Roman Vocel

Biography

Bassist Roman Vocel has been a soloist with the Prague State Opera since 1995, where he made his debut as the Imperial Commissioner in Puccini‘s Madama Butterfly. He first appeared in the historic building of the National Theatre in 2002 in the double role of Priest and Badger in Janáček‘s The Cunning Little Vixen. Since January 2012 he has been a soloist of the National Theatre Opera.

He studied singing at the Prague Conservatory. At the Prague State Opera and later at the National Theatre he performed in a long series of roles, e.g. Zuniga (Bizet: Carmen), Commendatore (Mozart: Don Giovanni), Antonio (Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro), Zaccaria (Verdi: Nabucco), Mícha (Smetana: The Bartered Bride), Vodník (Dvořák: Rusalka), Basilio (Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia), Ferrando (Verdi: Il trovatore), Avenant (Glass: La Belle et la Bête), Benoit (Puccini: La bohème), Cesare Salzapariglia (Donizetti: Viva la mamma), or Mandarin (Puccini: Turandot). He has been a guest at the J. K. Tyl Theatre in Pilsen, the North Bohemian Theatre in Ústí nad Labem, the F. X. Šalda Theatre in Liberec and the National Theatre in Brno. At Opera Ireland in Dublin he sang the role of Commendatore and at the Opéra de Marseille he performed in the Romanian composer Nicolae Bretan‘s operas Golem and Arald. He toured Japan and sang at the Leipzig Gewandhaus. His concert repertoire includes virtually all of the major oratorio and symphonic works. He has participated in the recording of several CDs (Mozart: Requiem, Goldscheider: Requiem, Martinů: Opening of the Wells and Legend from the Smoke of Potato Fires). For Czech Radio he recorded songs by J. B. Foerster, K. Bendl and V. J. Tomášek.