Bass Luciano Batinić was born in 1977 in Split, Croatia. He began his musical education at music schools in Makarska and Split. He took his first singing lessons from Noni Žunec, then he studied singing at the music school Vatroslav Lisinski in Zagreb and took lessons from Vitomir Marof. In 2004 he also completed his studies in dentistry with a doctorate from the University of Zagreb. Luciano Batinić is 2nd prizewinner at the International Opera Competition Ondina Otta 2001 in Maribor and 1st prizewinner at the International Opera Competition Belcanto 2005 in Rijeka. He made his debut at the Croatian National Theater Zagreb (HNK) in 2002 as Pimen in »Boris Godunow«. He has been there as a soloist since the 2002/03 season and as first bass since 2009. Since then he has regularly played various roles. In 2016, Luciano Batinić was named Croatian national singer and received several awards for his interpretation of the roles of Jacopo Fiesco (»Simon Boccanegra«), Gurnemanz (»Parsifal«) and Arkel (»Pelléas et Mélisande«).
From 2003 to 2004 he perfected his singing technique by studying at the Accademia del perfezionamento per cantanti lirici del Teatro alla Scala di Milano with Leyla Gencer, Luciana Serra, Luis Alva and Leo Nucci. At the Teatro Donizetti in Bergamo he opens the 2004/05 season as Ernesto in Donizetti’s »Parisina«. The high point of his study visit to Italy was his appearance as Don Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia in 2005 at the Teatro alla Scala Milano.
In 2006 he also made guest appearances there as Narumov in »Pique Dame« and in 2008 as Bartolo in »Le nozze di Figaro«. As a soloist, Luciano Batinić is a regular guest at the opera houses in Split, Osijek, Rijeka, Maribor and Ljubljana. In 2006 and 2008 he sang the role of Sparafucile in »Rigoletto« at Komische Oper Berlin.
In the 2007/08 season he made guest appearances as Raimondo (»Lucia di Lammermoor«) at the Graz Opera, in 2010/11 at the Stadttheater in Bern (Il Commendatore in »Don Giovanni« and Daland in »Der fliegende Holländer«) as well as in 2012 and 2013 at the Hessian State Theater in Wiesbaden (Jacopo Fiesco in »Simon Boccanegra«) and at the Pfalztheater in Kaiserslautern (title role in »Boris Godunow«). In 2012, Luciano Batinić sang the Count of Monterone in »Rigoletto« at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice.
Further engagements took him to the Erfurt Theater, the St. Gallen Festival and the Split Summer Festival. In 2015/16 he sang Sparafucile in »Rigoletto« at the Klosterneuburg Festival and in 2016 he sang the role of Filippo in »Don Carlo« at the Lithuanian National Theater in Vilnius. Luciano Batinić has taken part in the master classes of Graham Vick, Christa Ludwig, Bonaldo Giaiotti and Paolo de Napoli. As a concert singer he regularly performs with the Croatian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra and Choir and the Zagreb Philharmonic.
In the 2016/17 season, Luciano Batinić made his debut as Second Soldier in Richard Straussʼ »Salome« at the Semperoper.
2018 saw him, amongst others, as Fiesco in »Simone Boccanegra« at the Opera of Dijon and Zaccaria in »Nabucco« at Musiktheater im Revier, Gelsenkirchen.
In 2019 he sang Hermann Landgraf von Thüringen and Filippo II, »Don Carlo« at Stadtheater Klagenfurt as well as Ferrando in »Il Trovatore« and Donald in »Der fliegende Holländer« at HNK Zagreb
His engagemnets in 2020 included Colline, Ferrando in »Il Trovatore« and Raimondo in »Lucia di Lammermoor«, at HNK Zagreb; Marchese di Calatrava/Padre Guardiano in »La forza del Destino« at Musiktheater im Revier, Gelsenkirchen as well as Fiesco in »Simone Boccanegra« at Stadtheater Klagenfurt
In 2022 he sang Sulejman in »Nikola Šubić Zrinjski« as well as Ferrando in »Il Trovatore« HNK Zagreb.
In 2023 he sang Zaccaria in »Nabucco« at HNK Zagreb, Filippo II in »Don Carlo« at Opera and Ballet of Slovene National Theatre Maribor and Scarpia in »Tosca« at Splitsko Ljeto Festival.
In 2024 he will sing the title role in Boris Godunov at Opera Grand Avignon.
Repertoire