DEJAN MILADINOVIC was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, into a family of opera artists (his father Dushan was chief conductor and Artistic Director of Belgrade National Opera and his mother Militza was leading mezzo with the same opera company). He graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Theatre Direction from the Academy for Theatre in Belgrade and received the title Master of Theatrical Arts from the same Academy.

DEJAN MILADINOVIC has served as Principal Stage Director and two times as Artistic Director of the National Opera of Novi Sad, Yugoslavia. He has also served as Director and Artistic Councilor for "Grand Opera Projects" with Convention Centre "Sava" in Belgrade.
He was Principal Stage Director of Belgrade National Opera and he has accepted the position as Artistic Director of Belgrade National Opera (1997 - 2001) which was offered to him - inspite Milosevic's regime - by all the artists and staff of Belgrade Opera.
He was Associate Professor and Artistic Director of Opera Theatre at Meadows School of Arts, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, and Associate Professor of Opera Theatre at Music Conservatory, Belgrade, and Associate Professor at Thornton School of Music, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California.

DEJAN MILADINOVIC has staged more than 160 productions (mostly operas, and then plays, operettas, musical comedies) with professional companies in former Yugoslavia and abroad (USA and Canada especially - New York, Dallas, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Seattle, Baltimore, San Diego, Vancouver, etc.).

DEJAN MILADINOVIC currently is holding position as Artistic Director of Madlenianum Opera & Theatre in Belgrade, the first private owned opera/theatre company (from October 2006).

DEJAN MILADINOVIC e nato a Belgrado (Jugoslavia) nella famiglia di artisti d'opera (suo padre Dusan e stato il principale direttore d'orchestra e il direttore artistico dell'Opera nazionale di Belgrado, sua madre Miliza era primadonna - mezzosoprano nello stesso teatro lirico).
Si e laureato all'Accademia teatrale di Belgrado ed ha ottenuto il titolo di Maestro d'arte teatrale presso la stessa Accademia.

Ha lavorato come capo regista e due volte come direttore artistico dell'Opera nazionale di Novi Sad, Jugoslavia.
E' stato direttore e consigliere artistico per i "Grandi progetti d'opera" nel Centro di congressi "Sava" di Belgrado.
E' stato capo regista dell'Opera nazionale di Belgrado ed aveva accettato l'incarico di direttore artistico dell'Opera nazionale di Belgrado (1997 - 2001) offertogli, nonostante il regime di Milosevic, da tutti gli artisti e dal personale completo dell'Opera di Belgrado.

E' stato professore straordinario e direttore artistico dell'Opera di Meadows School of Arts, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, professore straordinario del teatro lirico del Conservatorio di musica di Belgrado e professore straordinario presso Thornton School of Music, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California.

Ha messo in scena piu di 160 produzioni (per lo piu opere, poi drammi, operette, commedie musicali) con le compagnie professionali nell'ex-Jugoslavia e all'estero (specialmente in USA e in Canada: New York, Dallas, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Seattle, Baltimore, San Diego, Vancouver, ecc.).

Attualmente e direttore artistico della Madlenianum Opera & Theatre in Belgrado (dal ottobre 2006).

EXCERPTS FROM SELECTED REVIEWS

RICHARD III
Le Monde (Paris), April 21, 1987

"... A la Biennale de Zagreb ... Dans set opera tres condense... nul schematisme... chaque scene se deploie avec toute sa densite, soulignee par la regie depoulliee de Dejan Miladinovic, qui donne un rythme haletant a cette succession de danses macabres, emportees par un plateau tournant, sous une gigantesque toile d'araignee brasillante ..."

DON CARLOS
Opera News (New York), December 11, 1993

"... Substantial credit for the evening's concentrated dramatic effectiveness goes to director Dejan Miladinovic for his cogent blocking and definition of the complex interplay of characters..."

ELEKTRA
Opera News (New York), March 18, 1995

"... Stage director Dejan Miladinovic artfully used the nooks and crannies of ... black castle walls and courtyard to underscore his characters and heighten the dreadful impact of the story. Miladinovic also added an effective touch by having the servants cast stones at the murderous Orest as he departed..."

