The winner of the Thalia prize conquered the Strait of Gibraltar and the English Channel. Opera singer Richard Haan celebrates half-years with a concert in Semafor

Richard Haan was born in Košice, Eastern Slovakia. He gained his singing spurs through private study with Professor René Tuček, Professor Jitka Švábová and a six-month stay with Professor Ilya Josifov at the International Vocal Studio in Sofia.

He started his professional career in Ústí nad Labem with roles Escamilla in Bizet’s opera Carmen. A number of important opera tasks awaited him on stage in Olomouc, in Brno Janáček’s opera and in Slovak National Theater in Bratislava.

• Richard Haan, concert at Semafor Theater 2023 (©Dušan Dostál)

Contemporary repertoire Richard Haan includes more than one hundred and twenty baritone roles. Among the most popular are Porgy (Porgy and Bess), Scarpia (Tosca), Don Giovanni and other title roles in the operas Rigoletto, Macbeth, Nabucco, Falstaff, Simon Boccanegra, Iago in Otello, the Dutchman in The Lost Dutchman, Telramund in Lohengrin, Jochanaan in Salome et al.

Richard Haan performed in a number of foreign opera houses and concert halls, whether it was Vienna, Salzburg, Berlin, Leipzig, Hamburg, Paris, Madrid, Luxembourg, Ghent, Amsterdam, San Sebastian, Bilbao, Budapest, Palermo, Edinburgh, Bergen, Kazan, Caracas, Norfolk, Richmond, Monte Carlo, Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Nagasaki, Okinawa, Jerusalem, Aspendos…

In addition to guest appearances abroad, opera lovers have been able to meet him for many years on his “home” stage in Prague State Opera, where Richard Haan is a regular guest. In addition to opera activities, he is also engaged in concert activities, which include cantatas, oratorios and songs. The private education of young adepts in opera singing is not left out of his attention either. This is a continuation of his former teaching activity at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno.

• Richard Haan, Jolana Haan Smyčková, concert at Semafor Theater 2023 (©Dušan Dostál)

This year’s half-round birthday (and 50 years on the boards that mean the world) will be celebrated by Richard Haan concert in the Semafor theater. In Thursday, May 9 from 7 p.m we can meet this legend of opera in this legendary theater, where in the first half, accompanied by a piano Jitka Nešverová he will sing famous baritone arias and Italian songs and in the second half of the evening with his wife and longtime member of the Semafor Theater Jolana Haan Smyčková they sing the most beautiful semaphore hits accompanied by the Semafor theater orchestra conducted by JJN Svoboda. Their sons add color to the Semaphore colors in a pleasant way Riša and Kristian and a great children’s choir Coro Piccolo.

• Haans, concert in the Semafor theater 2023 (©Dušan Dostál)

Richard Haan to this he says: “For me, this is a reward concert. The Theater of Small Forms is a pleasant diversion from the big opera stages, which I will soon return to. In May, for example, I can expect the toreador Escamillo in Bizet’s Carmen, as well as a concert for the anniversary of Bedřich Smetana. Summer, traditionally with Nabucco open air After Germany, I am looking forward to Přemysl in Smetana and Izolda, but now I am focusing on Semafor . May Semafor Theater.”

• Haans, concert in the Semafor theater 2023 (©Dušan Dostál)

Opening photo: Richard Haan, concert at Semafor Theater 2023 (©Dušan Dostál)