Milena Morača
The soprano singer Milena Morača is a Leading Performer of the Slovenian National Theatre Opera and Ballet Ljubljana permanently engaged to sing the lead opera roles. She boasts quite an enviable vocal range and a repertory that spans a wide and diverse scope of roles. She studied singing at the Academy of Music Ljubljana under Professor Ondina Otta, who also taught her the Bel Canto technique. When she graduated from the Academy in Ljubljana, she first perfected her vocal skills in London and then, after winning the Austrian Government Scholarship, spent some time in Vienna as well. She started to prepare her Master's Degree in Belgrade with Professor Radmila Bakočević, and finally finished it with Professor Alenka Bunta in Ljubljana.
Her repertory ranges from the roles composed for an extreme coloratura soprano (The Queen of Night in The Magic Flute) and the roles composed for a high mezzo soprano (The Composer in Ariadna on Naxos) to the most demanding »prima dona« roles (Norma in Bellini's Norma, Abigaille in Nabucco, Cho-Cho-San in Madame Butterfly, etc.). She has shown her acting skills and particularly her comic abilities in the roles of Rosina (The Barber of Seville), Norina (Don Pasquale), Felice (The Four Ruffians), Hana (The Merry Widow) and Rosalinda (The Bat). The popular Slovenian opera singer has also won recognition with her interpretation of the most tragic heroines of the classical opera literature, such as: Violetta (La Traviata), Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor), and Jenufa in Janáček's Jenufa. Milena Morača won one of the awards at the International Competition for Opera Singers in Villa Manin, in Italy (presided by Mario del Monaco). She was also bestowed with the Prešeren Fund Award for her roles of Jenufa (Jenufa) and The Composer (Ariadne on Naxos). She has been regularly appearing at concerts, where she mainly performs the compositions by J. S. Bach and W. A. Mozart, as well as pieces, composed by the Slovenian authors as well as at the Slovenian Philharmonic Hall, Cankarjev dom and other venues in Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, Austria, Germany, Turkey, France, etc.
She has collaborated with many renowned conductors and orchestras as well as recorded various operatic works for radio and television (The Bat, The Nightingale of Gorenjsko, Frightened Horses, Cantata, Gallery of Operatic Heroines and Opera Arias). She has achieved tremendous success with the roles of Giorgetta (Coat), Myrtocle (The Dead Eyes), Queen Margot (The Huguenots), Yaroslavna (Prince Igor) and many other. In 2008, Milena Morača recorded a CD album of her best opera arias with the Založba kaset in plošč RTV Slovenija (Cassets and Records Publishing of Radio and Television Slovenia).