Appraised as "a plush soprano with a roundness from the top to the lower parts of the voice..a commanding stage presence" (Operawire), Marigona Qerkezi is a distinguished soprano born and raised in Zagreb. She graduated with a Master's Degree from the Prishtina Academy of Arts in Flute and Singing and holds a Bachelor's Degree in Business Management from Staffordshire University in the UK.
At the age of six, Qerkezi gave her first performance in Ljubljana. She has participated in many international festivals and won scholarships from Croatia and Russia. Qerkezi has performed in Slovenia, Italy, UK, Netherlands, Croatia, Germany, Albania, Switzerland, Turkey, Montenegro, Spain, Oman, Japan, and the United States.
Qerkezi is the winner of numerous prizes in international opera competitions, including: the first prize at the Leyla Gencer Opera Competition and a special prize from the Accademia Teatro alla Scala, the first prize at the "Magda Olivero" International Competition, the winner in the debutant category at the 66th International Competition for Young Opera Singers of Europe AsLiCo, the "Best under 25" special prize at the Portofino International Opera Competition.
Her profile is included in the book "Il Soprano Rossiniano" among the distinguished Rossini performers, and she has starred in a documentary "Dante in Musica" on the occasion of promoting Italian culture and language in the world by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy.
Qerkezi made her professional operatic debut at a very young age as Königin der Nacht in Die Zauberflöte (AsLiCo Opera Domani) on tour at the Royal Opera House Muscat in Oman and as La Contessa d'Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro at the National Opera Theater in Tirana. She immediately began a successful career, performing as Lucia di Lammermoor at the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari and at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, where she then returned to perform as Rosalindein Die Fledermaus, Adina in L'Elisir d'amore, Madama Cortese in Il viaggio a Reims for the Opera Lombardia (where she also played the flute solistic part), at the Rossini Opera Festival, and at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona; Rigoletto (Gilda) at the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari; Don Giovanni (Donna Anna) at the New National Theater in Tokyo; Guillaume Tell (Mathilde), Il Trovatore (Leonora), and Der Messias (Handel/Mozart) for the Opera Lombardia, Il Trovatore(Leonora) and Erste Dame (Die Zauberflöte) at the National Theater in Zagreb; Lucia di Lammermoor at the Teatro Verdi di Pisa and Theater Kiel.
Qerkezi has collaborated with conductors such as Beltrami, Bonato, Boncompagni, Finzi, Goldstein, Güttler, Kabaretti, Lacombe, Montanari, Brusa, Morandi, Pirolli, Pitrenas, Rolli, Sagripanti, Dinić, Spotti, Axelrod and directors Benoin, Bernard, Deflo, Garattini, Krief, Maestrini, Martone, Horakova, Sagi, Vizioli, Znaniecki.
Among her recent engagements are Ernani (Elvira) and Verdi’s Messa da Requiem at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, Giovanna d'Arco at the St. Galler Festspiele, Il Trovatore at the Verdi Festival in Parma.
Her forthcoming engagements will be the debut of Anna Bolena at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet in Vilnius, Ernani in Ópera de Oviedo, I due Foscari (Lucrezia Contarini) at the Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova, and Mimì (La Bohème) at Teatro Lirico di Cagliari.
