Krešimir Stražanac was 24 when he became a permanent member of the Zurich Opera House ensemble. He remained loyal to the theatre for seven years, where he acquired a broad stage repertoire.
Highlights of recent seasons include the title roles of Orpheus (Telemann's "Orpheus") at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona under the direction of René Jacobs and Ruggiero ("La liberazione di Ruggiero" by Francesca Caccini) at the Theater an der Wien under the direction of Clemens Flick.
His repertoire also includes roles such as Creon (Stravinsky's "Oedipus Rex"), St. Peter (Carl Orff's "Der Mond"), Baron Tusenbach (Eötvös's "Drei Schwestern"), Ping ("Turandot"), Harlequin ("Ariadne auf Naxos") and Frank (Die Fledermaus) at opera houses such as Bayerische Staatsoper and Oper Frankfurt in collaboration with conductors such as Nello Santi, Bernard Haitink, Peter Schneider, Franz Welser-Möst and Placido Domingo.
Planned in 2022 and 2023 are the roles of the Devil (Weinberger's "Schwanda") at the Theater an der Wien, a production of Handel's "Messiah" staged by Robert Wilson at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Ambrosio (Carl Maria von Weber's "Die drei Pintos") with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig under the direction of Petr Popelka and King Froila in Schubert's "Alfonso und Estrella" at the Musiikkitalo Helsinki under the direction of Aapo Häkkinen.
In the 2022/2023 season, Krešimir Stražanac made his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker under the baton of Kirill Petrenko in the 2023 European Concert from the Basilica Sagrada Familia in Barcelona as well as in further concerts in the Berlin Philharmonie and the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid.
As a concert soloist, he has appeared regularly throughout Europe and Asia with orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the Tokyo and Singapore Symphony Orchestras, the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, the WDR, mdr and hr Symphony Orchestras, the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig and conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Manfred Honeck, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Jonathan Nott in important works ranging from classical to contemporary music.
His collaboration with conductor Philippe Herreweghe has been very important for his musical career. With him and his orchestras, he regularly sings as bass soloist in Bach's Passions, the Mass in B minor, Brahms' "Four Serious Songs", the Requiem, Schumann's Paradise and the Peri, Dvorak's Requiem, Schubert's Masses, Beethoven's 9th Symphony and many other works.