Janko Kastelic
Encyclopedia
Janko Kastelic is a conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

 from Canada who is currently the music director for the Opera House of Maribor
Maribor
Maribor is the second largest city in Slovenia with 157,947 inhabitants . Maribor is also the largest and the capital city of Slovenian region Lower Styria and the seat of the Municipality of Maribor....

, Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

.

Biography

As of September 2008, Janko Kastelic is the General Music Director of the Opera, Symphony Orchestra and Ballet in Maribor
Maribor
Maribor is the second largest city in Slovenia with 157,947 inhabitants . Maribor is also the largest and the capital city of Slovenian region Lower Styria and the seat of the Municipality of Maribor....

 Slovenia . Educated in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Canada, he began his musical career at St. Michael's Choir School
St. Michael's Choir School
St. Michael’s Choir School is a boys' semi-private school located in downtown Toronto's Garden District, embodying a unique learning environment for its students. The school serves as a union between two distinct institutions: the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome and the Toronto...

  and as a boy soprano and accompanist, travelled the globe and acquired a vast musical repertoire ranging from Gregorian chant
Gregorian chant
Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic liturgical music within Western Christianity that accompanied the celebration of Mass and other ritual services...

 to 20th century music. At a very young age, he acquired the gold medal in performance from the Western Ontario Conservatory of Music in both piano and organ. Upon graduation, he was accepted to the Edward Johnson Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

, where he continued his studies in conducting, theory - composition and piano.

"My desire to learn and experience more" drove him back to Europe after his studies, where he attained a position as coach and assistant conductor at the State Opera of Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

 and led simultaneously a baroque and wind orchestra. After three seasons, he was invited to the Opéra National de Paris as assistant coach and there began to work with prominent singers and conductors. In 2002 he won the position as an assistant in the Vienna State Opera
Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera is an opera house – and opera company – with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera . In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian...

, where he also conducted performances of Das Traumfresserchen, Aladdin and Bastien und Bastienne
Bastien und Bastienne
Bastien und Bastienne , K. 50 is a one-act singspiel, a comic opera, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart....

.

Though he has a large operatic repertoire, he has a broad choral and orchestral repertoire. He has prepared works for the Klangbogen Festival Vienna and the Salzburger Festspiele and was the conductor of the TU Orchester Wien, where he led novel orchestra concerts focusing on French and Classical repertoire. He was responsible for the demanding choruses in Moses und Aron
Moses und Aron
Moses und Aron is a three-act opera by Arnold Schoenberg with the third act unfinished. The German libretto was by the composer after the Book of Exodus.-Compositional history:...

by Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...

 at the Vienna State Opera in March 2007.

In 2008 he conducted performances of Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss
Johann Strauss II
Johann Strauss II , also known as Johann Baptist Strauss or Johann Strauss, Jr., the Younger, or the Son , was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas...

 at the Musik Theater Schönbrunn in Vienna.

Primarily conducting in Europe (Austria, Italy, Spain, Slovenia,...) he has also conducted in North America (Calgary, Edmonton, Kitchener, Toronto…). Although his career as a conductor is predominant, Janko Kastelic tries to continue his work as a pianist and composer. Sought after as an accompanist and coach, he is also known for his organ and cembalo improvisations. ‘A musician should be very diverse and broad-minded’ thus he has composed music for film to pop festivals to Papal visits.

Educating children

Finally he is a strong advocate of educating young people about the wonderful and diverse world of classical music. In September 2005, he was appointed as one of the musical leaders of the opera school for children at the Vienna State Opera, and they performed a staged-work arranged by him in June 2006 (Mozart Year) on lieder by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...

 called Der kleine Friedrich written and staged by the writer Claudia Toman. Besides he conducted many performances of children's opera in Vienna.

SNG Maribor

Janko Kastelic is General Music Director of the Maribor Opera House since September 2008. In May 2009, he conducted Carmina Burana
Carmina Burana
Carmina Burana , Latin for "Songs from Beuern" , is the name given to a manuscript of 254 poems and dramatic texts mostly from the 11th or 12th century, although some are from the 13th century. The pieces were written principally in Medieval Latin; a few in Middle High German, and some with traces...

by Carl Orff in Ljubljana and Maribor. In September 2009 he conducted his first Premiere, The Queen of Spades
The Queen of Spades (opera)
The Queen of Spades, Op. 68 is an opera in 3 acts by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to a Russian libretto by the composer's brother Modest Tchaikovsky, based on a short story of the same name by Alexander Pushkin. The premiere took place in 1890 in St...

by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...

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External links

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