Hana Salihović is a young opera soloist from Sarajevo. Two years ago, she received her master’s degree at the Department of Solo Singing at the Academy of Music in Sarajevo in the class of Professor Vedrana Šimić. During her studies, she performed solo in the Opera at the National Theatre in Sarajevo.
– I love being on stage, in costume, singing and enjoying wonderful music. I am overjoyed because I think I have the most beautiful profession in the world – says Hana in an interview for Visit BiH Magazine.
Tell us your story, how did you start singing and what attracted you to this type of art? Do you come from a family of musicians?
– Considering that I do not come from a family of musicians, it is unusual that everything started in the first place. I expressed my love for opera when I was very young, but I don’t think I was taken seriously because I was about three years old. That is also normal. I started playing the piano at the age of six, after which I enrolled a junior music school, and I was happiest when we got the ‘choir’ subject in the third grade and I could sing. But the moment that definitely helped me opt for opera was when, in the last year of junior and elementary music school, I got the opportunity to sing in the children’s choir at the Opera of the National Theatre in Sarajevo, in the opera Carmen. That’s when I definitely fell in love with this kind of art and everything it brings with it. I fell in love with singing, acting, stage movement, costumes, scenography… I felt the sublimity of such art, expression of emotions and story. After that, there was no question whether I would enrol in solo singing at the High School of Music and, of course, the Department of Solo Singing at the Sarajevo Music Academy.
Do you remember your first performance in front of an audience? Was it before, during or after schooling? Was there fear and jitters?
-I remember almost every one of my performances, and I started actively performing since the second year of high school. I am very grateful to my professor at the time, Sanja Vilov-Bejdić, who immediately pushed me into the fire, so to speak, because that was the only way I could continue to “train” for the scene. On stage, the singer gets to know himself best. After high school, in the first year of the Academy, I continued to perform, and I also had performances outside the borders of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I am also very grateful to my professor and mentor, Vedrana Šimić, who continued to push me in this direction, knowing how important it is for a young singer who is just learning, because before this was not such a common practice. And as for stage fright, it is always there in a certain dose even today before any public performance, which does not necessarily mean something bad. Such a positive amount of stage fright, many artists will agree, serves as an additional drive and motivator to give the maximum of ourselves and all our best qualities on stage. But I must say that my favorite performance was when I made my debut at the National Theater Opera in the second year of the Academy, in the role of Lia in the children’s opera “The Hedgehog’s House”, in front of the best audience in the world – children.
Do you currently have a permanent job after graduation?
– I graduated from the Department of Solo Singing in 2022, after which I am a frequent guest soloist of the Sarajevo Opera, which means that I do not yet have a permanent job. I hope that there will be changes in this sense and that new jobs will be created in the Opera, because we have a lot of us, young active and talented singers and conductors, and it would be a shame not to give us a chance.
Can you list for us your most significant engagements and roles in your career?
– I think that my significant engagements and roles are yet to come, but so far my most significant role has been the role of Cupid in the opera “Orpheus in the Underworld”, for which I received the award of the Sarajevo National Theater for the best young soloist. There, from beginning to end, I participated and enjoyed the wonderful process of creating a play. And my first, so to speak, official performance with the Sarajevo Philharmonic at the “Mlade nade opere/Youth Opera” concert was also very significant for me, where I enjoyed performing together with my young colleagues. I would like something like that to happen again.
Who has helped you the most and is currently helping you in your professional career?
– I can say that I am blessed because I am always surrounded by people who recognized my potential and talent from the beginning and who supported me until today. But among all of them, I remained and will remain most grateful to my professor, Vedrana Šimić, who stood up for me the most, believed in my abilities and always selflessly shared her great knowledge and skill with me. It is very important for singers to have a mentor with whom they can work and whom they trust to tell them the best things. That’s why I still go to singing lessons with my teacher, consult about the program for performances and various other things. Also, in my professional career, I always had and still have great support from the management of the Sarajevo National Theater, which I hope will continue.
Does BiH and Sarajevo have a developed artistic sensibility for opera, especially among young people?
-I have noticed that in my interactions with young people in Sarajevo, I increasingly feel an interest and desire for opera, greater than before, although I think that much more can be done to nurture such a sensibility and create a nice and healthy habit of going to the theater to the opera or a concert where the opera repertoire is performed. I remember one performance with a colleague in Gračanica where we performed opera arias and duets, after which many young people came to meet us, take pictures and convey their enthusiasm because before that they had not had the opportunity to hear opera singers live. I think that it is very important for culture in Bosnia and Herzegovina not to remain based only in Sarajevo and other larger cities, but to travel to smaller places and organize concerts, in order to further develop the feeling for opera and solo singing.
You are also very active on social networks. Can this and how much can it help in the development of a young artist, but also develop the interest of young people in this type of art?
– Considering that I am part of the generation that entered the flow of social networks at a very young age, it is quite natural for me to be active and share my successes, work processes and other things there. But today is such a time that almost all artists who work and act promote themselves in the same way and are active in social media. They can be of great use to us young artists, among other things, in creating contacts, promotion, keeping up to date with all the happenings in the world of opera. We often find out about various competitions, auditions and similar things through social networks or maintain contact with colleagues from abroad. On the other hand, by recording various content, for example “behind the scenes” when it comes to a concert or an opera, we can further interest and attract the younger generation.
What are your plans and wishes for the future? What is your professional dream?
– My desire has always been to travel, meet new people and to sing and work with conductors, directors and singers from other countries. I would like to be in more serious leading roles, first in Sarajevo, and then abroad. I would be happiest if I could work in my city, in my country, and continue to improve and go abroad for auditions and some guest appearances. Then again, I always say that one never knows where he/she might end up in life…
Do you have a hobby, how do you best relax after a hard day, after rehearsals and performances?
– In addition to singing opera, I am also a yoga instructor. I have been doing yoga since I was nine years old, and I have been an active instructor for about four to five years. Yoga occupies a large part of my life and helps me a lot in my profession. Starting from breathing, which must be conscious, deep and relaxed, all the way to mental concentration when I’m on stage. In addition to yoga, I also actively train in the gym, and all of this contributes to my fitness and willingness to respond to the director’s increasingly demanding requests. I also like to walk a lot and spend time in nature whenever I can. All of this best helps me to get rid of stress and fatigue.
