Marigona Qerkezi

At the Kosovo Philharmonic's New Year concert in Pristina in December 2014, Marigona Qerkezi sang in a programme moving between opera, operetta and orchestral showpieces. Schooled first in Kosovo and then in Italy, she sings the lyric and coloratura repertoire — Mozart, Donizetti, Verdi, Puccini and Gounod — in opera houses and festivals across Europe. Born in Zagreb, Qerkezi sang in public for the first time in Ljubljana at the age of six and made her professional operatic debut as the Queen of the Night at the Royal Opera House Muscat. She took a master's degree in flute and opera singing at the Academy of Arts in Pristina and a bachelor's degree in business management at Staffordshire University. First prize at the Leyla Gencer competition, with a special prize from the Accademia Teatro alla Scala, and a first at the Magda Olivero competition were followed by awards at AsLiCo and Portofino, a Rising Star nomination from the International Opera Awards and a place among OperaWire's rising stars in 2023. Her repertoire includes Aida, Abigaille, Norma, Tosca, Lady Macbeth and Leonora. Her appearances include Deutsche Oper Berlin, La Fenice and Oper Frankfurt; at the Rossini Opera Festival and the Liceu she sang Madama Cortese in Il viaggio a Reims.