PRISTINA, May 7 /ATA/- President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, presented on Monday the renowned Kosovo tenor Ramë Lahaj with the Presidential Medal of 10th independence anniversary in recognition of his contribution to affirmation of Kosovo worldwide.
At the awarding ceremony, which was held in President’s office, Thaçi said that tenor Lahaj through art has graced all stages across the world affirming the name of Kosovo with dignity.
“Kosovo has many talents, professionals who are at the height of success on international area,” Thaçi said.
In his speech, tenor Ramë Lahaj said he felt very honored to receive this award from president president Thaçi.
“Above all, I feel honored because many outstanding people have been presented with this award on this 10th anniversary of independence,” the tenor Lahaj said.
President Thaçi and tenor Ramë Lahaj discussed the opportunities and hardships encountered in diaspora during the career development.
Born in Istog, Kosovo, in 1983, Ramë Lahaj, began his music career at the age of 21, when he enrolled at Tirana Academy of Arts in the class of Albanian baritone, Burhan Spahiu, and under the guidance of soprano, Suzana Frasheri.
It was in 2010/2011 when Lahaj set out on his journey to European opera houses with numerous auditions, winning roughly 90 percent of them.
A first major success was his debut at the Hungarian State Opera in Budapest in 2011 with the role of Macduff/Macbeth. Later he sang Alfredo in Theater Lübeck Germany, for which he got excellent critical acclaims from the German press as “the best discovery of German operatic scene”. In 2012 he made his debuts with the role of Rodolfo/La Bohème at the Theater Dortmund Germany.
Later that year he performed the same role in France at National Opéra de Montpellier. His Italian debut turned out to be a great success with the performance of Rigoletto in the role of Duca di Mantova at Teatro Massimo di Palermo.
Lahaj had a great success during the season 2013/14 at Semperoper Dresden as Duca di Mantova/Rigoletto , Alfredo/La Traviata and Rodolfo/La Bohème. Moreover he performed Rodolfo/La Bohème at Royal Albert Hall in London.
In March/April/May 2014 he debuted the major roles as Alfredo/LaTraviata at the Hamburg State Opera, Duca di Mantova/Rigoletto at Deutsche Oper Berlin and Duca di Mantova/Rigoletto at the La Monnaie Brussels.
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