Mustafa Krantja

• Name — Mustafa Krantja • Born — 10 April 1921 • Birthplace — Kavajë, Principality of Albania • Died — 4 January 2002 • Place of death — Tirana, Albania • Occupation — Conductor, Composer • Known for — Being the first conductor of the National Theater of Opera and Ballet • Era — 20th century • Children — Ermir Krantja • Awards — People's Artist

After graduating from the Academy of Arts in Prague in 1950, Krantja returned to Albania and in 1951 founded the Symphony Orchestra at the National Theater of Opera and Ballet. The following decade, in 1964, he founded the Conservatory of Arts which later would become the Higher Institute of Arts, today known as the University of Arts. He was one of the initiators in the establishment of the conducting branch in the institute. Krantja's repertoire is quite extensive, featuring more than thirty premieres of operas and ballets performed at home and abroad. The first opera he directed was Rusalka by Russian composer Alexander Dargomyzhsky, whose success encouraged him to dedicate himself to the beautiful and difficult path of art. The added success of the opera The Bartered Bride by the czech composer Bedřich Smetana was also noteworthy, which he conducted with the symphony orchestras of Russia, Romania and the Czech Republic. Krantja conducted the first Albanian operas Mrika (1959) and Skënderbeu (1968), as well as the first Albanian ballet Halili and Hajria (1963) and many other Albanian orchestral works.

• "Rusalka" by Dargomyzhsky (1953) • "Ivan Susanin" by Glinka (1954) • "The Bartered Bride" by Smetana (1956) • "La Traviata" by Verdi (1956) • "Iolanta" by Tchaikovsky (1957) • "The Barber of Seville" by Rossini (1958) • "Cavalleria Rusticana" by Mascagni (1959) • "Mrika" by Prenkë Jakova (1959) • Performances from operas: "The Marriage of Figaro" by Mozart, "Boris Godunov" by Mussorgsky, "Il Trovatore" by Verdi (1961) • "Carmen" by Bizet (1962) • "La bohème" by Puccini (1963) • "Aleko" by Rachmaninoff (1963) • "Les pêcheurs de perles" by Bizet (1964) • The prologue of the opera "The Snow Maiden" by Rimsky-Korsakov (1964) • "Rigoletto" by Verdi (1965) • "Skanderbeg" by Prenkë Jakova (1968) • "Commissioner" by Nikolla Zoraqi (1975)