Acting

Tereza Kesovija

Tereza Ana Kesovija (born 3 October 1938) is an internationally acclaimed Croatian recording artist. She was one of the most recognizable figures on the music scene in former Yugoslavia, and is renowned for her wide vocal range and operatic style. She also had a successful career in France. She has held many concerts around the world, being one of the few Yugoslav musicians to have sold out shows in The Royal Albert Hall, L'Olympia and Carnegie Hall. Kesovija was born in Dubrovnik and grew up in Konavle and Dubrovnik, where she got her early music education. She won a federal young musicians competition in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Afterwards, she graduated from the flute program at the Zagreb Music Academy, and as a student began appearing in amateur music events. In 1962, shortly after the start of her professional career, she won her first international contest at Saint-Vincent, Italy. After this success, Tereza had a tour in USSR and she recorded there one EP with Italian songs for the biggest Russian music company – Melodiya. She spent 1963 and 1964 touring USSR, Poland, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Norway and Sweden. She also had a lot of TV appearances in these countries. In 1965, she moved to France, although she did not speak French. There she became a famous star. At the beginning she was singing in cabarets; she was mostly singing in Carević cabaret. She said: "Six tough months, I used to remain in smoke until early in the morning. Waiting for my performances I didn’t know what to do. I was sitting all alone smoking cigarette after cigarette." In 1967, she made the first recording of "La chanson de Lara" (Lara's Theme) from the film Doctor Zhivago.