A gentle giant and an extraordinarily nice man – and what a voice! Meet Dario Belic from Jelsa on Hvar.
Dario Belić, a young baritone from Jelsa, is a great hope of Croatian and possibly international opera, says his professor and mentor Branka Ristić, who has worked with him for the last eight years. During her long career – first at the Josip Hatze Music School and then at the Mirković Music School in Opatija – she has found, taught and made a number of now famous names in opera, reports Slobodna Dalmacija on January 19, 2016.
The young singer, 29-year-old Dario Belić graduated in solo singing at the Mirković Music School, performed at a series of concerts in Croatia, from Opatija to Split, Dubrovnik and Hvar, and has won numerous awards, honours and flattering reviews. However, the biggest success so far was achieved at the end of last year, at the prestigious international competition “Voices of the Mediterranean” in Syracuse in Sicily, where he won the third place in fierce competition. Right at the beginning of the competition, he was noted for excellent performance of the Leporello aria from “Don Giovanni” – “Madame, il catalogo e questo”.
“I was the only Croatian competitor there, and professor Ristić accompanied me. I won third place, while the first two places were won by already renowned colleagues working in theatres in Milan and Palermo. The six of us who were the most successful also performed at a gala concert held at the request of the jury. There I sang the Rodrigo aria ‘Per me giunto’ from Verdi’s opera ‘Don Carlos'”, explains the young singer.
The expert jury of the competition, which was held for the tenth time organized by the Ministry of Education and Culture and under the auspices of the Italian President, included renowned conductors and opera soloists. They concluded that Belić has an extraordinary voice of excellent technical readiness, voluminous and expressive, which indicated that he is a promising future opera singer.
Professor Ristić has chosen for the competition arias from Mozart’s “Don Giovanni”, Verdi’s “Macbeth”, “La Traviata” and “Don Carlos”. The audience at the final concert applauded frantically, but now the question is: what next?
Competition is intense, and going to events is not cheap. You also need a lot of luck. The young baritone knows that he is close to the turning point. He is very sure of himself and has almost no stage fright before performances – there are many years of hard work behind him, parental support, he plays piano, speaks English and Italian, and always analyses in detail the works he signs, even if it is just one aria. “For now, I have a few concerts planned in Italy. I will try to pair these performances with several other competitions”, said the young man from Jelsa who is, in addition to opera, in love with folk songs of his island as well.
One of the things on the island he likes to participate in are “Follow the Cross” processions. “Do you know that there is no correct musical notation for the singing performed there? An attempt was made to record it, but it is not easy – songs are centuries old, they change somewhat, and there are subtle differences in performances from town to town. I have listened to them from an early age”, says Belić who was once the cross bearer, a decade ago. He was carrying the cross in the famous procession instead of a deceased relative, and should do it again in 2021. “God willing, it will be exactly a century since my family began to participate in carrying the cross, with my great-grandfather being the first.”
(Learn more about the UNESCO intangible heritage of Jelsa’s Za Krizen procession in the video above)
It should not be too difficult for him, since he is 203 centimetres tall. “The cross weights 18 kilograms, but the feeling depends on where you are along the way. But, the truth is, for the last 100 metres when you need to run, the cross carries the cross bearer, it simply loses its weight!
(TCN adds: Below is Dario in impromptu action, singing at a special birthday present for guests at the restaurant where he works, Me and Mrs Jones in Jelsa.
Posted by Paul Bradbury on Sunday, 6 September 2015
