Ivica Čikeš

From his first operatic part — the Marquis d'Obigny in La traviata — Ivica Čikeš built a bass career with roles including Zaccaria, Philip II, the Grand Inquisitor, Padre Guardiano, Ramfis, Don Basilio, Sarastro, Gremin, Fiesco, and the title parts in Attila and Mefistofele. Born in Split in 1964, he trained there and afterwards in Rome and Parma, and has sung at the Croatian national theatres with guest engagements in Bologna, Lecce, Ljubljana, Sarajevo, Sofia and New York. The concert repertoire — Verdi's Requiem, Beethoven's Ninth and the Missa solemnis — has run alongside the stage work throughout. He sang in Nabucco in Plovdiv in 2023. His first public appearance was in Mozart's Requiem at Split in 1989, and the Marquis d'Obigny followed in 1992; the studies behind them began at the Josip Hatze school and continued with Cynthia Hansell-Bakić at the Split branch of the Zagreb Music Academy, and with Maja Sunara and Wilhelm Wodnansky. Long attached to the Croatian National Theatre in Split, he joined the Zagreb company in 2024.