Vjekoslav Å utej
Vjekoslav SUTEJ ( born July 31, 1951 in Rijeka, Yugoslavia at that time; † 2, 2009 in Zagreb) was a Yugoslav and Croatian conductor who worked nearly 15 years at the Vienna State Opera.
Life and artistic work
Vjekoslav SUTEJ grew up in a musical family. His parents were both singers of the Croatian National Opera in Zagreb. He studied at the Music Academy of Zagreb with Igor Gjadrov. Further studies led him to Rome to Franco Ferrara.
SUTEJ was 1979-1989 Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Croatian National Theatre in Split. From 1986 to 1990 he was Artistic Director of the Hollybush Festival in New Jersey. During this time, his international career began. From 1990 to 1993 he was Music Director of the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, where he conducted new productions of the operas Rigoletto and Eugene Onegin.
From 1992 to 1997 he was music director of the Houston Grand Opera in Houston. During this time he led a total of 133 performances, including 19 new productions, including La Boheme, Andrea Chenier, Aida, Lucia di Lammermoor, La Traviata, Boris Godunov and Ariadne auf Naxos.
In the 1990s SUTEJ often worked in Spain. He founded the Real Orquesta Simfonica de Sevilla and was from 1990 to 1996 its artistic director and principal conductor. He was also a member of the Spanish Academy of Fine Arts, the Real Accademia de Bellas Artes.
Since 1993 SUTEJ conducted regularly at the Vienna State Opera and was one of the principal guest conductor. He debuted there in 1993 with the new production of the opera The Queen of Spades by Tchaikovsky. In the 2001/2002 season, he led the opening premiere of Don Carlos by Giuseppe Verdi, with Shicoff in the title role, which was broadcast live in the form of the Public Viewing in Vienna and Graz. Last SUTEJ conducted at the Vienna State Opera in April 2007. Overall, he led in the house on the ring according to the Vienna State Opera 129 performances in 17 different works of the opera repertoire. Among other things, he conducted in Vienna, the opera La Bohème, La Traviata, Madame Butterfly, Tosca and The Jewess.
From 2002 to 2005 he was director of the summer music festival in Dubrovnik. Since 2003, he was until his death Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra (Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra ) and professor at the Music Academy in Zagreb.
Guest performances SUTEJ to Moscow and Prague, to Mexico City and to Seattle. In Frankfurt he conducted in 1991, the New Year's Concert at the Frankfurt Opera. He conducted at the Monte Carlo Opera and at the Arena di Verona. Several times he ran in the Vienna concert event Christmas in Vienna. He often worked in concert with the tenors José Carreras, Plácido Domingo and Ramon Vargas.
Vjekoslav SUTEJ died after a long illness from the effects of cancer. In 2008, with leukemia had been found. Several bone marrow transplantation in Seattle and Zagreb were unsuccessful.