BIOGRAPHY OF THE DIRECTOR

Jovana Solunović Mitrović is an opera and theatre director. She graduated in Opera Singing from the University of Niš, in the class of Aleksandra Ristić, and completed her Master’s degree in Art and Media Theory at the University of Arts in Belgrade, under the mentorship of Dr Vesna Mikić. She earned her Master’s degree in Theatre Studies at the University of Bergen, under the mentorship of the Scandinavian theatre scholar Knut Ove Arntzen, where she also completed additional studies in pedagogy, Italian Studies, and English Language and Literature. In 2025, she received her PhD in Theatre Directing from the Faculty of Contemporary Arts in Belgrade, in the class of Božidar Đurović.

Her work focuses on opera and musical theatre, with particular emphasis on psychological dramaturgy, contemporary directing approaches, and the use of digital technologies in stage expression. She directed Stevan Binički’s opera At Dawn at the National Theatre in Niš, as well as Grigori Frid’s mono-opera The Diary of Anne Frank, which has been performed in Serbia and presented internationally in the Netherlands and Norway.

As an assistant director, she has worked on opera productions in Berlin, including W. A. Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and E. Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel. Her production of Verdi’s opera Rigoletto is currently in preparation in Vienna for the 2026 season. She is an active member of the European opera network RESEO and, alongside her artistic work, is also engaged in teaching music and performing arts.