Marigona Qerkezi
Marigona Qerkezi is a prominent soprano from Kosovo, born and raised in Croatia. OperaWire has described her voice as “a full-bodied soprano with an even richness from top to bottom and a strong stage presence.” Oper Aktuell praised her interpretation of Bellini’s Norma in Frankfurt, highlighting her “breathtaking, voluminous voice” with “perfect technique for sustained, sublime pianissimi and long, ornamented phrases,” while noting that her “wonderfully velvety, dark soprano unfolded in full splendor with a special brilliance and bloom.”
At the age of six, Qerkezi gave her first performance in Ljubljana. She made her professional operatic debut at a very young age as the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute at the Royal Opera House Muscat in Oman. Since then, she has performed on some of the world’s most important opera stages, including the Royal Opera House London, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Oper Frankfurt, the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen, New National Theatre Tokyo, the Verdi Festival in Parma, the Rossini Opera Festival, the Savonlinna Opera Festival, Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège, Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, Teatro Bellini in Catania, Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville, Teatro Municipal in São Paulo, the St. Gallen Festival, the Polish National Opera (Teatr Wielki), the Prague State Opera, the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, Palm Beach Opera, Dubai Opera House, Royal Opera House Muscat, Opera de Oviedo, Ópera A Coruña, Teatro Verdi in Pisa, Theater St. Gallen, Theater Kiel, Theater Bonn, Teatro Comunale di Piacenza, Teatro Comunale di Treviso, Opera Lombardia, and the National Opera of Tirana, among others.
Her current and upcoming engagements include her debut at the Royal Opera House in London as Leonora in Il trovatore, Aida at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville, and Teatro Bellini in Catania, Abigaille in Nabucco at Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, the Savonlinna Opera Festival, and Teatro Municipal in São Paulo, the world premiere of Andrea Battistoni’s Pucciniana at Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège, Norma at Oper Frankfurt and the Prague State Opera, her role debut as Manon Lescaut at Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, her role debut as Lady Macbeth at Teatro Municipal in São Paulo, and her debut as Tosca at the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen.
Her current repertoire includes roles such as Aida, Abigaille, Norma, Tosca, Lady Macbeth, Leonora (Il trovatore), Manon Lescaut, Mimì, Anna Bolena, Giovanna d’Arco, Elvira (Ernani), Lucrezia Contarini, Donna Anna, the Countess (Le nozze di Figaro), and Rosalinde. Her concert repertoire includes Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, and Handel/Mozart’s Messiah. Among her previous roles are Lucia di Lammermoor, Gilda, Madama Cortese, Mathilde in Guillaume Tell, Adina, and the Queen of the Night.
Qerkezi has won first prize at the Leyla Gencer Opera Competition, as well as a special prize from the Accademia Teatro alla Scala and the Magda Olivero International Competition. She has also received awards at the AsLiCo International Competition for Young Opera Singers of Europe and the Portofino International Opera Competition. She was nominated as a “Rising Star” at The International Opera Awards and was selected among OperaWire’s “Top Rising Stars” in 2023. She is featured in the book Il Soprano Rossiniano among notable interpreters of Rossini and appears in the documentary Dante in Musica, which promotes Italian culture for the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
She holds a Master’s degree from the Prishtina Academy of Arts in flute and opera singing, and also a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Staffordshire University in the United Kingdom. She has received scholarships from Croatia, Italy, and Russia.
She has performed in, among other countries, Slovenia, Italy, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Croatia, Germany, Finland, Kosovo, Albania, Switzerland, Turkey, Montenegro, Oman, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, Poland, the Czech Republic, Brazil, Lithuania, Denmark, Belgium, and the United States.