L'ELISIR D'AMORE
Opera News (New York), November, 1995

"... An enchanting "L'Elisir d'Amore"... Director Dejan Miladinovic and set designer Karen TenEyck highlighted Donizetti's bubbling fun without playing down his tender sentiment. Against TenEyck's simple storybook setting, Miladinovic deftly unfolded the action..."

RIGOLETTO
Opera News (New York), June, 1996

"... Florentine Opera mounted a traditional, visually interesting "Rigoletto", combining brilliant costuming with effective movement by stage director Dejan Miladinovic... Director Miladinovic outlined the story in clear, conventional movement, adding imaginative touches along the way - for example, when Monterone interrupted the banqueting courtiers, several threw food at him - and delineated his characters with interesting personality details ..."

THE FLYING DUTCHMAN
Opera News (New York), August, 1998

"... Director-designer Dejan Miladinovic successfully stripped away the excessive stage machinery common to this work. Employing only a steeply raked stage, sails, rope rigging and minimal props to detail specific scenes, he concentrated instead on the innate drama of the characters.

There were some excellent visual effects - images of the Dutchman silhouetted against his sails,

or the glitter of his heaping treasure chest dancing before Daland's eyes - all deftly used to serve the drama rather than compete with it ..."

TOSCA
Opera News (New York), October, 1998

"... Dejan Miladinovic lifted Puccini's melodrama out of its visual context... When Cavaradossi is dragged away to the torture chamber, a stone wall smeared with blood appears on the panels. As he cries out in pain, backlighting reveals his silhouette hanging from chains. This production arrests the eye repeatedly with striking effects. At the climax of the opera Tosca's leap from the parapet is conveyed by another dissolve, which reveals the diva's shadow jumping toward the audience. This stark production puts dramatic focus on the three principals..."

TURANDOT
Opera News (New York), February 2001

"... Atlanta Opera ended its 2000 season with a somewhat unorthodox yet crowd-pleasing new "Turandot" (seen Oct. 26) that looked back to Puccini's source material, a 1762 commedia dell'arte by Carlo Gozzi.

Serbian director Dejan Miladinovic thrust ministers Ping, Pang and Pong into the forefront, literally so, moments before the opera began and the three were seen, sans masks, in front of the show curtain miming a friendly conversation with six female dancers. As the opera unfolded, the trio capered magically through the proceedings, in the story yet not of it, introducing the principal characters to the audience with grand flourishes, manipulating the crowd like cosmic puppeteers and even freezing the action at crucial points:

Calaf solved Turandot's final riddle only after Ping revealed the answer to him, and the ministers froze the action at the emotional climax so Calaf could kiss his princess. In this world, love conquered all only with a little cheating on the side. Elsewhere, Miladinovic devised moments both revelatory (Liu stabbed herself with Calaf's own knife) and risible (the elderly emperor Altoum reeled "comically" under the aural onslaught of the chorus's deafening tributes to him). In sum, the production was a frequently electrifying theatrical event, an undeniably interesting "Turandot"..."

OTELLO
Opera News (New York), August 2001

"... Atlanta Opera's new all-Verdi season opened with a literally electrifying image for Otello: a frantic Desdemona silhouetted against billowing curtains as a blinding flash of lightning shot straight into the audience. That startling stage picture turned out to be prophetic...

For this handsome new production by Dejan Miladinovic, designer Peter Dean Beck provided clever, movable set pieces, each bearing a mast with a sail that could be raised or lowered to define both large playing areas and more intimate love scenes. These shifting, interlocking pieces also quietly underscored Miladinovic's concept that each of the opera's principals was weathering a personal emotional tempest.

Three larger canvas sails at the back and sides of the stage were used for projections to clarify a scene's setting or mood, ranging from the gradually clearing night sky at the end of Act I to dimly burning candles surrounding Desdemona for her prayer..."

