BIOGRAPHY
Kristina Bijelic is a multilingual, multi-genre vocalist who made her professional singing debut at age 12. Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, she graduated with honours from the University of Toronto with a bachelor’s degree in musicology, and later a master’s degree in Contemporary Performance from Berklee College of Music, Valencia Campus, as well as a certificate in Jazz Performance from Humber College in Toronto. Trained in classical voice and violin since childhood, Kristina has sung on stages across North America and Europe, and has since expanded her repertoire to include contemporary styles such as jazz, pop, Latin, and traditional Balkan music.
Born in Canada to Serbian parents, Kristina Bijelic was involved in music since her earliest childhood. She started playing violin at age 5, and also started ballet classes. She joined the Canadian Children's Opera Company at the age of 10, and remained a member until she started university. It was in the CCOC that she discovered her love of performing on stage. She premiered roles such as "Elf Maiden" in Dean Burry's world premiere of The Hobbit, and "Mrs. Crachit" in Errol Gay's world premiere of A Dickens of a Christmas, which she reprised in Limerick, Ireland at Summer Music on the Shannon Festival, as well as the following season in Toronto. She also performed "Eurydice" in Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld with the Canadian Youth Opera Chorus.
For her performance in CCOC's 2005 production of Dido & Aeneas, arts reviewer Paula Citron wrote in Opera Canada Magazine: "The standout was Kristina Bijelic as Dido. This young teenage soprano displayed an assured voice that belied her age: strong, forceful, passionate and intelligent. She also demonstrated considerable acting skills."
In addition to performances with the CCOC, Kristina also participated as a child chorister in Canadian Opera Company productions such as Carmen, La Bohème, and Boris Godunov, as well as the solo role of "First Spirit" in Opera Atelier's production of The Magic Flute in 2002. She has shared the stage as a soloist with world-reknown musicians such as Vladimir Spivakov, Peter deSotto, and Peter Oundjian.
Kristina studied her undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto, from where graduated "With Distinction" with a specialist in Music, and minors in Latin and Serbian Studies. In 2014, she went on to pursue a master's degree in Contemporary Performance at Berklee College of Music, Valencia Campus in Spain, graduating "Magna Cum Laude." It was at Berklee that she further cultivated her love for many contemporary musical styles, as she was able to study with world-renown faculty and guest artists and sing in many different ensembles on many different stages. She later obtained a certificate in Jazz Performance from Humber College in Toronto.
It was also at Berklee Valencia that she met fellow student, Colombian composer Felipe Téllez with whom she went on to collaborate on her first album Minstrelle (2016), after collaborating on the original soundtrack to the short film Margot Learns French (2015). Through other Berklee colleagues, Kristina was also the voice actress for the videogame Soul Brothers, and recorded the main theme for the award-winning videogame Inua.
In 2019, Kristina moved to Barcelona, Spain, where she regularly performed around the city with various ensembles as a guest vocalist and violinist, in addition to being the lead singer and violinist of OMβRA.
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Kristina currently lives in Toronto.