Contralto Lidija Jovanović, born in Belgrade, Serbia, starts her musical education playing piano at the age of six. As a young pianist she wins numerous prizes at national and international competitions.
After getting the Eurobank EFG scholarship for the best students of Serbia and the Scholarship for young talents of the Republic of Serbia she continues her development as a pianist in Switzerland. She holds a Master degree from the HEMU Lausanne in Interpretation - piano.
Furthermore, she starts her vocal studies at the Haute École de Musique in Geneva and becomes a member of the Swiss Opera Studio studying in the class of the great contralto Nathalie Stutzmann. In the following years she attends Opera Studio programs in Berlin and in Madrid.
Currently, she works regularly with two great sopranos - Christiane Stutzmann in Nancy and Mariella Devia in Rome. Additionally, she gets the opportunity to learn from artists such as Sara Mingardo, Jadwiga Rappé, Jeannette Fischer, Marijana Mijanović, William Blank, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Xavier Sabata, Fiorenza Cedolins, José Miguel Pérez Sierra, Miquel Ortega, Paul Émile Fourny.
Contralto
Roles she debuted so far are Flora Bervoix (Traviata), Mercédès (Carmen), Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), Lesni zinka (Rusalka) at the Opéra-Théâtre Metz Métropole and the Opéra de Reims. Other opera roles performed include Zita (Gianni Schicchi), Mother Bayard (The Long Christmas Dinner), Dritte Dame (Die Zauberflöte), Carmen (Carmen). Operatic roles include Gluck's Orfeo, Rossini's Tancredi, Tchaikovsky's Olga, Debussy's Geneviève, Wagner's Erda among others.
She collaborates with maestro Nathalie Stutzmann on several occasions, singing the major contralto parts such as Bach’s Matthäus-Passion, Weihnachtsoratorium, Handel’s Messiah.
As a soloist she performs with National Symphony Orchestra RTÉ (Ireland), Stavanger Symphony Orchestra (Norway), Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (United Kingdom), Oslo Philharmonic (Norway), Symphony Orchestra RTS Belgrade (Serbia). Her performances broadcast on radio stations across Europe.
Besides Bach's most important contralto works, Handel's Messiah, Vivaldi's works for contralto solo such as Stabat Mater and Nisi Dominus, Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, her concert repertory includes works of Mahler (Symphonies II / III / VIII / Kindertotenlieder), Rossini (Messe solennelle, Stabat Mater), Mozart (Requiem), Mendelssohn (Elijah), Saint-Saëns (Oratorio de Noël), Beethoven (IX Symphony), Prokofiev (Cantata Alexander Nevsky).
Very attached to contemporary music, she sings Die Köchin beim Oberst in Die Gespenstersonate (A.Reimann) with the Ensemble Contrechamps and maestro Johannes Kalitzke at the Radio Suisse-Romande, L'Élégie (J.Domagala) at the 6. Festiwal Prawykonan Polska Muzyka Najnowsza in Katowice with Orkiestra Muzyki Nowej and maestro Szymon Bywalec, Nous? La raison du coeur (Huber) on the occasion of the composer's 90th anniversary (Société de Musique Contemporaine Lausanne), Songs for voice & piano (Kurylewicz) at the Festival Dni Muzyki Andrzeja Kurylewicza in Warsaw.
As a contralto soloist she performs with many choirs in Switzerland - Choeur Neuf de Lutry, Choeur ProArte, Ensemble Vocal de Terre Sainte, Capella Concertata, Choeur La Chanson du Pays de Gruyère, Choeur Caecilia de Saint-Jean.
In July 2018, she wins the third prize in the 5th International Singing Competition Un Futuro DEARTE in Medinaceli, Spain.