Sharing an August 26, 2026 interviewing article from Zrenjaninski, a Media company in Zrenjanin, Serbia. Translated by Diana D. Le Since using an online translation tool can never be perfect, we gratefully accepted the assistance of a native Serbian speaker to edit the English text for us. Thanks Béla! We wish your dream comes true! Béla Mavrák: "I would like to establish an international bel canto school in Zrenjanin" A world-class tenor tells Zrenjaninski.com about this nerves when performing for a home audience, the people who shaped his path, the songs that preserve his memories, and his wish to one day establish an international bel canto school in the city where he grew up. He responded to our request for an interview the very next day – simply, professionally, and with a genuine willingness to talk. The same openness follows him when he comes to Zrenjanin: he walks around the city, goes to the market, stops to have photographs taken and chats with people. It is as though he never put up that invisible barrier between the great stages of the world and the city where he grew up - the barrier that fame so often creates between an artist and his audience. For more than two decades, Béla Mavrák has been one of The Platinum Tenors in André Rieu’s orchestra. He has performed in major opera houses and concert halls around the world, and as a teacher he has passed on his knowledge of bel canto to students at universities and music institutions in various countries. Yet, in this conversation, following his recent performance with the Zrenjanin Philharmonic Orchestra at the “Days of Beer” festival [August 6, 2026], the great scenes were not his main subject. He spoke about the people he remembers, about the songs that for him are never merely part of a repertoire, but rather his most beautiful memories, and about unusual encounters which, as if guided by some inner logic, connected different periods of his life. From this story emerges an artist who does not measure success only by the number of performances he has given, but also by what he can give back to others. That is perhaps why the most important news to emerge from this conversation is his wish to one day pass on the knowledge of the old Italian bel canto school in Zrenjanin itself. You recently performed again in Zrenjanin, at the “Days of Beer” festival, with the Zrenjanin Philharmonic Orchestra. You have previously said that you feel more nervous performing for a home audience than on the world stages. What was the case this time as well? Béla Mavrák: "It was. Zrenjanin is my city, the city where I grew up, completed primary music school, studying piano, and attended secondary medical school. Here, conductor Slobodan Bursać recognized my voice and directed me towards singing. If it had not been for him, singing would probably have been one of the last professions I would have chosen for myself at the time”. "I was born in Baden, Austria, but fate arranged that as well. My mother, who was from Bajmok [Serbia], was pregnant while my father was doing his military service in Skopje [Republic of Macedonia]. Before giving birth, she went to her parents in Austria. My father grew up in Mihajlovo and Zrenjanin [Serbia], and both of my parents attended teacher-training college and later worked as teachers in Mihajlovo. I spent my first years on Njegoševa Street in Zrenjanin, and when I started school, we moved to Mihajlovo. So, from an early age I grew up at a crossroads, in Vojvodina, [Serbia] in a multi-ethnic environment. I think that helped me enormously later in life to feel at home wherever I am in the world”. "After school, I went into the army in Ljubljana [Slovenia], where I played in the band. We planned to get together after I returned and play pop music. My father, who expected me to become a doctor, almost fainted. In the end, he said: 'If you really want music that much, then at least study it and get a degree.' Through the Cultural Association, my mother knew Professor Bursać and asked him to prepare me for further musical education. When he heard me, he called the singing teacher in Belgrade [Serbia] and announced that I was going to be a singer. I wasn't convinced of that myself at the time, but he won me over – and from that moment everything began to follow the path I am on today". When you talk about your life journey, you often return to fate and to the people you have met. It seems that even the songs you choose are not accidental? BM: "They aren’t, When Professor Bursać and I traveled to Belgrade, the Academy of Music was at Slavija Square, with the Yugoslav Drama Theatre nearby. I would sometimes have coffee there with Vlastimir Đuz Stojiljković. That’s why I sing 'Devojko mala' – it remained with me as a memory of him.” "It is similar with the song 'Marina'. While I was doing my military service, Đorđe Marjanović came to sing for us. I could never have imagined that about twenty years later I would perform with and become friends with Rocco Granata, the author and original performer of that song. We are still friends today. My uncle Josif Lukenić, a professor of saxophone and clarinet, and one of the pioneers of Yugoslav jazz, knew Ivo Robić. While we were holiday in Opatija, he introduced me to him while he was singing 'Samo jednom se ljubi'. I sometimes include that song in my repertoire as well”. "They are all memories. Whenever I have the opportunity, I sing traditional and old urban songs, and I particularly love 'Bolujem ja, boluješ ti'. My mother used to sing to me when I was ill as a child. That is why the songs I carry with me are not just music to me. They contain people, encounters, and earlier days that still accompany me". As he speaks, it becomes clear that Mavrák does not choose his repertoire with his voice alone. Behind almost every song there is someone's face, a city or a moment that has not been lost. In his story, nostalgia is not an escape into the past, but a way of carrying what matters most from the past into the future. You mentioned Baden, Mihajlovo, Zrenjanin, and Cologne. When you say today that you are going home, where is your home actually? BM: "A little bit everywhere. I am connected to each of those places in a special way, although I have lived in Cologne the longest – for 35 years now. At the beginning of 1991, I transferred from the Academy of Music in Belgrade to study in Cologne and a new chapter of my life began there”. "Still, nothing compares with returning to Zrenjanin. When I walk around the city, I meet friends, acquaintances and relatives. People stop me, want to talk or have a photograph taken, and that's very nice. That's precisely why I feel the greatest nerves here as well: these people have expectations of someone from their own city, and I would feel uncomfortable if I did not live up to them. I always try to give my very best in my hometown”. "I'm nostalgic and I love my region, but I'm not a nationalist. I grew up in Vojvodina, in an environment where cultures and