OTELLO
L'Opera (Milano), September 2001

"...Atlanta: prima rappresentazione assoluta, coronata da un grande successo, dal verdiano Otello... Il regista serbo Dejan Miladinovic e un maestro di effetti teatrali, con un impressionante senso del colore e del movimento, che cattura e soddisfa gli occhi.

Pochi saprebbero mettere in scena un'opera in quattro atti usando solo poche piattaforme come lui. E questo e quello che ha fatto con questa nuova produzione, concepita per il limitato e poco profondo palcoscenico del Fox Theater. Piattaforme mobili ciascuna con gradini e una nave con un albero maestro e una vela spiegata che "rollavano" e si combinavano in diverse configurazioni che suggerivano le diverse scene ..."

IL TROVATORE
Opera News (New York), December 2002

"... Michigan Opera Theatre has opened its season with a huge new "Il Trovatore" production... Designers Dejan Miladinovic and Mileta Leskovac offered a succession of outsized, impressively executed symbols huge wagon wheels, an enormous stained glass window, massive chains, a giant portcullis.

These were suspended above the otherwise traditional locales and action. So, there were the usual castle walls, but these could turn translucent, to reveal giant shadows cast on them from behind (a serenading troubadour, a writhing witch, dueling swordsmen, etc..."

IL TROVATORE
LA Times (Los Angeles), May 1, 2003

"...All these virtues are on display in Opera Pacific's new production of the opera, being performed this week in Segerstrom Hall at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, thanks to the incisive and affectionate conducting of John DeMain and the sensible, handsome and practical sets and stage direction of Dejan Miladinovic. On Tuesday night, the pleasures were both audible and visible.

An experienced cast sang neatly, if not spectacularly, acted with credibility and made the drama apprehensible. The uncomplicated and beautifully lighted sets make their points without gimmicks or overstatement, mostly through the use of stairs, flats and some striking wall decoration

-- L.A. Opera's over-the-top production of 1998 still evokes unpleasant memories... Miladinovic's staging underlined the dramatic moments while minimizing melodramatic excesses..."

EUGENE ONEGIN
Opera News (New York), May 2003

"... Director Dejan Milandinovic's detailed, careful staging yielded a memorable performance throughout, reaching its apex in Act II, when it flowed seamlessly with numerous delightful touches..."

LES CONTES d'HOFFMANN
Evening News (Belgrade), October 2005

"... For the first time we are facing post-cataclysmic S(cience) F(iction) opera directed by Dejan Miladinovic and this is historic moment which will be praised in our circles..."

LES CONTES d'HOFFMANN
Today (Belgrade), October 2005

"... TALES OF HOFFMANN are the most contemporary SF vision of our present-day lives mostly because of Dejan Miladinovic's authentic and imaginative directorial approach... Like some good Darwin, Dejan Miladinovic creates and moves his principals..."

FIDELIO
Journal Sentinel (Milwaukee), November 13, 2005

"... Political power shifts, and political prisoners go free. That is the action of "Fidelio". That happened in the former East Germany when the Berlin Wall fell. So it wasn't farfetched for director/designer Dejan Miladinovic to update the opera from 18th-century Spain for the new Florentine Opera production... To an extent, Miladinovic and a strong cast make sense of an opera that needs help in that depratment. The problematic opening scene, for example, is a domestic comedy... Miladinovic deals with this awkward dramaturgy by spreading irony over it. While Marzelline and Jacquino engage in their domestic banter, they busily shoot and develop mug shots of a series of glum political prisoners. These two likable people are gears in the machinery of cruelty and oppression. Their ordinariness makes them chilling. That solves one of the many problems Beethoven and his librettists bequeathed to generations of directors ..."

FIDELIO
Opera News (New York), February 2006

"... Dejan Miladinovic's minimalist production - set during the collapse of the Berlin Wall - was centered on a huge, stone-patterned tri-fold screen, on which photographic cold-war images were projected, the panels assuming different configurations for various scenes. A staged overture established the concept, as Florestan, a journalist, was arrested for unauthorized photographing, each successive image appearing on the wall as his camera flashed. The effect was inevitably rather stark, and one could argue that additional visual interest might assist in presenting what can be a static opera - but this was an intriguing concept and generally illuminated the timelessness of the piece effectively and with respect..."

