Sharing an August 26, 2026 interviewing article from Zrenjaninski, a Media company in Zrenjanin, Serbia. Translated by Diana D. Le We learn more about Béla Mavrák. Béla Mavrák: "I would like to start an international school of Belkant in Zrenjanin" In an interview with the Portal Zrenjaninski.com, the world-renowned tenor talks about the jitters in front of the local audience, the people who determined his way, the songs that preserve memories, and the desire to one day in the city where he grew up start the international school of Belkant. He responded to the request for the interview the very next day – simply, professionally, and with sincere readiness to talk. The same immediacy follows him when he comes to Zrenjanin: he walks around the city, goes to the market, stops to take photos, and talks with people. It is as if between the great stages of the world and the city in which he grew up, he never built that invisible fence with which fame often can separate the artist from the audience. Béla Mavrák has been one of The Platin tenors in the orchestra of André Rieu for more than two decades. He has performed in large opera houses and concert halls around the world, and as a lecturer, he transferred the knowledge of Belkant to students at universities and music institutions in various countries. However, in the conversation after the recent performance with the Zrenjanin Philharmonic Orchestra at the “Days of Beer” [August 6, 2026], the big scenes were not its main topic. He spoke about the people he remembers, about the songs that are never only part of the repertoire for him, but the most beautiful memories and unusual encounters that, as in some internal logic, connected different periods of his life. From this story emerges an artist who measures success not only with the number of performances, but also with what he can bring back to others. That is why perhaps the most important news of this conversation is his desire to transfer the knowledge of the old Italian Belkanto school to Zrenjanin one day. You recently performed again in Zrenjanin, at the “Days of Beer”, with the Zrenjanin Philharmonic Orchestra. You used to say that you feel more nervous in front of your local audience than in the world scenes. Was that the case this time? Béla Mavrák: "Yes. Zrenjanin is my city, the city where I grew up, finished elementary music school, piano department, and medical high school. Here, conductor Slobodan Bursać recognized my voice and directed me to sing. If it wasn't for him, singing would probably have been one of the last professions I would have chosen myself. "I was born in Baden, Austria, but that's what fate arranged. My mother, who was from Bajmok [Serbia], was pregnant while her father was serving in the army in Skopje [Republic of Macedonia]. She went to her parents' house in Austria before giving birth. My father grew up in Mihajlovo and Zrenjanin [Serbia], and they both graduated from the Pedagogical School and later worked as teachers in Mihajlovo. I spent my first years in Njegoševa Street in Zrenjanin, and when I started school, we moved to Mihajlovo. So I grew up from a young age on crossroads, in Vojvodina's [Serbia] multinational environment. I think that's what helped me to feel at home everywhere in the world. "After school, I went to the army in Ljubljana [Slovenia], where I played in the band. We were planning to gather and play pop music. My father, who expected me to become a doctor, almost fainted. In the end, he said: 'If you want music so much, then at least study and earn a degree.' Through the Alliance of Culture, my mother knew Professor Bursać and asked him to prepare me for further music education. When he heard me, he called the singing teacher in Belgrade [Serbia] and announced that I would be a singer. I wasn't convinced of that at the time, but he won – and from that moment on, everything went the way I'm going today." When you talk about your life path, you often return to destiny and to the people you have met. The songs you choose are not accidental either? BM: "They're not. When I went to Belgrade with Professor Bursać, the Academy of Music was at Slavija, and near the Yugoslav Drama Theatre. I used to drink coffee with Vlastimir Đuz Stojiljković there sometimes. That’s why I sing 'Girl Baby' – it was left for me as a memory of him. "It is the same with the song 'Marina'. While I was serving in the army, Đorđe Marjanović came to sing to us. I could not even imagine that twenty years later I would perform and make friends with Rocco Granata, the author and first performer of that song. We are friends today. My uncle Josif Lukenić, a professor of saxophone and clarinet, and one of the pioneers of Yugoslav jazz, knew Ivo Robić. On vacation in Opatija, he introduced me to him while singing 'Only Kiss Once'. I sometimes put that song in the repertoire. "It's all memories. If I have the opportunity, I sing both folk and old-town songs, and I especially like 'I’m sick, you’re sick'. My mother used to sing to me when I was sick when I was a child. The songs I bring to the world are not just music. There are people, encounters, and earlier days that continue to follow me." As he speaks, it becomes clear that the Mavrák repertoire does not only vote in a vote. Behind almost every song is someone's face, one city, or a moment that is not lost. In his story, nostalgia is not an escape into the past, but a way to take the most important thing from the past further. You mentioned Baden, Mihajlovo, Zrenjanin, and Cologne. When you say you're coming home today, where is your home? BM: "A little bit everywhere. I have been connected in a special way for each of these places, although I lived the longest in Cologne – for 35 years. At the beginning of 1991, I moved from the Academy of Music in Belgrade to study in Cologne and a new chapter of my life began there. "However, nothing can be compared to the return to Zrenjanin. When I walk around the city, I meet friends, acquaintances, and relatives. People stop me, they want us to talk or take photos, and that's very nice. That's why the biggest jitters are here: these people have expectations of their countryman and I would be embarrassed not to be on the level before them. I always try to give my best in my city. "I'm nostalgic and I love my end, but I'm not a nationalist. I grew up in Vojvodina, in an environment where cultures and backgrounds naturally intertwined. This feeling of belonging is not closed to others – on the contrary, it has taught me to understand differences and to feel like a man everywhere among people, not as a stranger." You've been performing with André Rieu and his orchestra for 21 years. Has the popularity you gained in these tours changed your attitude towards the audience? BM: "I have held more than 1,700 concerts around the world with André Rieu during that time and have not canceled any. It happens that people stop me in São Paulo, Mexico City, Tokyo, or