Boris Papak, baritone, born in 1995 in Prijedor, Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he graduated from Gimnasium Sveti Sava in 2014, and Music High School Savo Balaban in 2015 in the class of Tijana Vuksan and Miljana Radinović. He enrolled at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade at the Department of Music Pedagogy in 2015, and a year later at the same faculty, he enrolled at the Department of solo singing in the class of Ljudmila Gros Popović. He got his Bachelor degree from the Department of Solo Singing in 2020, while in 2022 he got Master’s degree from the Department of Music Pedagogy. He is currently studying for a Master’s degree in singing at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana in the class of Pija Brodnik.
He was the laureate of the International Competition Nikola Cvejić in 2018 in Ruma, while he won first prizes in 2017 and 2018 at the International Competition Vera Vitkai Kovač in Novi Sad. He made his debut in the role of Pervan Stoičkov in the opera The Mess by composer Milica Ilić as part of the Operosa festival project – Young at Opera in May 2019 at the New Theater of the NDK in Sofia, Bulgaria. In July 2019, he sang the role of Milutin Milanković in the stage cantata Kroz vasionu i vekove (Through the Universe and the Ages) by composer Vera Milanković with the Artistic Ensemble of the Ministry of Defense Stanislav Binički at the Home of the Serbian Armed Forces in Belgrade. In November 2021, he interpreted the role of Dad in the children’s opera Dečja soba (Children’s room) by composer Milenko Živković as part of the 23rd BEMUS in the Little Theatre Duško Radović as one of the participants of the Opera: Past, Present, Perfect! Project organised by Musical opera theater organization MOTO. In February 2022, he played the role of Uberto in the opera Služavka gospodarica (La Serva Padrona) by the composer G. B. Pergolesi as part of the Second Festival of Italian Culture Insieme in cooperation with the Academy of Arts of the University of Banja Luka in the Concert Hall of Banski Dvor in Banja Luka.
He attended masterclasses: Recitative performance within the Operosa festival with director Martin Lloyd Evans and pianist Elizabeth Rowe in Belgrade in 2018; David Bižić’s masterclass in 2019 in Belgrade as part of the EVA organization; French baroque music with Marijana Mijanović and Jory Vinikour in Belgrade in 2020; Contemporary interpretation with director Rodula Gaitano also as part of the Operosa festival; master workshops of Jagoš Marković organized within the MOTO organization and others.