Marija Simonović was born on August 2, 1940 in Skopje. She finished primary school, musical school (viola) and gymnasium in Kocani (North Macedonia), and then graduated at College of Teacher Training (Department of Music) in Skopje.

Marija also graduated in Solo Singing at the Academy of Music in Sarajevo, in the class of the professor Bruna Špiler, with the highest grade.

She obtained her master’s degree at the Departments of Concert and Opera, also in the class of the professor Bruna Špiler, again with the highest grades.

• Resident soloist of the Sarajevo Opera from 1967 to 1987. There she sang around 20 opera roles, including: a ten years of playing Gilda in Rigoletto (G. Verdi); Norina in Don Pasquale (G. Donizetti); Jacinta in the Scandal in the St. Florian Valley (M. Logar) – world premiere; Musetta in La bohème (G. Puccini); Zerlina in Don Giovanni (W. A. Mozart); Floramye in Little Floramye (I. Tijardović) – played it 68 times just within the first season; Princess Mi in The Land of Smiles (F. Lehár); Pepita in The Bridge of San Luis Rey (H. Reutter); Fjodor in Boris Godunov (M. Mussorgsky); Stepanida in The Maid of Pskov (N. Rimsky-Korsakov), etc.
• Won the 3rd place at the 7th Competition of Soloist in Zagreb, 1971.
• As an interpretive artist, Marija played 17 solo concerts accompanied by piano, Philharmonic and Symphony Orchestra of RTV Sarajevo, including the two concerts held in cathedrals in Weiz and Anger in 1980. as part of the intercultural cooperation with Austria.
• From the school year of 1973/4 to 1985, worked at the Academy of Music in Sarajevo, and in its Tuzla department as a teaching assistant in training and then as a teaching assistant for the subject Solo Singing held by Bruna Špiler at the Department of Solo Singing, and for the subject Introduction to Vocal Techniques on the Department of Theory of Conducting and Composition.
• From 1986 to March 1995, Marija taught the subject Vocal Technique at the Academy of Scenic Arts in Sarajevo, first as an assistant professor and then as an associate and full-time professor for the classes of the professors of Acting: Boro Stjepanović, three classes; Miralem Zupčević, two classes; Nenad Dizdravević, Emir Kusturica for the second part of the school year; Admir Glamočak and Aleksandar Jevđević.
• In 1990, on the occasion of one of the regular meetings of foreign and domestic academies of scenic arts in Sarajevo called “Together” organized as part of Sarajevo Winter, Marija represented the Academy of Scenic Arts in Sarajevo, presenting the subject of Voice Technique with the suitable program with the help of her students of the second and third year.
• Applying innovation to practical teaching (technical practice in speech and articulation, vocalization and normalization of vocal register, expanding the vocal scope with the entire tonal articulation and dynamic toning of the voice, music-wise and vocal-wise preparation of actors for stage singing and performing 15 different musical number of various styles – popular songs, arias, duets, trios, quintets to choir music).
• Marija simultaneously worked part-time at the Franciscan Faculty of Theology and in RTV Sarajevo as part of the expert team for realization of the Program of Speech and Vocal Techniques, where she held 90 lectures on The Function of Vocal Organs and Muscles and Their Functional Imperfections in the Process of Phonation.
• In 1988 in Neum, at the seminar of the Radio Sarajevo correspondents that hosted all Yugoslav correspondents from all Yugoslav centers, Marija held a lecture on Breathing, Vocal Technique and Function of Breathing in Speech Communication.
• In January 1991, at the Open Lectures of the Academy of Scenic Arts Obala in Sarajevo, Marija held a lecture on Space as a Vocal Technique Concept, and in 1992, she held a lecture on Time as a Vocal Technique Concept.
• From 1995/6 to 2005/6, Marija worked at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, at the Department of Acting as a full-time professor on the subject Vocal Technique, with both Serbian and Hungarian classes of the following professors: Petar Banićević, two classes; Vida Ognjenović, Ljuboslav Majer, Đerđ Hernjak, two classes; Laslo Šandor and Boris Isaković, two classes.
• Marija simultaneously taught the same subject at the following academies:
  I BK Academy of Arts: from 2001/2 to 2012 with the classes of the following professors: Mirjana Karanović, three classes; Predrag Ejdus, two classes; Nebojša Dugalić, three classes; Ivan Bekjarev, three classes; Tihomir Arsić and Feđa Stojanović, one semester of the second year.
  II Academy of Arts in Banja Luka, Department of Drama: from 2002/3 to 2008/9 with the classes of the following professors: Vladimir Jevtović, two classes; Željko Mitrović, two classes; Nenad Bojić and Svetozar Rapajić.
  III Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade – from its founding to today, with the classes of the professors: Miodrag Radovanović, two years; Petar Zec, two years; Nebojša Bradić and Andrej Šepetkovski, two years and a year of the master studies; Svetlana Ceca Bojković, Milica Kralj, Slobodan Šuljagić, Danijel Sič, Olivera Ježina, Anja Suša, two years; Ivan Bekjarev, Tanasije Uzunović, Nada Blam and Božidar Đurović, for a year.
  IV Faculty of Contemporary Arts – as a visiting professor, teaches the subject of Vocal Technique with the classes of the following professors: Božidar Đurović, Nenad Maričić, two classes; Vida Ognjenović, Ivan Bosiljčić, Branislav Lečić, Igor Đorđević, two classes.

