About
Serbian-Croatian-Canadian mezzo-soprano Maria is a sought-out multidisciplinary artist from Newmarket Ontario. She has performed in multiple cities spanning Canada, Germany, and Italy. She is a current member of Calgary Opera’s McPhee Young Artist Development Program. Her past season highlight includes singing the role of Sandman in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel during which “she made a strong impression, delivering the opera’s most appealing music with evident enjoyment.” (The Calgary Herald). A University of Toronto alum, Maria holds a double major in both voice performance and French language studies. She is also a graduate from the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory, having completed an Advanced Artist Diploma. Following her studies in Toronto, she was a featured artist in the 21C Festival, where she premiered Chaya Czernowin’s piece The Habekhi (The Crying), written for mezzo-soprano, ensemble, and electronics. Her stage highlights include Cio Cio San’s Mother (Madama Butterfly), Mrs. Splinters (The Tender Land), Mrs. Mc.Lean (Susannah), Mercedes (Carmen), Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro), Minskwoman (Flight), Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel), Ljubica (Svadba), Ada (The Shop Girl), Mrs. Hildebrand (Street Scene), and Javotte (Manon). This upcoming season at Calgary Opera sees Maria singing as Dorothy in Cinderella, as well as covering the role of Emilia in Otello.
Her achievements include recognition in several prestigious competitions. Last year, she was a finalist in the Homage to Maria Callas international competition and was a special prize award winner. In 2024, she was the first-place prize winner in the OMFA provincials in the open voice category for singers aged under 28 in Ontario. She has been a featured soloist with the York Symphony Orchestra, the Kindred Spirits Orchestra, the Arcady Ensemble, and the Untitled Ensemble. Maria is also part of a voice-guitar duo entitled MileBib, with classical guitarist, Christ Habib. The two enjoy performing early music transcribed for voice and guitar together, as well as Slavic art-song, which reflects her Serbian-Croatian cultural heritage. This past April, Maria performed with Christ in the Toronto Guitar Weekend Festival where they performed a contemporary Canadian piece commissioned by the Toronto Guitar Society.
Maria is always seeking opportunities to work with new composers in Canada. Last summer, she took part in the Opera from Scratch mini-opera program in Halifax, where she premiered Homa Samiei’s one-woman opera The Light Remains. In her pursuit of contributing to the new music collaborative process, Maria has had her own original poem titled Aisling set to music by composer Kevin Zi-Xiao He. This past month, she took part in the Banff Opera Program at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, where she sang the title role of Helena in R.U.R. A Torrent of Light in collaboration with Tapestry Opera. This August, she is looking forward to participating in the Highlands Opera Studio where she will be singing the role of La Zia Principessa in Suor Angelica.