RECENT AND UPCOMING ENGAGEMENTS
- Fricka in Wagner's Die Walküre and Zweite Norn in Wagner's Götterdämmerung, at Nationaltheater Mannheim and Daegu Opera House (South Korea);
- Fricka in Wagner's Das Rheingold, Mary in Wagner's Der Fliegende Holländer, Preziosilla in Verdi's La Forza del Destino and Der Komponist in Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos, at the Nationaltheater Mannheim;
- Prince Charmant in Massenet's Cendrillon, at the National Theatre of Taichung (Taiwan);
- The title role in Bizet's Carmen, at the Oper Köln;
- Hänsel in Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel, at the Semperoper Dresden;
- Octavian in Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier and Nicklausse/Muse in Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann, at the Lithuanian National Opera Vilnius;
- Wellgunde in Das Rheingold, at the Royal Theatre of La Monnaie De Munt;
- Caesonia in Glanert's Caligula, at the Deutsches National Theater und Staatskapelle Weimar.
JELENA KORDIC
mezzo-soprano
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BIOGRAPHY
Croatian mezzo-soprano Jelena Kordić studied at the Zagreb Music Academy with Professor Martina Zadro. Since her youth, she has also been receiving lessons and guidance from Ruža Pospiš Baldani. As the final exam of her studies, she debuted in the role of Carmen in Zagreb's Lisinski concert hall in 2011.
In the following years, Jelena was invited to sing at many Croatian theaters, most importantly the National Theater of Zagreb. She also performed with Croatia's most important orchestras, such as the Zagreb Radio Symphony and Zagreb Philharmonic.
In 2015, Jelena left Croatia to join the Young Ensemble of Semperoper Dresden. In this prestigious house, she sang many important roles, such as Cherubino, Dorabella, Orlofsky, Hänsel and Janáček's Fox. To this day, Jelena remains a guest singer at Semperoper in roles like Emilia, Flora and Hänsel. Her scheduled appearance as Carmen in early 2021 had to be cancelled due to the pandemic.
After graduating from the Dresden Young Ensemble in 2017, Jelena spent one year in the Ensemble of Staatstheater Braunschweig. In this season, she made her debuts as Sesto and Charlotte as well as appearing in a new production of Carmen. Her numerous concert appearances in Braunschweig included Mahler's Second and Beethoven's Ninth Symphonies,
Verdi's Requiem and Wagner's Wesendonck-Lieder.
Since 2018, Jelena Kordić is a member of the ensemble of Nationaltheater Mannheim, singing parts like Charlotte, Adalgisa, Carmen and Octavian. She has made guest appearances at Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf (Hänsel und Gretel), Concertgebouw Amsterdam (Elektra), Latvian National Opera Riga (Nabucco), Luxembourg Philharmonic (Beethoven 9) and performed a gala concert at Guadalajara/Mexico. Jelena was invited by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra to sing the role of Doma in
Jakov Gotovac's Ero the Joker, Croatia's most celebrated opera, in 2018. A complete recording of the concert was released to critical acclaim.
Jelena's guest appearances in the 2021/22 season included Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier) at Lithuanian National Theatre in Vilnius, in a premiere staged by Damiano Michieletto, and Empress Caesonia in Detlev Glanert's Caligula at Nationaltheater Weimar. She also returned to Zagreb to record a set of Orchesterlieder by Croatian composer Dora Pejačević with the Zagreb Radio Symphony orchestra and to perform Verdi's Requiem under the direction of Plácido Domingo.
In Mannheim's 2022 performance of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, conducted by Alexander Soddy, Jelena debuted as Fricka in both Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, starting her journey into the German dramatic repertoire. She reprised both roles at the Daegu Opera Festival as part of the South Korean tour of Nationaltheater Mannheim in October 2022.
Jelena aims to keep improving and developing her voice with different teachers. Among others, she has been working with Dolora Zajick and Deborah Polaski. Presently, she is a student of Sherman Lowe (Treviso) and Allison Oakes (Berlin).
Among her next engagements, she will perform as Preziosilla in Verdi’s La Forza del Destino, at the Nationaltheater Mannheim; Wellgunde in Wagner’s Das Rheingold and Götterdämmerung, at the Théâtre Royal de La Monnaie; Octavian in Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier and Nicklausse in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann, at the Latvian National Opera & Ballet, among others.