Qëndrim Rijani

Qëndrim Rijani is an Albanian director of theatre, film and opera. He has directed many plays, Albanian and foreign, that were performed in many different countries in Europe and that have been honored with many awards in various festivals. His plays are characterised by his direct and rough style. He is also the director of the first Albanian opera in North Macedonia.

Early life
Qëndrim Rijani was born on 30 March 1990 in Kichevo, North Macedonia. He attended elementary and high school in his hometown. He got a theatre director degree in the University of Arts, Tirana. In this same university, he got his master's degree in Spectacle and Theatre Directing with his thesis called: "Kiçi dhe kthetrat e tij". He also has taken part in some workshops in his field.

Career
He brought his first play on stage independently (without an artistic supervisor) in the third year of his university studies. He has directed many successful plays, Albanian and foreign, that were produced in Albania, North Macedonia and Kosovo, plays which also have been performed in theatrical festivals in many European countries including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Russia, Switzerland and Turkey. His career took off around 2014–2015 with the plays “Doktor Shuster” and “Gjymtimi”, which were very successful and won a considerable amount of awards considering the young age of the director and gave a boost to his artistic life. In 2018, Qëndrim Rijani was selected to be part of the jury in the Nationwide Theatrical Festival in Tirana. In 2019, Qëndrim Rijani brought to his audience the play “Xhelatët” and opera “Skënderbeu”. Two works of in higher cultural category, each having required two years of work to prepare. His now the in-house director in the Albanian National Theater in Skopje, visiting professor in the University of Arts, Tirana where he teaches Acting Mastery and visiting professor  in the State University of Tetova where he teaches Theatre Directing. To this day, he has directed 25 plays in professional national and city theatres:


 * “Ne vijmë për Ajër” (Catastrophic Love Puzzles in Outer Space) - Scotto Moore
 * “Kapitulli i Dytë” (Chapter Two) - Neil Simon
 * “Gjymtimi” (A Behanding in Spokane) - Martin McDonagh
 * “Doktor Shuster” (Doktor Šuster / Doctor Shoemaker) - Dušan Kovačević
 * “Art” - Yasmina Reza
 * “Gënjeshtër Pas Gënjeshtre” (The Big Lie) - Anthony Neilson
 * “Ushtria e Ui Tomasit” (The Lieutenant of Inishmore) - Martin McDonagh
 * “Shtëpia e Bernarda Albës” (The House of Bernarda Alba) - Federico Garcia Lorca
 * “Darka e Thërrimeve” - Refet Abazi
 * “39 Hapat” (The 39 Steps) - Alfred Hitchcock
 * “Gratë” (Huit femmes / Eight Women) - Robert Thomas
 * “Roberto Xuko” (Roberto Zucco) - Bernard-Marie Koltès
 * “Në Det” (Na pełnym morzu / At Sea) - Sławomir Mrożek
 * "Jashtë Bie Borë" (...e fuori nevica! / And It's Snowing Outside) - Vincenzo Salemme
 * "Xhelatët (Hangmen)" - Martin McDonagh
 * "Opera për tre grosh" (The Threepenny Opera) - Bertolt Brecht
 * "Plus 18" - David Mamet & Arian Krasniqi
 * "11 Të Xhindosur" (Twelve Angry Men) - Reginald Rose
 * "Fishkëllimë në Errësirë" (A Whistle in the Dark) - Tom Murphy
 * "Tregtari i Venedikut" (The Merchant of Venice ) -William Shakespeare
 * "Arturo Ui"(The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui) -Bertold Brecht
 * "Tri Motrat"(Three Sisters (play) -Anton Chekhov
 * "Gratë në Kuvend" (Assemblywomen) -Aristophanes & Biljana Krajchevska)
 * "Tartufi" (Tartuffe)-Molière
 * "The Lower Depths" - (Maxim Gorky)

Besides these plays, he has also directed a documentary titled "Kokën Mbrapa" ”.

Opera
The opera “Skënderbeu” is one of the most important works of Qëndrim Rijani as a director, on which he worked with the composer Fatos Lumani and the librettist Arian Krasniqi. The first announcement for work being underway on this opera first came from an interview at Ora News, nine months before the premiere. This opera is the first Albanian opera in North Macedonia. This historical opera premiered at the national theater of the Macedonian Opera and Ballet on 23 December 2019. It was very well receive by the public receiving a standing ovation that lasted nine full minutes.

Style
What characterizes Qëndrim Rijani is his rough style that he conveys in plays through the characters. These characters, by way of their emotional burden and their direct nature, come out via dark humour with a coarseness differentiating them from the portraits of traditional theater. This style is also reflected in his favourite playwright: Martin McDonagh, three plays of whom he has put on stage and he has also participated in a theater festival dedicated to this playwright in Perm, Russia.

Awards
These performances (below) have been awarded with over fifty prizes. Through them, he has been honored with twelve personal awards as a director, including awards such as "Director of the Year" in Albania, "Director of the Year" in Macedonia, the "Performance of the Year" award in Kosovo, the "Vojdan Chernodrinski" award for the best direction, the "Moisiu" award for the best direction and the best performance. Additionally, he has been awarded the "Artist of the Year" by the ex-president of Republic of North Macedonia.

Personal Awards
Besides the awards won by plays in festival, Qëndrim Rijani has also received these yearly awards for his work as a theater director: