bel Canto | Russian Chamber Arts Society of Washington, DC | Sep 2008 |
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Mr. Zhahjaku as Schaunard in La Bohème |
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Mr. Zhahjaku (far left) as Schaunard in La Bohème |
| As Don Giovanni in Mozart's Don Giovanni: |
Don Giovanni - The best production to date from OIH "As the licentious Don, Kreshnik Zhabjaku has sexiness to spare, and it's easy to see -- and hear -- why so many ladies swoon over him. He leaps over Mozart's beautiful vocal hurtles with lithe agility and palpable masculinity." |
Lee Williams and D. L. Groover - Houston Press - March 29, 2007 |
"Kreshnik Zhabjaku asserts a smooth, forceful voice and presence in the title role. With an appropriately self-satisfied air, he's persuasive serenading or romancing a new flame like Zerlina -- a smooth operator." |
Everett Evans - Houston Chronicle - March 24, 2007 |
| As Soloist in Mozart's Vesperae Solennes de Confessore and
Bach's Magnificat (Début with Princeton Pro Musica): |
"The Quia Fecit was the first chance to hear Mr. Zhabjaku, who sang with a clean and precise sound." |
Nancy Plum - Town Topics, Princeton, Oct 2005 |
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Mr. Zhahjaku as Belcore | |
SOLOIST | Sommer Akademie Mozarteum | Salzburg, Austria |
Figaro | Il Barbiere di Siviglia | National Opera Theater - Tirana, Albania |
Schaunard | La Bohème | Mississippi Opera |
Don Giovanni | Don Giovanni | Opera in the Heights; Houston, TX |
Grand Priest | Castor et Pollux | L'Opéra Français de New York |
Marchese (cover) | Linda di Chamonix | Bel Canto at Caramoor |
Belcore | L'Elisir d'Amore | Opera in the Heights; Houston, TX |
SOLOIST | Messiah | Monmouth Civic Chorus, |
SOLOIST & Emcee | Bach's 15th Annual | Lehman College, NY |
SOLOIST | Bach's Magnificat and Solemn Vespers | Princeton Pro Musica; Princeton, NJ |
SOLOIST | Beethoven Mass in C/Choral Fantasy | Huntington Choral Society, NY |
SOLOIST | Bellini Gala Concert | Bel Canto at Caramoor |
Germont (cover) | La Traviata | Bel Canto at Caramoor |
Ford | Falstaff | Verdi Marathon - NYC |
Conte di Luna | Il Trovatore | Verdi Marathon - NYC |
Germont | La Traviata | Verdi Marathon - NYC |
Roderigo | Don Carlos | Verdi Marathon - NYC |
SOLOIST | Händel's Messiah | Duluth-Superior Symphony |
Duo Recital | with soprano Elona Çeno | White Plains, New York |
Aeneas | Dido and Aeneas | One World Symphony, New York |
Figaro | Il Barbiere di Seviglia | Opera Brooklyn, New York |
SOLOIST | Beethoven's An die ferne Geliebte | German Embassy, New York |
SOLOIST | Schumann's Spanisches Liederbuch | The Schumann Festival, New York |
SOLOIST | Chekov Songs by Margerita Zelenaia | New York |
Master Class | Regina Resnick | Mannes College of Music, New York |
SOLOIST | Brahms's Vier ernste Gesänge | The Schumann Festival, New York |
SOLOIST | RECITAL | Mannes College of Music, New York |
SOLOIST | The Schumann's and Their Circle | National Arts Club |
SOLOIST | Bach Festival | New York City |
SOLOIST | Recital Tour | US |
Don Giovanni | Don Giovanni | National Opera - Tirana, Albania |
Gaudenzio | Il Signor Bruschino | National Opera - Tirana, Albania |
SOLOIST | Albanian Symphony | National Radio and Television |
SOLOIST | Albanian Symphony | Albanian National Opera House |
PRINCIPAL SOLOIST | National Opera - Tirana, Albania | |
SOLO RECITAL | Concert Hall of the Albanian National Opera | |
Masetto | Don Giovanni | National Opera - Tirana, Albania |
SOLOIST | Concert | Annecy, France |
SOLOIST | Concert by Cardinal Koliqi | Albania |
SOLOIST | Gala Concert | University of Music - Vienna, Austria |
SOLOIST | Concert Tour | Italy |
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Mr. Zhahjaku as Don Giovanni - March 2007 | ||
Voce D'Angelo (released in Dec '05) | ||
| "In all the myriad endeavors of humankind only faith, love
and art share an exceptional quality: they all bypass the intelligence to strike the soul!" To order, go to www.vocedangelo.com or click on the image at left. | |
Always in My Heart | Arenc Production, Inc. | |
Snow Flowers: Romances by Simon Gjoni | Arenc Production, Inc. | |
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Kreshnik Zhabjaku in La Traviata at Caramoor, July 18, 2005 |
Click on the icon or sample name below. High-speed internet connection is recommended.
