Opera Ballet

Jelena Kordić, mezzo-soprano

Croatian mezzo-soprano Jelena Kordić began her professional operatic career with the title role in Bizet’s Carmen in her hometown of Zagreb. In 2015, she joined the Young Ensemble of the Semperoper Dresden, where her roles included Cherubino in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Dorabella in Così fan tutte, Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus, Hänsel in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, and the Fox in Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen.

In 2017, she became a member of the ensemble at Staatstheater Braunschweig, where she made her role debuts as Sesto in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito and Charlotte in Massenet’s Werther, and returned to the title role in Carmen. A year later, she joined the ensemble of Nationaltheater Mannheim, expanding her repertoire with roles including Charlotte, Adalgisa in Bellini’s Norma, Carmen, Octavian in Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, Preziosilla in Verdi’s La forza del destino, and the Composer in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos.

As a guest artist, she has appeared on numerous European and international stages, including Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, Cologne Opera, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Latvian National Opera in Riga, and the Luxembourg Philharmonic. In 2018, she performed the role of Doma in Gotovac’s Ero the Joker with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. With the Croatian Radiotelevision Symphony Orchestra, with whom she collaborates regularly, she also recorded orchestral songs by Croatian composer Dora Pejačević and performed Verdi’s Requiem under the baton of Plácido Domingo.

An important step in her artistic development has been her transition into the German dramatic repertoire. In 2022, she made her debut as Fricka in Wagner’s Das Rheingold and Die Walküre at Nationaltheater Mannheim under the baton of Alexander Soddy, later reprising these roles at the Daegu Opera Festival in South Korea. In 2023, she appeared as Wellgunde in Das Rheingold at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels as part of Romeo Castellucci’s new production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, conducted by Alain Altinoglu.

Her more recent appearances include Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the UNAM Philharmonic Orchestra in Mexico City, Prince Charming in Massenet’s Cendrillon at the National Taichung Theater in Taiwan, Nicklausse in Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann at the Lithuanian National Opera in Vilnius, and Amneris in Verdi’s Aida. In the current season, she also made her debut as Princess Eboli in Verdi’s Don Carlo at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, where she also appears as Hermia in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

On the concert stage, she has collaborated, among others, with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony under the baton of Alain Altinoglu.