Matjaž Stopinšek was born in Celje (Slovenia) and studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz (Austria) in the classes of Prof. Wolfgang Gamerith and Prof. Annemarie Zeller. Because of his song and oratorio studies, Professors Gerhard Zeller (Lied) and Karlheinz Donauer (Oratorium) encouraged him to give solo concerts very early on (F. Schubert) The beautiful Müllerin, Graz and Pécs, (L. v. Beethoven) To the distant beloved, Graz, ( R. Schumann) Poet's Love, Pécs, Slovenj Gradec, and at the same time encourages the great oratorio works to be sung such as: (B. C. Saint-Saens) Christmas Oratorio, Graz, (F. M. Bartholdy) Elias, Oberwart, Graz, (G. F. Handel) Brockes Passion, Graz, Messiah, Vienna, (A. Bruckner) Te Deum, Graz, (C. Gounod ) Mass Solenelle de Sainte Cecile, Graz, (J. S. Bach) Christmas Oratorio, Zeltweg, Magnificat, Graz, (W.A.Mozart) Requiem, Damascus, Ljubljana, (C. Orff) Carmina Burana, Ljubljana....
In 2008, Karen Kamensek hired him to the Slovenian National Theater Maribor, where he celebrated his first major success as Don José. In Maribor he expanded his repertoire to include the roles of Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Alfredo (La traviata), Werther, Tschekalinski (Queen of Spades) and he sang Pinkerton again. Since the summer of 2010, Matjaž Stopinšek has been a freelancer and during this period he made regular guest appearances, especially at the Baden Stage, where he performed under Dr. Robert Herzl, Dr. Michael Lakner and Sebastian Rainthaler performed the following opera and operetta roles:
Barinkay (Gypsy Baron), Faust (Margarete), Sou Chong (The Land of Smiles), The Duke of Urbino (One Night in Venice), Sultan Suleiman (One Thousand and One Nights), Georg Dumenil (The Opera Ball), Don Basilio (The Marriage of Figaro), First Priest, First in Armor (The Magic Flute), René d'Estrades (Madame Pompadour), Raoul, Lessac (A Woman Who Knows What She Wants-Manon), Symon Rymanowitz (The Begging Student), Florestan (Fidelio) , Karel von Lysseweghe...(Divorced Woman), Count Stanislaus (The Bird Trader), Belmonte (The Abduction from the Seraglio), He sang leading roles in the Slovenian Folk Theater in Celje as well as at both Slovenian National Theaters in Ljubljana and Maribor, where he also repeatedly dedicated himself to the Slovenian repertoire Numerous productions such as Goldhorn (Viktor Parma), The Noblemen of Teharje (Benjamin Ipavec), The Nightingale of Gorenjski (Anton Foerster), Dreamy Life (Leon Firšt) or, most recently, the very successful The Tenth Brother (Aleš Makovec) testify to intensive involvement the repertoire of his homeland.
Professor Horst Zander certainly left the greatest personal influence during his studies at the University of Graz in the music-dramatic representation - opera and operetta. Because of this very fruitful collaboration, he made his debut as Jan in The Begging Student, as Tsarevich Aljoša in the operetta The Tsarevich of the same name, as Georges in The Opera Ball, Baron Kronthal in Wildschütz and Belmonte in Entfürung aus dem Seraglio in Musikverein für Steiermark and at the Stadttheater Leoben before he in 2003 moved to the ensemble of the Slovenian National Theater Ljubljana. There he sang, among others, Don Narciso in Rossini's Il Turco in Italia, Florindo in Le Donne Curiose by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Pinkerton and Franz Waldung in Jacques Offenbach's rarely performed opera Les Fées du Rhin. He subsequently appeared in this role at the Festspielhaus St. Pölten, the Theater Winterthur and the Theater Bozen.
Among other things, Matjaž Stopinšek also sang at the world-famous operetta Lehar Festival in Bad Ischl, where he very successfully portrayed the roles: Edwin (The Czarda Princess), Jonel (Gypsy Love) and Eisenstein (The Bat).
In spring 2019, Matjaž Stopinšek appeared on the stage of the Linz Music Theater for the first time in Luigi Cherubini's Médée as Jason. After this production, the director of the Linz Music Theater, Hermann Schneider, accepted the invitation to become a permanent member of the opera ensemble in the 2020/2021 opera season. Since then he has performed the following opera and operetta roles:
Florestan (Fidelio), Sou Chong-Richard Tauber (The Land of Smiles), Open Air: When the evening wind sings in the trees;
Season 2021/2022
Rodolfo (La Bohème), René, Count of Luxembourg (The Count of Luxembourg) Crown Prince George (The World is Beautiful)-Opera on piano;
Season 2022/2023
Count Tassilo Endrödy-Wittemburg (Countess Mariza), David (Die Meistersinger von Nüremberg);
Season 2023/2024
Eisenstein (The Bat), The Jew Eléasar (La Juive);
Season 2024/2025
Nicoló Paganini (Paganini), Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), Erik (The Flying Dutchman)
In the summer of 2023, Matjaž Stopinšek made a very successful guest appearance as Faust in La Damnation de Faust at the Theater Erfurt-DomStufen-Festspiele.
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As a concert soloist, Matjaž Stopinšek sang with the Slovenian Philharmonic under Dr. Mirko Cuderman, (Consortium musicum Ljubljana) Marko Letonja, Milan Horvat, etc. at the Munich Philharmonic on Gasteig (Munich Symphony Orchestra under Ken David Masur) as well as concerts and oratorios in the Cankarjev Dom (RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra), in the Peterskirche Vienna, and the Minoritenkirche Vienna. Since 2018 he has been singing regularly at New Year's concerts in the USA and Canada, including at the Boston Symphony Hall, the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami and the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall in Ft. Myers, Grand Théâtre de Québec, Salle Maurice O'Bready, Center Culturel de l'Université de Sherbrooke in Montreal...
