Božidar Smiljanić
bass-baritone
© Barbara Aumüller
Božidar Smiljanić joined the ensemble at Oper Frankfurt in 2018/19. His roles for the company in 2023/24 include the title roles in new productions of Don Pasquale & Le nozze di Figaro, Speaker / 1st Priest in Die Zauberflöte, Zuniga in Carmen and Achilla in a new production of Giulio Cesare in Egitto. Last season he enjoyed great success with Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola, Hans Foltz, Iwan Schuran & Zoroastro in new productions of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Tchaikovsky's Sorceress & Handel's Orlando and the title role in Le nozze di Figaro at Opera Vlaanderen, a role he sang at English National Opera in 2020. In 2021/22 he sang the Nightwatchman / Master of Masquerades in a new Nielsen's Maskerade, Zuniga in Carmen, the Doge of Venice in a new Rossini's Bianca e Falliero, which then went to the Tirol Summer Festival in Erl, where he also sang in a new production of Chausson's rarely performed Roi Arthus, The One-Armed Brother in the last revival of our breath-taking Die Frau ohne Schatten and Fernando Villabella in Rossini's La gazza ladra / Thieving Magpie. Other important roles in Frankfurt have included Handel's Ariodate (Xerxes), Garibaldo (Rodelinda) and Farasmane (Radamisto), the Speaker (Die Zauberflöte), Sergeant (Manon Lescaut) and Eumée (Fauré's Pénélope). The corona shutdown prevented him from singing his first Leporellos (Don Giovanni) and Police Inspectors (Der Rosenkavalier) and a recital in the Holzfoyer in Frankfurt, and Mozart's Figaro at English National Opera, where he was a member of the Harewood Artists Programme. Božidar Smiljanić made his debut at the Glyndebourne Festival in 2014 and appeared with companies including Scottish Opera, Garsington Opera and Glyndebourne on Tour. Concert work has included Masetto (Don Giovanni) with the Bamberg Symphony under Jakub Hrůša in the Elb Philharmonie in Hamburg, La damnation de Faust with the Royal Liverpool Philhamonic Orchestra under John Nelson, Gilbert & Sullivan's Yeomen of the Guard with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under John Wilson and Handel's Messiah with Hervé Niquet & Le Concert spirituel in the Philharmonie de Paris. He sang Don Simone in La finta semplice conducted by Ian Page at the re-opening of the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. While studying at the Royal Academy of Music in London he toured Europe and the US with Bach cantatas under Masaaki Suzuki.