Biography
A versatile artist and distinguished figure of contemporary Czech music and theatre, Marko Ivanović studied conducting and composition at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. In 2003, he won the Grzegorz Fitelberg International Competition for Conductors in Katowice, Poland. As a conductor of the National Theatre Opera in Prague (2006–2010), and subsequently as its guest conductor, he prepared the Czech premiere of Benjamin Britten’s Curlew River, the world premieres of Aleš Březina’s Tomorrow There Will Be ..., his own highly acclaimed feature-length family opera Enchantia, and Vladimír Franz’s War with the Newts. He also furnished a new musical arrangement for and conducted Miloš Forman’s production of Jiří Suchý and Jiří Šlitr’s opera A Walk Worthwhile. The above titles attest to Marko Ivanović’s affinity for new music. A respected specialist in 20th-and 21st-century music, he is credited with putting across Czech premieres of key international works (Arvo Pärt’s Passio, Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians, and many others), as well as world premieres of numerous works by Czech composers (Michal Nejtek, Slavomír Hořínka, Jiří Kadeřábek, Miroslav Srnka and Jan Klusák, the opera Philoctetes). Since 1 January 2015, Marko Ivanović has been principal conductor of the National Theatre Opera in Brno, where he has conducted productions of Janáček‘s The Makropulos Case and Jenůfa, the Czech premiere of Thomas Adès’s Powder Her Face, Martinů’s The Epic of Gilgamesh, Bartók’s Bluebeard's Castle and Schönberg’s Erwartung. His most notable international opera triumphs include a production of Janáček´s Jenůfa in Malmö (DVD by Naxos) and The Makropulos Case in Gothenburg, Sweden. He has worked with leading Czech orchestras. From 2009 to 2014, he served as principal conductor of the Pardubice Chamber Philharmonic. He has appeared at prestigious Czech festivals, including the Prague Spring, and has been invited to conduct in Germany, Poland, Bosnia, Japan and the USA. His compositions have been performed at many concerts and festivals (New Music Marathon in Prague, Wien Modern, Young Euro Classic in Berlin). He is a respected populariser of classical music at special concerts for young audiences.
Update: October 2016