Rocc
Slovenian-born opera and music theatre stage director, scenic designer, dramaturge, performance artist, opera manager and pedagogue Rocc (1979, Ljubljana) studied opera stage directing at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno, followed up by postgraduate studies in scenography at the Universities of Art and Design in Zurich, and with rosalie in Offenbach am Main. His pseudonym is a tribute to Marie Mrázková, Roccʼs professor of stage acting and his life mentor. He has staged more than 60 different productions in Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Norway, Germany, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Great Britain, Israel and the USA. He has worked with opera houses in Ljubljana, Prague, Brno, Ostrava, Pilsen, Riga, Wrocław, with the Grieg Hall and the National Theatre in Bergen, with the Ljubljana's Cankar Centre, with the Jerusalem Centre for the Performing Arts and elsewhere. His projects have been presented at several international festivals, such as e.g. ISCM World Music Days, Bergen International Festival, Prague Quadrennial, Year of Czech Music 2024, Warsaw Autumn Festival of Contemporary Music, Audio Art Festival in Kraków, Jerusalem Lyric Opera Festival. Rocc has a special affinity for contemporary opera combining alternative sound, performing and installation arts, new media and site-specific projects. He has been the initiator and Artistic Director of Opera eXperiment, a project focused on contemporary and experimental music theatre aesthetics. In the 2007/2008 season he 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 in Brno, in 2009–2011 he was Artistic Director of the Janáček Opera and a member of the Programme Board of the International Janáček Brno Festival. In 2011–2013 he was Artistic Director of the Prague State Opera, which has been affiliated with the National Opera in Prague since 2012. In 2013–2019 he was Artistic Director of the Slovenian National Opera in his hometown Ljubljana. In 2018 Rocc received the Recognition for important works of art, the highest artistic title of the University of Ljubljana, which is equivalent to the scientific title of Doctor of Science. He is also active as a pedagogue of opera stage directing and opera acting and as a member of professional juries.
