Dragana Paunović
Dragana Paunović, a soprano of Serbian-Hungarian descent, was born in Novi Sad, Serbia. She completed her Bachelor's studies in Music Pedagogy at the Academy of Arts in her hometown and earned both her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Singing from the Giuseppe Tartini Conservatory of Music in Trieste, Italy. In 2020, she was awarded a special scholarship to study abroad at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Music in Canada.
In February 2025 she won First Prize at the VIII Concurso Internacional de Canto "Martín y Soler" de Polinyà de Xúquer (Valencia), along with a Special Prize for the Best Interpretation of a Song by a Valencian Composer. In April 2025, she participated in an intensive masterclass and concert organized by Teatro Real and Opera for Peace, led by maestro Kamal Khan. In December 2024, she earned Second Prize in a duo competition at the III Concurso Internacional de Canto AMAO. In 2022, she was awarded Second Prize at the Concorso Internazionale di Musica Città di Stresa.
Her concert experience includes performances in Canada, Croatia, Serbia, Austria, Spain, and other countries. Notable performances include W.A. Mozart's Requiem at the San Francesco Church in Trieste; a recital at L. Bratuž Theatre in Gorizia; the gala concert Muggia in Opera at the G. Verdi Theatre in Muggia; and a featured performance at the Teatro Real 24/25 season presentation in Madrid.
She portrayed the role of Euridice in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice at the Giuseppe Tartini Conservatory of Music and was a soloist in the world premiere of Ivan Fedele's multimedia opera Galileo's Journey, performed in Serbia, Italy, and Austria. In 2022, she took on the roles of Phèdre and Phédon in Satie's Socrate, touring in both Italy and Serbia under the direction of Marco Angius. She also portrayed La Chatte and L'Écureuil in Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges at Teatro Real de Retiro. Her current repertoire includes Contessa in Le nozze di Figaro (in preparation), Liù in Turandot, Musetta and Mimì in La Bohème, and Medora in Il Corsaro.
She participated in the fourth edition of the Crescendo Young Artist Program at Teatro Real in Madrid and performed at the 2024–2025 season presentation on the main stage of Teatro Real, at the XXI Festival Miquel Tortell in Muro, Mallorca (June 2024), and in many other concerts throughout the 2024/2025 season across Spain with the foundation Amigos del Teatro Real.
She has learned from and collaborated with Kamal Khan, Bruna Baglioni, Fiorenza Cedolins, José Luis Basso, Leigh Melrose, Daniela Barcelona, Alessandro Vitiello, Marco Angius, Ivan Fedele, and many others.