KATARINA IZMAILOVA
Danas (Belgrade), October 2006

"... This production of KATARINA IZMAJLOVA presented by Opera Novi Sad, was magnificently staged by Dejan Miladinovic ..."

KATARINA IZMAILOVA
Politika (Belgrade), October 2006

"RUSSIAN LADY MACBETH ...Director Dejan Miladinovic's staging of opera "Katarina Izmailova" (by D. Shostakovich) was modern, imaginative, rich... dark but full of sparkling inovations... This production is absolute top production in Europe... Miladinovic designed impressive set, and directorial solutions are quite stunning. This production must be seen in Europe ..."

KATARINA IZMAILOVA
Dnevnik (Novi Sad), Octobar 2006

"FIERY AND INVENTIVE ABOUT CONTEMPORARY TIMES ... Director Miladinovic's approach hits audience with powerfull actuality, showing everyone that Miladinovic can and knows how to do it, that he has artistic power and knowledge to light, to analyze, and to anticipate things and events in near and far future. Using almost bare stage (with two huge replicas of original architecture of Chernobyl nuclear plant on sides), and supporting entire staging with originaly created digital video animation, Miladinovic attacs moment and time of conscienceless society in possible future. Miladinovic directorial creation of this production is unique in its rage and its mercilessness, as well as in its brutality, but no doubt his creation belongs to the peak of the high originality..."

MADAM BUTTERFLY
Politika (Belgrade), May 16, 2007

"BUTTERFLY IN 3 D ... Search for new theatrical approach has driven director/designer Dejan Miladinovic to use new digital technologies, to opera as an interactive game, to unite some new arts with old opera genre ... The directorial concept and realization are interesting, modern, new, acceptable, and fascinating visually..."

MADAM BUTTERFLY
Danas (Belgrade), May 18, 2007

"CYBER EPIC POEM ... Into interstellar horizons of 3 D animations, surrounded with invisible walls of computer freaks, rulers of life and death of computer game heroes, director Dejan Miladinovic sets his new view of "Madam Butterfly"... It is simple but miraculous fact that Dejan Miladinovic, as a master director, rules with the essence of opera art in such triumphant manner so the success of his directorial achievement is inevitable ... Dejan Miladinovic in Madlenianum Opera and Theater has sentenced this production to the complete success under long lasting warranty for many seasons to come..."

MADAM BUTTERFLY
Dnevnik (Novi Sad), May 21, 2007

"VIRTUAL CYBER GEISHA ... The author of well-known innovative directorial solutions with characteristic visual look, Dejan Miladinovic - after his two previous projects (Offenbach's "Tales of Hoffmann" and Shostakovitch's "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk") - presents his version of "Madam Butterfly" as nonconformist and exciting new brand... Miladinovic usage of 3 D animations changes worlds and destinies with light speed... Miladinovic conquers us with attractive visual multiplicity of expressive and poetical details created like movie sequences. His directorial visualization on a computer game theme shows virtual life of cyber geisha in a virtual game-world and successfully connects classical opera with movie and videogame..."

FIDELIO
Review Vancouver (Vancouver) March 27, 2008

... With an impressive cast, incandescent direction from the pit, and a relentlessly compelling "concept," this is a "must-see" performance for anyone interested in opera as music theatre. Vancouver Opera gets it right on all counts.
And updates are tricky, even finicky, by nature, needing to avoid mere gimmickry, on the one hand, and to justify their existence on the other. This production largely succeeds on both counts... This is an intelligent staging (and a Serb, Director Dejan Miladinovic certainly knows his fascism firsthand), brilliantly lit, and powerfully mounted... There are, in short, no weak links ... that one leaves the theatre with much to ponder and much to wonder about. And how often can you leave any performance saying that? The melodies linger and the stage picture remains in the memory. (And, please, give us lashings more of European-inspired productions rather than knock-offs of the staid Metropolitan Opera.)...

FIDELIO
Straight (Canada's Largest Urban Weekly) March 27, 2008