In addition to the already mentioned lectures on specific subjects, Marija also authored the following:

• Recital “Tabula Nostra” (text and music for the 10 year jubilee of the Academy of Scenic Arts in Sarajevo)
• Music and an interplay of unusual practices for articulation, rhythmicity and melodiousness on the basis of various texts of prose and poetry, performed several times on stages in Sarajevo, Novi Sad and Belgrade:
  1. Ivan Goran Kovačić, “The Pit” (first chapter)
  2. Desanka Maksimović, “I Am Seeking a Pardon” and “For Soldiers Cemeteries”
  3. Table of Nations
  4. Sanders, “Do You Love Me – Why Do You Ask?” (two versions, a Serbian and a Hungarian for the Academy in Novi Sad)
  5.”Ding Dong” – a harmony of bells
  6. Rhythm, speech and singing various tongue twisters (in four versions)
  7. Verlaine “Sentimental Dialogue”
  8. Rhythm and vocal number for the play “We Bombed in New Haven” by J. Heller (Young People Theater, Novi Sad).
  9. Musical intermezzo – a choir number for Greek tragedy “The Persians” (BK Academy, performed at the Sterija Theater of Young People and at the City Festival, Budva Theater).
  10. Songs and numbers for rhythm and articulation for the graduation show “A Hell of A mess” by E. Ionesco, for the class of the professors Svetlana Bojković and Milica Kralj, Academy of Fine Arts, Belgrade
  11. Songs and numbers for rhythm and articulation for colloquiums and exams on Greek tragedy “Seven Against Thebes” and Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
• With her original recitals, Marija represented various academies at numerous ceremonies and cultural manifestations (celebratory meetings, ART finals, Young People’s Theater, etc.)
• As an expert associate, Marija worked on the design of the curriculum for the subject Solo Singing for the first six grades of the primary musical school “29th of November” in Sarajevo.
• As a secretary of the Association of the Musical Youth of Sarajevo, Marija initiated and organized numerous events for celebrating important historic dates: Musical Youth’s of Bosnia and Herzegovina called “Mozart 72” for several thousand of contestants from school from all around the country; “Going To Opera By Train”, where trains transported students from all around the country to Sarajevo for a concert and an opera performance, also giving the students a suitable introduction to the content they were about to see.
• As a recognized expert, Marija served several times as a judge or a president of a selection committee. Marija also worked as a vice-president of Academy’s Council, associate dean and acting dean of the Academy of Scenic Arts in Sarajevo.