Dušica Bijelić
Soprano
Dušica Bijelić was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina and later moved to Serbia, where she started her musical education at the age of eight. After graduating from the Academy in Belgrade under Ljudmila Gross, Dušica continued her musical education at the Vienna Conservatory, went on to Rome at Santa Cecilia, and then to New York City at Bard College, learning from exceptional artists and teachers like Daniel Ferro, Renata Scotto, Dawn Upshaw, Raul Gimenez, Ira Siff, and others. Additionally, she participated in a masterclass with Renée Fleming, as part of Marilyn Horne’s workshop “The Song Continues” at Carnegie Hall.
She has had numerous successes in international singing competitions, such as: First Prize at the Career Bridges Competition in New York, 4th place - Shanghai Conservatory Competition for Chinese Art Songs as well as the Huang Tzu Prize for the best interpretation, the Audience Prize at the Wildbad Rossini Festival, Finalist in the Paris Opera Competition, Finalist in the Feruccio Tagliavini Music Competition in Austria, and First Prize in the Nikola Cvejic International Singing Competition in Serbia.
From 2012-2014, Dušica Bijelić was part of the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House in London, where the prestigious British newspaper, The Independent, selected her as one of the top eight “Bright Young Things in the Arts” of 2014. As part of the program, she performed seamlessly alongside today’s biggest names in opera, roles like: Barbarina Le nozze di Figaro, Tebaldo Don Carlo, Yvette La rondine, Anna Nabucco, Dame Robert le Diable, as well as First Esquire Parsifal, Guardian of the Threshold Die Frau ohne Schatten, and was soprano soloist in Poulenc’s Gloria. There she was also entrusted with cover responsibilities for the roles of Tatyana Eugene Onegin, Lisette La rondine, Micaëla Carmen, Marguerite Faust and Blanche Les Dialogues des Carmelites.
In 2019, Dušica Bijelić was invited to join the ensemble at Theater Bielefeld in Germany to sing roles such as, Contessa Almaviva Le Nozze di Figaro, Marguerite Faust, Rusalka Rusalka, Mimi La Bohème, Clara Egmont, Rosalinde Die Fledermaus, Tatyana Eugene Onegin, Zazá Zazá, Micaëla Carmen, Alice Ford Falstaff, Vigdis The Convert, Blanche Streetcar Named Desire, and Stella/Antonia Les Contes d’Hoffmann, and to perform as soloist in concerts of Poulenc’s Gloria, Brahm’s Requiem, and in the Verdi Requiem at the Robert Oetker Halle, one of the Germany’s finest symphony halls.
In season 2025/26 Dušica will have her role debuts in Peter Grimes as Ellen Orford and il Trovatore as Leonora.
Not only has she been welcomed by theaters such as the Royal Opera House, she has also performed at Teatro Real Madrid, where she sang Contessa di Folleville Il Viaggio a Reims, Trieste Teatro Verdi, where she performed the roles of Sophie Werther and Adina L’elisir d’amore, Aix en Provence Festival, Wildbad Rossini Festival, New York Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Morgan Library, HNK Osijek, Madlenijanum, Belgrade National Theatre, to name a few. The ROH also took her on tour to the National Opera in Rio de Janeiro. Other concert performances include: Four Last Songs by Richard Strauss at Philharmonic Hall in Belgrade, Mozart’s Requiem with RTS Philharmonic Orchestra, and tours in China, Italy, USA, France, and Serbia.
Dušica Bijelić has had the great honor to work with acclaimed music directors such as: Marco Armiliato, Semyon Bychkov, Nicola Luisotti, Daniel Oren, Antonio Pappano, and Simon Rattle, and with stage directors as: Daniele Abbado, Nicolas Joël, Stephen Langridge, Nadja Loschky, David McVicar, Laurent Pelly, Ira Siff, Fabio Sparvoli, among others.
