Tanja Ruždjak was born in 1988. She received her Bachelor’s degree in September 2012 in the class of Prof. Martina Zadro and her Master’s degree in September 2013 in the class of Prof. Dunja Vejzovic at the Academy of Music in Zagreb. She is currently studying at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna in the class of Prof. Claudia Visca.
She has been awarded numerous international prizes, including 2nd prize at the “International Bruno Spiller Competition” in Montenegro (2012), a special prize at the “Vienna International Music Competition” (2011) and as “Best Young Musician 2016” by the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra for her outstanding opera and concert activities in Croatia. In 2014 she received a prize at the International Festival Allegro vivo in Horn (Austria).
Tanja Ruždjak performs regularly at home and abroad (Australia, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands, Austria, Slovenia, Spain, USA, United Kingdom). Her repertoire as a concert singer includes numerous works by W. A. Mozart, F. Schubert, J. Brahms, P. I. Tchaikovsky, N. Rimsky-Korsakov, S. Rachmaninov, F. Poulenc, H. Duparc, H. Villa-Lobos, D. Pejacevic and J. Hatze, among others. Together with pianist Danijel Gašparovic she successfully performs in Croatia and all over Europe with an extensive repertoire of songs. With guitarist Pedro Ribeiro Rodrigues, she performs works by F. Sor, J. Rodrigo, B. Britten, I. Padovec and H. Villa-Lobos, among others. Tanja Ruždjak is also a member of the ensemble “Project Lazarus”, which deals with unknown works of Croatian composers of the 16th and 18th centuries. She has also performed with well-known orchestras (a. o. Zagreb Philharmonic, Croatian Chamber Orchestra, Croatian National Opera Orchestra Rijeka, Croatian National Theater Orchestra Osijek, Chamber Orchestra Požega, Croatian National Theater Opera Orchestra Zagreb) and conductors such as Pavle Dešpalj, Nikša Bareza, Leopold Hager, Hans Graf, Ricardo Estrada, Berislav Šipuš, Zdravko Šljivac, Ivan Josip Skender, Alen Kopunovic Legetin, Nada Matoševic, Filip Pavišic, Natalie Murray Beale and Darijan Ivezic.
The young singer performs together with well-known Croatian and international artists such as Martina Zadro, Simon Dešpalj, Gerhard Zeller, Silvano Zabeo, Paul Plummer, Eva Blahová, Mirella Freni, Dunja Vejzovic, Jaume Aragall and Claudia Visca. She has sung numerous opera roles at festivals and in various opera houses: Tatyana in “Eugene Onegin” by P. I. Tchaikovsky at the Cres Summer Evenings (2013), 1st Edelknabe in “Lohengrin” by R. Wagner at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb (2013/2014), Lucia in Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor” at the Barcelona Opera Studio in Spain (2013), Mimi in Puccini’s “La Bohème” at the Croatian National Theatre in Osijek (2014/2015) as well as at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb ( 2016/2017), Cleopatra in “Julius Caesar” by G. F. Händel, Annina in Verdi’s “La traviata” at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, Musetta in “La Bohème” by G. Puccini at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb (2015) as well as Susanna in Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” and Ninetta in Sergei Prokofiev’s “The Love for Three Oranges” at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb. She also regularly sings roles from Croatian operas such as Jelena in “Nikola Šubic Zrinjski” by Ivan Zajc and Melka in “Adel i Mara” by Josip Hatze.