Croatian bass-baritone Krešimir Stražanac studied at the State University of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart. After completing his vocal studies, he joined the Zürich Opera roster as a permanent member of the company. He appeared as Baron Tusenbach (Eötvös's "Three Sisters"), Ping ("Turandot") and Harlekin ("Ariadne auf Naxos") under the batons of such conductors as Nello Santi, Peter Schneider, Franz Welser-Möst, Bernard Haitink and Placido Domingo.
In 2017 Mr. Stražanac debuted at the Bavarian State Opera in Giordano's "Andrea Chenier", reprising the role of Fléville there in 2019. He reprised Baron Tusenbach with Frankfurt Opera in 2018. In 2019 the bass-baritone sang Frank ("Die Fledermaus") with the Bamberg Symphony and Creon (Stravinsky's "Oedipus Rex") with the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 2021 he is scheduled to perform the title part in Telemann's "Orpheus" with the B'Rock Orchestra, conducted by René Jacobs, the part of Ambrosio in Carl Maria von Weber's "Die drei Pintos" with the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, under the baton of Omer Meir Wellber, and the part of St. Peter in Carl Orff's "The Moon", under the baton of Hans-Christoph Rademann.
As a concert artist, Mr. Stražanac has performed with such orchestras as the Bavarian Radio Symphony, Amsterdam's Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Staatskepelle Dresden, the WDR, mdr and hr Symphony Orchestras, Leipzig's Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Tokyo Symphony, the Singapore Symphony, singing under such esteemed conductors as Herbert Blomstedt, Manfred Honeck, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, and Jonathan Nott, in a wide-ranging repertory from early to contemporary music. In 2021, Mr. Stražanac debuts with the Berliner Philharmoniker and its General Music Director, Kirill Petrenko.
He has appeared at the Salzburg Festival, Vienna Musikverein, London's Barbican Center, Suntory Hall and Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall in Tokyo, Berlin Philharmonie, the Victoria Hall Singapore, the Paris Auditorium, Baden-Baden Festival Hall, Madrid's National Auditorium of Music and the Leipzig Gewandhaus.
A noteworthy highlight of the bass-baritone's career has been his collaborations with Maestro Philippe Herreweghe. He regularly performs as bass soloist with the conductor and his Ensembles. Their concerts have included Bach's Passions and B-minor Mass, Brahms's "Four Serious Songs" and Requiem, Schumann's "Paradise and the Peri", Dvorak's Requiem, Schubert's Masses, Beethoven's 9. Symphony and numerous other works.