origins naturally intertwined. That sense of belonging is not closed off to others – quite the opposite: it taught me to understand differences and to feel like a human being among people everywhere, rather than a stranger." You've been performing with André Rieu and his orchestra for 21 years. Has the popularity you gained on those tours changed your relationship with the audience? BM: "During that time, I have performed more than 1,700 concerts with André Rieu around the world and I have never canceled a single one. It happens that people stop me in São Paulo, Mexico City, Tokyo, or New York, l and ask for a photo or autograph, and that's certainly nice. But meeting people in Zrenjanin carries a different weight, because here the audience is accompanied by my own personal memories”. "Popularity should never create distance between an artist and people. I like look ing my audience in the eye. When I sing, the feeling I send out comes back to me like a boomerang: I see that people are enjoying themselves and leaving the concert happy, and that in turn makes me happy. Because of that direct response from the audience, perhaps today I am even closer to a large-scale concert show than to a traditional opera performance”. Your career has developed, as you put it, along two different tracks – through opera and oratorio, and then through major concert spectacles. What did each of them bring you? BM: "During the first part of my career, I was a classical opera, operetta and oratorio tenor. I sang roles in the operas I loved – in “La Bohème”, “Rigoletto”, “La Traviata”, “Madama Butterfly” and “Faust” — as well as leading roles in the operettas “The Land of Smiles”, “Countess Maritza” and “The Gypsy Baron”. I 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 Damnation of Faust' in Salzburg. It was a very rich international career”. "André Rieu invited me in 2004, and since 2005 I have performed with him as one of The Platinum Tenors. That second track, as you call it, brought me to the biggest stadiums and in front of audiences numbering in the tens of thousands. One special moment was performing the Dutch national anthem before the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort 2023 (Formula 1), in front of packed stands and a live television audience of about three billion people worldwide. A classical opera singer often performs for a thousand people, whereas in this concept you perform for 15,000 or 20,000. I am now aware that I needed both: opera gave me my foundation, while the major concerts gave me a direct connection with the audience". As a young musician, you learned about Yehudi Menuhin and Mstislav Rostropovich, and later you stood on stage with both of them. What did you take away from those encounters? BM: "When I was learning in Zrenjanin who the greatest musicians and violinists were, Yehudi Menuhin was one of the names spoken of with particular respect. Years later, I had the honor of performing at a concert he conducted, just a few weeks before his death. He sent me a letter from London thanking me and writing that he hoped he had not disturbed me during our joint performance. Imagine such humility in a man of such stature. His secretary later told me that it was the last letter he ever sent. I have it framed on the wall of my home in Cologne”. "It was similar with Mstislav Rostropovich, whom 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. From people like that I learned that greatness does not have to be accompanied by arrogance. On the contrary: you can remain humble, respect other people's work, be approachable, and put what you know at the service of others." For Béla Mavrák, respect for this teachers does not remain merely a memory. In his story, it becomes an obligation: the knowledge he received from great masters should not end with his generation. You've already passed your knowledge on to young singers around the world. Is there something you would like to achieve in that respect in Zrenjanin? BM: "I was very fortunate to learn from some of the most important tenors of the 20th century: Gianni Raimondi, Franco Corelli, and Nicolai Gedda. I graduated from the University of Music and Dance in Cologne, but I learned many of the most valuable things in Italy, where I traveled regularly for years. I belong to the last generation of students who were able to learn directly from these great masters of the Italian bel canto tradition. They told me that one day I would have to pass on the knowledge they had given me”. "I have given masterclasses in Havana, Brazil, Lima, and Timișoara, as well as elsewhere, and Ricardo Palma University in Lima awarded me the title of honorary professor. It is very important to me when I can help a young singer understand how to develop and preserve the voice, but also what responsibility an artist has towards the audience”. "I dream that one day, when I slow down my current pace, we will establish a special bel canto singing school in Zrenjanin, perhaps in cooperation with the Music School. I would like it to be international, so that young singers from other countries come to the city and so that it benefits Zrenjanin as well. I would also like to set up a space near Freedom Square and the Music School where I could display my awards and photos and create a studio. For now, that is a wish and the future will show whether it comes true”. "This year I have 89 concerts with André Rieu and I'm once again traveling to a large part of the world. When you are young, you are overjoyed when you set off on a journey; as you get older, you become increasingly happy when you return home and get some rest. So, at some point in the future I would like to remain useful to new generations. Perhaps I am one of the last representatives of that old school of singing, and I feel a responsibility not to keep it only for myself". After so many years, when you take stock of your professional and personal wishes, do you feel that there is something important that remains unfulfilled? BM: "I have been fortunate enough to achieve what I wanted. I followed the classical opera path, and then had the opportunity to spend more than two decades performing in one of the world’s greatest concert projects. Privately I loved traveling and discovering places that tourists rarely visit – from Papua New Guinea, Laos, and Cambodia to Congo and Tibet – and I have achieved that as well. I also had encounters that, as a student, I could only have dreamed of”. "That's why it's not most important to me today to achieve something more just for myself. What matters more is to remain useful and to pass on what I have learned. I am a musician and an artist. I love my people and my city, and people need culture – without culture, they are impoverished. That is why I will always accept an invitation to sing in Zrenjanin," Béla Mavrák concluded at the end of the conversation.

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 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.