Additional audio samples are available on CD. Contact Novo Artists for more information.
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| 05:42 | 5.3mb |
05:11 | 4.7mb | |
05:33 | 4.7mb | |
03:04 | 2.8mb | |
03:58 | 3.4mb |
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photo: John Hart |
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Mr. Zhahjaku as Belcore | |
Bellini | I Puritani | Riccardo | 3 |
Bizet | Carmen | Escamillo | 1 |
Britten | The Rape of Lucretia | Tarquinius | 3 |
Donizetti | Don Pasquale | Malatesta | 2 |
| L'elisir d'amore | Belcore (role début 1/07) | 2 |
| Linda di Chamonix | Marchese (role début 6/07) | 2 |
Gounod | Faust | Valentin | 2 |
| Roméo et Juliette | Mercutio | 2 |
Leoncavallo | I Pagliacci | Silvio | 1 |
Massenet | Manon | De Britegny | 1 |
Monteverdi | La Serva Padrona | Umberto | 1 |
Mozart | Le Nozze di Figaro | The Count | 2 |
| Die Zauberflöte | Papageno | 2 |
| Don Giovanni | Don Giovanni | 1 |
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| Masetto | 1 |
| Così fan Tutte | Guglielmo | 2 |
Puccini | La Bohème | Schaunard | 1 |
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| Marcello | 2 |
Purcell | Dido and Aeneas | Aeneas | 1 |
Rossini | Il Barbiere di Siviglia | Figaro | 1 |
| Il Signor Bruschino | Gaudenzio | 1 |
| La Cenerentola | Dandini | 2 |
Strauss, R. | Die Tote Stadt | Frank | 2 |
Tchaikovsky | Eugene Onegin | Onegin | 2 |
| Pique Dame | Prince | 3 |
Verdi | Falstaff | Ford | 2 |
| La Traviata | Germont | 1 |
1 | performed |
2 | completely prepared |
3 | future role |
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Mr. Zhabjaku as Figaro (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) - June 2008 |
Bach, J.S. | Cantata No. 80 |
| Mass in b minor |
| Christmas Oratorio |
| Magnificat |
Brahms | Ein Deutsches Requiem |
| art songs |
Dubois | Seven Last Words of Christ |
Duruflé | Missa cum Jubilo |
| Requiem |
Fauré | Requiem |
Händel | Messiah |
Haydn | Mass in Time of War |
Mahler | Rückert Lieder |
| Symphony No.8 |
| art songs |
Mendelssohn | Elijah (in English and German) |
| art songs |
Mozart | Coronation Mass |
| Mass in c minor |
| Requiem |
| Solemn Vespers |
| art songs |
Mussorgsky | Songs and Dances of Death |
Orff | Carmina Burana |
Puccini | Missa da Gloria |
Schubert | Mass in A-flat |
| Mass in G |
| art songs |
Schumann | Diechteliebe |
| Spanischer Liederbuch |
| art songs |
Vaughn-Williams | Sea Symphony |
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photo: John Hart |
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2005 | EMMY AWARD NOMINEE | The Creative Channel's "I Love to Sing When I COOK!" - PBS |
2004 | EMMY AWARD WINNER | WNET's "History" - PBS |
2004 | EMMY AWARD WINNER | "Karaoke: Who won't be fooled again?" - PBS |
2002 | WINNER | Franco Gentilesca Young Artist Award, New York |
2001 | WINNER | Arleen Auger Memorial Fund Scholarship |
1999 | Scholarship | Marywood University, Scranton, PA |
1996 | First Prize | Best Young Singer in an "Albanian Evening of Romantic Songs" |
2000-2003 | Masters Program - Mannes College of Music (Scholarship student) | |
| Masters Class with Regina Resnick - Mannes College of Music, New York | |
1999 | Masters Program - Marywood University - "Exploration in Singing" | |
1997 | Masters Program in Andalusian Music - Marseilles, France | |
1993-1997 | Academy of Fine Arts - Honors Diploma - Tirana, Albania | |
1981-1989 | Violin Studies | |
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Mr. Zhahjaku as Don Giovanni - March 2007 | ||
Languages: Albanian, Italian, English, French, German, Russian and Spanish |
Accomplished in ballroom dance |
Visit Kreshnik Zhabjaku's Album Page
Come un ape nei giorni d'april (Dandini)
La Cenerentola (Rossini).mp3
