Opera Ballet

Slovenian soprano Rebeka Lokar was born in Maribor, where she also attended music school. She continued her studies in Italy, where she perfected her singing technique with Italian baritone Mauro Augustini. She began her singing career as a mezzo-soprano, making her debut with the role of Clotilde in Bellini’s Norma in 2005 at the Maribor Opera. In September 2007 she received a scholarship from Teatro Lirico Sperimentale in Spoleto for the project “Nuova Europa”. As a mezzo-soprano she has created roles such as Berta in The Barber of Seville, Madame Bentson in Lakmé, Marthe Schwertlein in Faust, the Pole Girl in Borodin’s Prince Igor, Lola (Cavalleria Rusticana), Mercedes (Carmen), Thisbe (La Cenerentola), with which she also toured Japan and Umbria. She significantly enriched her repertoire with roles such as Amneris from Aida, Maddalena from Rigoletto, Fenena from Nabucco, Flora from La Traviata and Giovanna from Rigoletto at the Venice Opera La Fenice in 2010 and March 2011. In November 2010, she changed the repertoire, and since then she has appeared as a young dramatic soprano in numerous concerts and recitals. In June 2012, she made her debut as Amelia (Un ballo in maschera) at the Teatro Regio in Turin under the baton of conductor Renato Palumbo. In August 2012 she made her debut as Santuzza (Cavalleria Rusticana) at the Umbrian Summer Festival in Terni. In 2013 she made her debut in the soprano role in Verdi’s Requiem at the Maribor Opera, followed by her debut as Abigaille (Nabucco) at the Lake Como Festival (Italy) in summer 2013. In 2014 she appeared in the title role of Cherubini’s Medea at the Opera Theatre Bielefeld (Germany), followed by Amneris (from Aida) as part of the International Tour of the Maribor Opera in Japan. In May 2015, she made her Maribor debut as Minnie in Puccini’s La fanciulla del West, followed by Amelie (Un ballo in maschera) at the Open Air Festival in Braunschweig (Germany), and shortly afterwards she appeared as Abigaille (Nabucco) at the Taormina Opera Stars Festival in the famous Greek amphitheatre in Taormina, Sicily. In October 2015, she made her debut as Helena in the original production of Verdi’s I Vespri Siciliani conducted by Nikša Bareza at HNK Zagreb, and in February 2016 in the title role of Puccini’s Turandot at the Maribor Opera. With the latter role she has successfully performed at the renowned Puccini Festival in Tuscany (Torru del Lago), in Sassari, Turin, HNK Zagreb and at the Perez Galdos Theatre in Las Palmas. In February 2017, she made her debut in the demanding role of Cio-Cio San from Puccini’s Madama Butterfly at Teatro Coccia in Novara, Italy, and immediately afterwards at the Maribor Opera with the role of Leonora in Verdi’s Il Trovatore. After a successful concert of Verdi’s Requiem at HNK Zagreb, where she sang the soprano part, she appeared again in the title role of Verdi’s Aida in Maribor, where she made her debut in another role of Leonora – this time in Verdi’s La forza del destino. In the same year, she performed the roles of Turandot, Aida and Abigaille at the prestigious Arena in Verona, and it was in the latter role that she also presented herself to the Maribor audience at the beginning of the 2018/2019 season in a new production of Verdi’s Nabucco. This year’s opera season (2022/2023) she started with a debut in the title role of Ponchielli’s La Gioconda.