Oskár Kobela

born 7 December 1928 Košice

Oskár Kobela and Dagmar Rohová in Erindo by Kusser

Oskár Kobela sings Les contes d'Hoffmann: Knieend lass dich beschwören , with Erika Wustmann

Oskár Kobela and Drahomíra Drobková in Carmen

Oskár Kobela sang at the State Opera in Banská Bystrica in the late 1950s, with guest appearances in Bratislava; in the 1960s, he seems to have gone back and forth between Banská Bystrica and the Municipal Theater of Rostock (German Democratic Republic), where he eventually stayed.

As customary at small theaters, his repertory was extremely varied: from Ernesto in Don Pasquale to Don José in Carmen, from Baroque opera (Erindo by Bratislava-born composer Johann Sigismund Kusser) to contemporary works (notably Krútňava by Eugen Suchoň, whose production in Banská Bystrica in 1963 was important because it dared partly restoring the opera's original ending that had thus far been censored by the Communist regime).

The above duet is obviously Kobela's sole recording.

Picture source
Reference 1: Mária Glocková, Rodák na operenej scéne v srdci Slovenska, in: Ad fontes artis 9/2021; reference 2

Oskár Kobela and Marie Urbanová in Krútňava by Suchoň


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