New York, looking for a photo or autograph, and that's certainly nice. But meeting people in Zrenjanin has a different weight, because here, my personal memories stand with the audience. "Popularity should not make a distance between artists and people. I like to look the audience in the eye. When I sing, the feeling I send comes back to me like a boomerang: I see that people are enjoying themselves and that they are leaving the concert happy, and that makes me happy. Because of this immediate response from the audience, I may be even closer to the big concert show today than to the classic opera show." Your career has developed, as you say, on two different rails – through opera and oratorio, and then through large concert spectacles. What's each of them bringing you? BM: "In the first part of my career, I was a classical opera, operatic, and oratorio tenor. I sang the roles in the operas I loved – in 'Bohemians', 'Rigolett', 'Traviati', 'Madam Butterfly' and 'Faustu', as well as the main roles in the operettas 'Land of Smiles', 'Princess Chardasha' and 'Baron Ciganin'. I also performed 43 different oratorios, sang at world premieres at the Cologne Philharmonic, at the first performance of Paul McCartney's 'Liverpool Oratory' in Berlin, and in 'The Curse of Faust' in Salzburg. It was a very rich international career. "André Rieu invited me in 2004, and since 2005 I have been performing with him as one of The Platin Tenors. That other rail, as you say, brought me to the biggest stadiums and to the audience that measures tens of thousands of people. One of the special moments was the performance ahead of the Dutch Formula 1 Grand Prix in Zandvoort 2023, when we performed the Dutch anthem in front of full stands and a direct television audience of about three billion people around the world. A classic opera singer often sings in front of a thousand people, while in this concept you sing in front of 15,000 or 20,000 people. Now I am aware that I needed both: the opera gave me the foundation, and the big concerts gave me an immediate meeting with the audience." As a young musician, you learned about Jehudi Menuhin and Mstislav Rostropovich, and later you stood with both of you on stage. What did you bring from those meetings? BM: "When I learned in Zrenjanin who the greatest musicians and violinists were, Lord Jehudi Menuhin was one of the names that was discussed with special respect. Years later, I had the honor of performing at a concert he conducted, just weeks before his death. He sent me a letter from London in which he thanked me and wrote that he hoped that during the joint performance he did not bother me. Imagine such modesty in such a great man. His secretary later told me that it was the last letter he sent. I keep it framed on the wall of my home in Cologne. "It was similar with Mstislav Rostropovich, who I learned about as one of the greatest cellists of all time. Later, when I was a soloist in Weimar, I had the opportunity to perform with him. I have learned from such people that size does not have to be accompanied by conceit. On the contrary: man can remain simple, respecting other people's work, being available, and putting what he knows at the service of others." Respect for the teachers of Béla Mavrák is not only in memory. It becomes an obligation in his story: the knowledge he received from the great masters should not end with his generation. You've already passed on knowledge to young singers around the world. Is there anything you would like to achieve in Zrenjanin? BM: "I was very fortunate to learn from some of the most important tenors of the 20th century: Gianni Raimondy, Frank Corelli, and Nikolai Gedda. I graduated from the College of Music in Cologne, but I learned a lot of the most valuable things in Italy, where I went regularly for years. I belong to the last generation of students who could directly learn from these great masters of the Italian Belkanto tradition. They told me that I had to give the knowledge they passed on to me one day. "I held masterclasses in Havana, Brazil, Lima, and Timisoara, as well as elsewhere, and the University of Ricardo Palma in Lima awarded me the title of honorary professor. It is very important to me when I can help a young singer understand how the voice is built and preserved, but also what responsibility the artist has towards the audience. "I dream that one day, when I slow down the current pace, we will create a special school of belkanto singing in Zrenjanin, perhaps in cooperation with the Music School. I would like it to be international, that young singers from other countries come to the city and that it will be good for Zrenjanin. I would also like to arrange a space near the Freedom Square and the Music School where I would transfer my awards and photos and make a studio. It is a wish for now, and the future will show whether it will come true. "This year I have 89 concerts with André Rieu and I'm visiting a large part of the world again. When a man is younger, he is overjoyed when he embarks on a journey; with age, he becomes happier when he returns home and rests a little. That's why in the future I would like to remain useful to new generations. I may be one of the last representatives of that old-school singing and I feel a responsibility not to keep it to myself." When you add up professional and personal desires after so many years, do you have the feeling that something important has remained unfulfilled? BM: "I was lucky enough to accomplish what I wanted. I went through a classic opera road, and then got the opportunity to perform for more than two decades in one of the largest concert projects in the world. I privately loved to travel and get to know places where tourists rarely go – from Papua New Guinea, Laos, and Cambodia to Congo and Tibet – and I have achieved that. I also had encounters that I could only dream of as a student. "Today, that's why it's not the most important thing for me to achieve something else just for myself. It is more important for me to stay useful and to pass what I have learned further. I'm a musician and an artist. I love my people and my city, and the people need culture – without culture they are poor. That is why I will always accept the invitation to sing in Zrenjanin."

Béla Mavrák, André Rieu, and the JSO performing "Libiamo" during the encores at Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam, Netherlands on January 11, 2020. Photo: Paul Bergen.

Since 1991 Béla lives in the German city of Cologne.

Béla Mavrák and Lord Yehudi Menuhin after a performance at a charity concert of the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation in early 1999.

Béla Mavrák with new friends in West Papua, New Guinea in August 2011.

Béla’s childhood home in Mihajlovo, Serbia.

Béla’s father passed away in 2020

2026: Still touring the world with André Rieu and the Johann Strauss Orchestra.

To go back to Béla Mavrák, page 3, click HERE.