Ljubica Vraneš (Serbian Cyrillic: Љубица Вранеш; born 1979) is a Serbian mezzo-soprano opera singer and politician. As a performer, she is best known for playing the lead role in productions of Georges Bizet's Carmen. She has been a member of Serbia's national assembly since February 2024, serving with the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).
Ljubica Vraneš | |
|---|---|
| Љубица Вранеш | |
| Member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia | |
| Assumed office 6 February 2024 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1979 |
| Nationality | Serbian |
| Political party | SNS |
| Alma mater | University of Arts in Belgrade |
| Profession | Opera singer |
Opera singer
editVraneš is originally from Vršac in the province of Vojvodina. In her youth, she often travelled to Belgrade on weekends to watch operas, ballets, and plays.[1] She holds a bachelor's degree and a master's degree from the Faculty of Music at the University of Arts in Belgrade, where she studied under Radmila Bakočević. In addition to Bakočević, she has credited Biserka Cvejić and Nikola Kitanovski as mentors.[2] She became a member of the ensemble of the National Theatre in Belgrade in 2011 and has also performed regularly with the Romanian National Opera, Bucharest. An Austrian reviewer has described her as "perfectly cast" for the role of Carmen.[3]
In 2022, she performed Carmen at the Oper Burg Gars in Austria, in a production that had been postponed twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She received excellent reviews, with one writer praising her as an "attractive, sensual, and yet not exaggerated Carmen, who found convincing role interpretation in her differentiated expression."[4][5]
Vraneš's many performances of Carmen include a rock version in Craiova, Romania. Her other roles include Santuzza in Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana, Eboli in Giuseppe Verdi's Don Carlos, and Delilah in Camille Saint-Saëns's Samson and Delilah.[6] In 2019, she was part of an international cast of star performers at the Minsk International Christmas Opera Forum in Belarus.[7]
Politician
editVraneš was given the sixth position on the Serbian Progressive Party's Serbia Must Not Stop electoral list in the 2023 Serbian parliamentary election.[8] This was tantamount to election, and she was indeed elected when the list won a majority victory with 129 out of 250 seats. She has said, "I am a patriot and I will always do the best for my country. That's why I wholeheartedly support Aleksandar Vučić's policy and everything he does." It was rumoured after the election that she would be appointed as Serbia's minister of culture, although ultimately this did not happen.[9]
In the assembly, she is a member of the culture and information committee, a deputy member of European integration committee and the committee on the diaspora and Serbs in the region, and a member of the parliamentary friendship groups with Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Romania, and South Korea.[10] One of her colleagues in the SNS parliamentary caucus is operatic mezzo-soprano Jadranka Jovanović, whom she has described as a role model in her singing career.[11]
References
edit- ^ Dafina Dostanić, "Operska diva Ljubica Vraneš: Neki današnji gimnazijalci ni ne znaju gde je Narodno pozorište", Blic, 15 December 2023, accessed 2 June 2024.
- ^ Marina Mirković, "MECOSOPRAN LJUBICA VRANEŠ, ZA "NOVOSTI": I u operi me vodi timski duh", 3 January 2024, accessed 2 June 2024.
- ^ "Oper Burg Gars: 'Carmen' garantiert 2022 Leidenschaft pur!", Austria Presse Agentur-OTS, 9 May 2022.
- ^ Biljana Lijeskić, "Imala sam sreću da učim od najboljih", Politika, 3 August 2022, accessed 2 June 2024.
- ^ "Die Oper Burg Gars", Kronen Zeitung, 14 July 2022. See also Sandra Fleck, "Carmen in Gars : Subtiles Machogehabe führt zum Tod," Wiener Zeitung Online, 25 July 2022.
- ^ Marina Mirković, "MECOSOPRAN LJUBICA VRANEŠ, ZA "NOVOSTI": I u operi me vodi timski duh", 3 January 2024, accessed 2 June 2024.
- ^ "Minsk to host Christmas Opera Forum on 12–18 December," Belarus: Daily News, 10 December 2019.
- ^ "Pogledajte ko su kandidati na Vučićevoj listi Srbija ne sme da stane", Danas, 3 November 2023, accessed 29 March 2024.
- ^ "Gužva za ministarsko mesto u kulturi", Vreme, 2 March 2024, accessed 2 June 2024.
- ^ LJUBICA VRANES, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 8 August 2024.
- ^ Dafina Dostanić, "Operska diva Ljubica Vraneš: Neki današnji gimnazijalci ni ne znaju gde je Narodno pozorište", Blic, 15 December 2023, accessed 2 June 2024.