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
