Ratko Delorko

Picture of Ratko Delorko

Ratko Delorko sings Euryanthe: Unter blüh'nden Mandelbäumen
In RA format

Ratko Delorko sings Stabat mater: Cuius animam
In RA format

Ratko Delorko singsLa bohème: Mimì è una civetta, with Theo Baylé and Daniza Ilitsch

Biographical notes

Ratko Delorko was born in Zadar, Croatia, in 1916 and grew up in Sarajevo. He studied economics at the University of Zagreb, and received his musical training at the same time from Paul Marion. Delorko made his debut in the part of Almaviva at the Zagreb National Theatre, where he continued to sing up to 1951. In 1952, he was engaged by the Stadttheater Bern. From 1955 to 1962, Ratko Delorko sang at the Hamburg State Opera as first lyrical tenor, after which he took up a permanent position with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, retaining his connection with Hamburg through guest contracts. He made his last stage appearence in 1984. In his operatic career, Delorko sang 35 roles for a total of 590 performances in Hamburg alone, while in his Düsseldorf years, he appeared in 49 different roles in no fewer than 810 performances. From 1970 to 1975, he taught singing at the Folkwang Academy in Essen, and then at the Robert Schumann College of Music in Düsseldorf. He died on July 25th, 2002 in Kettwig an der Ruhr.

I wish to thank Vladimir Efimenko for the picture, biographical notes and recordings (Stabat mater, Euryanthe).
Many thanks to Anton Bieber for the recording and label scan (Bohème).

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