love janis

Welcome to the "Love, Janis"

The best European adaptation of the Brodway hit "Love, Janis" with Zdenka Kovačiček as Janis Joplin

 

 

 

ZDENKA KOVAČIČEK

 
She was arrogated by the fans of rock and jazz, she was a direct hit on every blues and soul music event, she was often seen on the musical theatre stage, she collected awards and has been proclaimed a best female voice in the state.
 
She collaborated with numerous cult bands, some of the best known among them being Nirvana, Time, Bijelo Dugme and YU jazz-rock, while her collaboration with Telephone blues band continues until today. During Croatian war of independence Zdenka frequently participated in charity concerts both in Croatia and abroad for the Croatian emigrants. For the latter she performed as the part of the CRO MUSIC AID BAND.
 
Zdenka has also been collaborating with some of the best Croatian and ex-Yugoslavian composers: Goran Bregovic, Kornelije Kovac, Vladimir Delac, Igor Savin, Miljenko Prohaska. Ten years ago she started to collaborate with Marko Tomasovic (author of the album and the song ‘Zena za sva vremena’ – ‘Woman for all seasons’). By joining forces with Dalibor Paulik and David Stopper she made one of her favourite albums in English language entitled ‘Love is a game’, which was promoted on festivals in Los Angeles, Finland and Middem at Cannes.
 
During 1960-is she had numerous concerts abroad accompanied by the world famous musicians (Bill Haley, The Kinks, INK Spots). In the former USSR alone she was a visiting artist on 25 occasions.
 
This has been a brief reminder of several points from the rich career of one of Croatian best singers of all times. Starting out as an entertainer, Zdenka soon discovered rock music and at the beginning of the 1970-is she started collaborating with the famous Zagreb band Nirvana. Entertainers and fans of both rock and jazz music soon started scrambling for her clean, high and sophisticated voice. Thusly Zdenka achieved an equal success in all three genres, unprecedented among Croatian singers.
 
The critics often wrote numerous accolades about Zdenka’s vocal abilities and the audiences loved her live and dynamic performances, equal to that of world renowned stars. Her diverse and carefully chosen repertoire was one of the main reasons for this, while the songs performed by Janis Joplin have always been among her favourites. Most aficionados acclaim Zdenka as Croatian best singer of Janis’ songs.
 
Numerous awards for interpretation on domestic festivals also stand proof to Zdenka’s success, at the time when singers sang live accompanied by big orchestras and when one could not cheat on audiences, let alone other musicians.
 
One of the interesting areas of Zdenka’s career is her rich experience on theatrical stage.
 
She often says: ‘Rock is my life, jazz is my passion and theatre my big love.’
 
She became a member of The Youth Theatre when she was 5 years old and there took acting, singing and dancing lessons. With this renowned children’s theatre she toured across Europe at a very young age.
 
Her next contact with the theatre happened in 1979 in Zagreb’s Komedija Theatre as the part of Metikos, Krajac and Prohaska’s rock opera ‘Gricka vjestica’ (‘The witch from Gric’) based on the novel by the Croatian writer Marija Juric-Zagorka. She played the part of baba Ursa in more than 200 performances.
 
 From 1984 onwards she took acting lessons in the classes of the distinguished Croatian actors Marija Kohn and Kresimir Zidaric in ‘Bagatela’ theatre. Thrilled by Zdenka’s acting talent, Kresimir Zidaric founded an acting company comprised of theatre enthusiasts and talented actors at Mosa Pijade’s university in Zagreb. This resulted in a successful comedy piece entitled ‘Obljetnica braka’ (‘The Wedding Anniversary’) in which Zdenka and Kresimir Zidaric played the leads and for which Zdenka also chose the music.
 
The year 2002 saw Zdenka’s collaboration with the renown director Damir Zlatar Frey in ‘Slovensko stalno gledalisce’ in Trieste, Italy, where she played the lead in the rock opera ‘Princesa na zrnu graha’ (‘The princess and the pea’). Once again she wowed the audiences and the critics in Slovenian, Italian and Croatian press.
 
Playing the lead in the musical play ‘Love, Janis’ fulfils Zdenka’s big wish to mark her 50th anniversary of professional work by celebrating it on theatrical stage, since theatre has always been her greatest love.
 
More about Zdenka Kovačiček : www.to-be-zdenka.hr
 
 
    
 
 

© www.lovejanis.net © 2009. © By : David Dezsö