Biography

Robert Homen was born on 7 June 1972 in Kotor, Montenegro. He completed his primary and secondary music education in Sarajevo, majoring in piano, where he won several first prizes at national competitions as a young pianist. He graduated in conducting in 1997 from the Academy of Music in Zagreb.

During his studies, he began his professional career as a répétiteur at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb. In 1997 he was appointed chorus master, and since 2005 he has served as a permanent opera conductor of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb.

Over the course of his extensive conducting career, he has built a broad operatic and symphonic repertoire. His Croatian opera repertoire includes Ero the Joker and Mila Gojsalića by Jakov Gotovac, and Nikola Šubić Zrinjski by Ivan pl. Zajc. Internationally, he has conducted operas such as Il trovatore, La forza del destino, La traviata, Simon Boccanegra, Rigoletto and Un ballo in maschera by Giuseppe Verdi, as well as Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo, Cavalleria rusticana by Pietro Mascagni, Norma by Vincenzo Bellini, Carmen by Georges Bizet, among many others.

As a symphonic conductor, he has collaborated with numerous orchestras and opera houses in Croatia and abroad, including the Croatian National Theatres in Split, Osijek and Rijeka, the National Theatre in Sarajevo, the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, the Varaždin Chamber Orchestra, the Podgorica Symphony Orchestra, the Sarajevo Philharmonic, the Mostar Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Teatro Verdi in Trieste, and the Symphonic Wind Orchestra of the Croatian Armed Forces. At the National Theatre in Sarajevo, he conducted a revival of the ballet Giselle and led the premieres of L’elisir d’amore (2006) and Rigoletto (2007).

He has collaborated with numerous distinguished soloists, including Vladimir Krpan, Laura Vadjon, Anđelko Krpan and Stjepan Hauser. A particularly notable collaboration was with internationally renowned violinist Maxim Fedotov, with whom he performed Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major in Rijeka.

He is a frequent guest conductor of the Croatian Radiotelevision Choir. In 1997, he became chief conductor of the Academic Choir of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Zagreb, “Palma,” leading the ensemble to outstanding achievements, including four absolute national championships in Croatia, a Gold Plaque and First Prize at the Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina International Choir Competition in Rome, a Gold Medal at the World Choir Festival in Lviv (Ukraine), and numerous other awards.

From 2004, he served as principal conductor of the choir of the Jewish Community of Zagreb, “Lira,” with which he won numerous awards at national and international competitions and toured extensively throughout Europe, Israel, Australia, and the United States.

He is the recipient of numerous honors, most notably the Rector’s Award in 1997 for conducting Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, staging Pergolesi’s La serva padrona at the Komedija Theatre in Zagreb, and conducting Gotovac’s Mila Gojsalića at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, all in the same year. He was also a finalist of the International Competition for Young Conductors “Lovro pl. Matačić.”

He regularly serves on juries at competitions for vocal ensembles and wind orchestras and gives conducting masterclasses in Croatia and abroad. He is a full professor at the Academy of Music in Zagreb.