Jury Member
XXII Competition, May 28–31, 2026
National Theatre in Belgrade
(Senior Categories)
Previous jury participation:
2021, 2022 (Senior Categories)
Vesna Šouc is a full professor of conducting and head of the Conducting Department at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade. She is the chief conductor at the Terazije Theatre and is also engaged at the Madlenianum Opera and Theatre, the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad, and the National Theatre in Belgrade. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees in conducting in the class of Professor Emeritus Darinka Matić Marović, and also graduated from the Department of General Music Pedagogy at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade.
Career and repertoire
She is an equally successful symphonic, theater, and choral conductor. Her repertoire includes works of the world classical repertoire, as well as works by contemporary authors, including a large number of premiere performances. She has conducted more than two thousand performances (opera, ballet, musical) and six hundred concerts, participated in many international festivals, and made permanent recordings for domestic and foreign media.
She has performed with world-renowned soloists and ballet dancers, gave concerts in some of the most famous halls (Salle Gaveau in Paris, Alexandrinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, etc.). She has made a large number of permanent recordings for domestic and foreign media and recorded six CDs, three of which are for foreign publishers.
Orchestras and collaborations
She has managed the Symphony Orchestra of the Faculty of Music, was the chief conductor of the Madlenianum Opera and Theatre, and conducted all symphony orchestras in the country, as well as foreign orchestras: Riga Philharmonic (Latvia), UN Symphony Orchestra (USA), MATAV Symphony Orchestra (Budapest), Szeged Symphony Orchestra, Presidential Symphony Orchestra of Ankara (CSO), Istanbul Symphony Orchestra, Bursa Symphony Orchestra, Sarajevo Philharmonic, Banja Luka Philharmonic, and others.
She has collaborated with numerous chamber ensembles: Belgrade Chamber Orchestra "Dušan Skovran", Royal Strings of St. George, RTS Chamber Orchestra, Novi Sad Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of the School for Musical Talents from Ćuprija, and others.
Pedagogical and choral work
She was the head of the Opera Choir of the National Theatre in Belgrade, and at the beginning of her career, she directed the choirs "Branko Radičević", "Bel Canto", and "Lola", founding the first two. As a piano accompanist for opera singers, she has given over fifty concerts, as well as a large number of permanent recordings in the country and abroad. She was a professor at Bilgi University (Istanbul) and the Academy of Arts (Banja Luka). She has performed in the USA, Russia, France, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Switzerland, Latvia, Greece, Slovakia, Canada, Turkey, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia.
Awards and recognitions
- October Award of Zemun
- Golden Badge of the Cultural and Educational Community of Serbia
- Silver Plaque of the University of Arts
- Two Annual Awards of the Terazije Theatre
- Honorary Charter of the Madlenianum Opera and Theatre
- Student October Award of Belgrade