Born: Valjevo, Serbia The Serbian contralto, Marijana Mijanovic, studied the piano at the Belgrade Academy before taking lessons with the dutch mezzo-soprano Cora Canne Meijer, at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam, from 1994. In 1997 she won numerous international voice competitions including the Jo Bollekamp and the Erna Spoorenberg Competition, as well as the Prix Jeunesse at the International Opera Competition in Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. Marijana Mijanovic has appeared on frequent occasions with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants (notably in George Frideric Handel’s Alcina at the Festival de Beaune, in Gesualdo madrigals for the Kylian Ballet and as Penelope in Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, in Aix-en-Provence, New York, Vienna and London). She made her Paris Opera debut in 2001 as a Flowermaiden in Wagner’s Parsifal. She sang the title role in Giulio Cesare under Marc Minkowski at the Nederlandse Opera and also in Brussels, Vienna, Frankfurt, Grenoble, Ambronay and Bremen. Her USA debut was in 2002 with Les Arts Florissants performing the role of Penelope in Monteverdi's Il ritorno de'Ulisse at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. She returned in 2004 with the Venice Baroque Orchestra, performing in Boston and New York. She made her Zürich Opera début in 2003 as Disinganno in G.F. Handel’s Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, returning to the city in 2004 for a production of Radamisto under the direction of William Christie. That same year she also sang the role of Daniel in G.F. Handel’s Belshazzar under René Jacobs in Brussels and at the Festival de Beaune. Marijana Mijanovic has appeared with most of Europe’s leading ensembles and conductors, most notably Fabio Biondi, Alan Curtis, Ottavio Dantone, Andrea Marcon, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, William Christie, Emmanuelle Haïm, Marc Minkowski, Philippe Herreweghe, Paul McCreesh, René Jacobs, Christophe Rousset and Jean-Christophe Spinosi. The most famous roles interpreted by her are Giulio Cesare in G.F. Handel’s Giulio Cesare (Marc Minkowski), Asteria in Antonio Vivaldi’s Bajazet (Fabio Biondi), Vitellia in A. Vivaldi’s Tito Manlio (Ottavio Dantone), Mitrena in A. Vivaldi’s Montezuma (Alan Curtis).