Ohrid, 18 August 2024 (MIA) - Serbian artists featuring mezzo-soprano Ljubica Vraneš and bass Dragoljub Bajić, with pianist Natalia Mihajlović will hold a concert Sunday evening at St. Sophia church within the Ohrid Summer Festival.

Mezzo-soprano Ljubica Vraneš is a soloist of the National theatre in Belgrade and has graduated from the Faculty of Music in Belgrade and earned her master’s degree in the class of prof. Radmila Bakočević. She has won first prize and prize for best mezzo-soprano at the “Nikola Cvejic” competition as well as first prize at the “Petar Konjovic” competition in Belgrade. She was a member of the opera studio of the National theatre in Belgrade led by prof. Nikola Kitanovski, going on to take part in the opera studio “Borislav Popovic” led by prof. Radmila Bakocevic and conductor Dejan Savić. She debuted on the stage of the Theatre in Timisoara in the role of Fenena in “Nabucco” and started performing in Romania. She performs in the first, historic production of the rock opera 'Carmen' in Craiova, and subsequently in productions of 'Carmen' in Timișoara, Bucharest, Tirana, Plovdiv, and others. Furthermore, she also appears in productions of the operas 'Otello,' 'Don Carlos,' 'Rigoletto,' 'Nabucco,' 'Cavalleria Rusticana,' 'Samson and Delilah,' and others.

Dragoljub Bajić started learning singing at the music school “Stanković” in the class of prof. Ljubica Zhivković and soon became a member of the opera studio of the National theatre in Belgrade. He studied vocal performance at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade in the class of Nikola Mijailović, continuing to earn his master’s and most recently his doctoral degree in the class of the same professor in 2023. He now serves on the faculty of this music institution. Dragoljub was the winner of numerous prizes at state and international competitions, including first prizes at the “Vojislav Vucković”, “Petar Konjović” and “Lazar Jovanović” competitions. He was the laureate of the state competition in 2003, laureate and winner of the prize for best performance of the obligatory piece at the Jeunesses musicales competition in Belgrade in 2008 as well as the “Elena Teodorini” competition in Craiova. In the period 2006-2008 he was a scholarship holder of the “Musik theater” foundation in Vienna as an outstanding talent from the Balkan. During this period, he got the opportunity to perform with one of the world’s most famous opera conductors Riccardo Muti - singing in concert in Salzburg, Ravenna and Firenze. Following this success, he was invited to perform at the State opera in Vienna during the season 2009/10. He has performed in opera houses and concert halls in Vienna, Cannes, Copenhagen, Timisoara, Sarajevo, Dubai, Seoul, Moscow etc, and is a permanent guest soloist of the National theatre in Bucharest. Bajić is a soloist of the opera in Belgrade since 2004 being promoted to principal soloist in 2017 performing numerous roles in his operatic repertoire.

Born in Belgrade in 2003, Natalia Mihajlović starts learning the piano at the age of five. She finishes her high school studies at the music school “Mokranjac”, continuing to study at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade in the class of prof. Maja Rajković.  She has won numerous prizes and accolades from state and international competitions including the first prize at the “Slavenski” and “Petar Konjović” competitions, a laureate of the “Mokranjac” competition as well as first prize recipient at the “Nikolaj Rubinstein” competition in Paris and “Open music competition” and “Constantine the Great”. She has performed at several festivals and took part in masterclasses for interpretation of the Italian chamber music and operatic repertoire in Torino. Furthermore, she has been engaged by the Belgrade opera as an accompanist, and has performed solo at the “Rasha Plaović” stage of the National theatre, the stage of the “Kolarac” Foundation, at the Russian house in Belgrade, the “Guarnerius” Hall, Italian Cultural Centre, the museum of the National theatre etc.

Photo: Ohrid Summer Festival