Max Emanuel Cenčić
Max Emanuel Cencic was born in 1976 in Zagreb, Croatia. His mother trained him as a singer very early on, so that he was already appearing on television as a six-year-old child and soon had an engagement at the Zagreb Opera and performed concert recitals. From 1986 to 1992, he was a member of the Vienna Boys’ Choir where he also sang as a soloist. Even after his vocal change, he continued to sing as a soprano and as a 15-year-old earned money to support his family who had fled the war. He has been performing as a countertenor since 2001 and has focused on Baroque opera ever since.
Many of his recordings have won international awards. Cencic has since set up his own production company, which stages works from the Italian Baroque period. He has also made a name for himself as a director. In 2020, he became Artistic Director of the newly launched Bayreuth Baroque festival, the successor to Bayreuther Barock, which had been discontinued in 2009. Max Emanuel Cencic has been voted best young singer and best opera singer, among other awards, and has received several ECHO Klassik awards and an honorary award from the German Record Critics’ Association. The French Ministry of Culture awarded him the title of Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
