Rocc (opera stage director)


Rocc is a Slovenian-born opera stage director, scenographer, dramaturge, performance artist, opera manager and pedagogue. His professional mononymous pseudonym is a tribute to, Rocc's professor of stage acting and his mentor.

Biography

Born in Ljubljana, Rocc studied opera stage direction at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno, followed up by postgraduate studies of stage design at the Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst in Zurich, and with at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Offenbach am Main. He was granted a scholarship by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, as well as receiving support from the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
Rocc has staged and designed opera productions in the National Operas in Prague, Brno, Ostrava, Ljubljana, Riga, Wrocław Opera, Opera Bergen and elsewhere. His projects have been presented within several international festivals, e.g. Ljubljana Festival, Festival Janáček Brno, Moravian Autumn Music Festival in Brno, Festival of Music Theatre in Prague, Prague Quadrennial, Warsaw Autumn Festival of Contemporary Music, Festival of Sacred Music in Pordenone, ISCM World Music Days and Bergen International Festival. His work in contemporary music theatre is combined with alternative performing arts, installation, new media and site-specific projects. Since 2013 he has been the initiator and Artistic Director of Concept operapovera, an ensemble focused on contemporary and experimental music-theatre aesthetics.
In the 2007/2008 season Rocc held the post of Dramaturge of the Slovenian National Opera in Maribor. The 2008/2009 season saw him as Deputy Artistic Director and Dramaturge of the Janáček Opera of the National Theatre Brno, in 2009–2011 he was Artistic Director of the Janáček Opera and a member of the Programme Board of the International Festival Janáček Brno. In 2011–2013 he was Artistic Director of the Prague State Opera, which is from 2012 affiliated with the National Opera in Prague. In 2013–2019 he was Artistic Director of the Slovenian National Opera in his hometown Ljubljana.
Rocc works as Docent of opera acting at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana and he has been a member of professional juries at international singing competitions.

Recognitions