Marija Kuhar Šoša
The soprano Marija Kuhar Šoša (Žminj, 1982) graduated in singing from the Zagreb Academy of Music under Lidija Horvat-Dunjko and continued her studies with Olivera Miljaković. In 2005 she won three special prizes in the Passau International Singing Competition, and 1st Prize in the 1st Young Singers Competition of the Croatian National Theatre of Zagreb Patron Society and the Vero Vision Association. In 2006 she won the Rector’s Prize, and the Best Performance of a Croatian Composer’s Work Award in the Ferdo Livadić International Competition in Samobor. For the role of Constanza in Poulenc’s The Carmelite’s Dialogues she won the Croatian Theatre Award in 2007. For the role of Nanette in Verdi’s Falstaff and she was nominated for the same award in 2009, when she won the Zagreb Philharmonic Award. At the Croatian National Theatre of Zagreb she has sung the roles of Shepherdess (Ravel’s The Child and the Spells), Luiga (Donizetti’s Le convenienze ed inconvenenze teatrali), Papagena and 1st boy (Mozart’s The Magic Flute), Annina (Verdi’s La Traviata), Zerlina (Mozart’s Don Giovanni), Oscar (Verdi’s A Masked Ball), Frasquita (Bizet’s Carmen), and Genovieffe and Laurette (Puccini’s Triptych) and Clorinda (Rossini’s Cinderella). She has also performed the roles of Oscar in Verdi’s A Masked ball in Messina, Bastienne in Mozart’s Bastien and Bastienne at the Marin Držić Theatre of Dubrovnik, Catalina in Palomar’s Juana in Halle and Barcelona, and Mimi in Mirela Ivičević’s opera For three Lipas at the Zagreb Musical Biennial. She received excellent critical reviews for her performance in Händel’s Acis and Galatea at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival.