Radmila Smiljanić ( sr-cyr, Радмила Смиљанић; born 25 July 1940) is a Serbian classical and opera

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

singer who has had an active international career in

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

s and concerts since 1965. She has sung leading romantic roles opposite great artists like José Carreras, Mario del Monaco, Giuseppe Di Stefano, and Plácido Domingo. She is particularly known for her portrayals of heroines from the operas of

Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi ( ; ; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for List of compositions by Giuseppe Verdi, his operas. He was born near Busseto, a small town in the province of Parma ...

and

Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Puccini (22 December 1858 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for List of compositions by Giacomo Puccini#Operas, his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he ...

. She is living in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

for more than 25 year now.

Career

Smiljanić studied singing at the Sarajevo Conservatory where she was a pupil of Bruna Spiler. She made her professional opera debut at the Sarajevo National Theatre in 1965 as Đula in Jakov Gotovac's '' Ero s onoga svijeta''. That same year she won the international singing competition in

Reggio Emilia Reggio nell'Emilia (; ), usually referred to as Reggio Emilia, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, and known until Unification of Italy, 1861 as Reggio di Lombardia, is a city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has about 172,51 ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

; followed by competition wins in

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

(1966) and

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

(1967). From early in her career, Smiljanić forged strong partnerships with both the Sarajevo National Theatre and the National Theatre in Belgrade. She remained committed to those houses for more than 30 years. With the Belgrade Opera she toured to

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

in 1969 and 1977 and several times to Zagreb and Trient. She also appeared as a guest artist internationally with many important opera houses, including the Liceu (debut 1967), the Vienna State Opera (debut 1970), the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma (debut 1976), and

La Scala La Scala (, , ; officially , ) is a historic opera house in Milan, Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as (, which previously was Santa Maria della Scala, Milan, a church). The premiere performa ...

. Smiljanić currently teaches on the voice faculty of the Academy of Fine Arts, Belgrade. She taught for more than 20 years at the

University of Arts in Belgrade The University of Arts in Belgrade ( sr-cyr, Универзитет уметности у Београду, Univerzitet umetnosti u Beogradu) is a public university in Serbia. It was founded in 1957 as the Academy of Arts to unite four academies. ...

where one of her students was her own son, internationally acclaimed baritone Nikola Mijailović. She has been a member of the Managing Board of the leading Serbian media group Politika AD since 2009. She has also been a member of the Senate of the Republic of Srpska.

Opera roles

The following are some of the roles which Smiljanic has created on stage: * Aida, '' Aida'' ( Verdi) * Agathe, '' Der Freischütz'' ( Von Weber) * Amelia, '' Un ballo in maschera'' (Verdi) * Antonida, '' A Life for the Tsar'' ( Glinka) * Cio-Cio San, '' Madama Butterfly'' ( Puccini) * Countess Almaviva, '' The Marriage of Figaro'' (

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

) * Desdemona, ''

Otello ''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on William Shakespeare, Shakespeare's play ''Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the La Scala, Teatro alla Scala, M ...

'' (Verdi) * Fiordiligi, ''

Così fan tutte (''Women are like that, or The School for Lovers''), Köchel catalogue, K. 588, is an opera buffa in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was first performed on 26 January 1790 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. The libretto was written ...

'' (Mozart) * Judith, '' Bluebeard's Castle'' ( Bartók) * Leonara, '' Il trovatore'' (Verdi) * Lisa, '' The Queen of Spades'' ( Tchaikovsky) * Liu, '' Turandot'' (Puccini) * Mařenka, '' The Bartered Bride'' ( Smetna) * Marguerite, '' Faust'' ( Gounod) * Mimi, ''

La Bohème ''La bohème'' ( , ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions '':wikt:quadro, quadri'', ''wikt:tableau, tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto b ...

'' (Puccini) * Tatiana, ''

Eugene Onegin ''Eugene Onegin, A Novel in Verse'' (, Reforms of Russian orthography, pre-reform Russian: Евгеній Онѣгинъ, романъ въ стихахъ, ) is a novel in verse written by Alexander Pushkin. ''Onegin'' is considered a classic of ...

'' (Tchaikovsky) * Tosca, '' Tosca'' (Puccini) * Turandot, '' Turandot'' (Puccini)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smiljanic, Radmila 1940 births Living people 20th-century Serbian women opera singers Serbian operatic sopranos Academic staff of the University of Arts in Belgrade Yugoslav women opera singers