Jelena Očić completed her music studies in Zagreb in the class of Prof. Valter Dešpalj and continued at the Musikhochschule Mannheim in Germany, studying under the renowned cellist and pedagogue Michael Flaksman. From 2004 to 2010, she pursued private studies with Bernard Greenhouse in the USA, enriching both her musical language and instrumental artistry.
From 2004 to 2016, Očić was a cello professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Mannheim, and from 2014 to 2022, she served as a senior cello professor at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam (CvA) in the Netherlands.
As a chamber musician, she regularly collaborates with artists such as José Gallardo, Gernot Süssmuth, Friedemann Eichhorn, Julius Berger, Per Arne Glorvigen, Felix Schwartz, Radovan Cavallin, and the late Vladimir Mendelssohn. Bernard Greenhouse, the legendary Beaux Arts Trio cellist, was also one of her musical partners.
Jelena Očić leaves a lasting impression with her interpretations of cello repertoire, spanning from early Baroque to contemporary works. She also collaborated with the legendary Bernard Greenhouse of the Beaux Arts Trio and dedicated a recording to him—Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata, arranged for cello by Carl Czerny—released by the Dutch label Challenge. This recording was named “Recording of the Month” by MusicWeb International.
For the same label, she recorded several albums, including a critically acclaimed disc featuring works by Kabalevsky, Ginastera, and Senderovas, which won “Recording of the Year.”
In collaboration with her sister, Croatian organist Ljerka Očić, she recorded Baroque sonatas by Barrière and Vivaldi for the label Challenge. That imaginatively bold recording, titled The BaRock Experience, received excellent reviews in prestigious music publications such as The Strad magazine.
She is a member of the renowned Baroque ensemble Thüringer Bach Collegium, under the artistic direction of German violinist Gernot Süssmuth, as well as of Alisios Camerata and the DeuxArts Duo.
Bernard Greenhouse, the cellist and founder of the Beaux Arts Trio, praised Jelena Očić as “one of the most distinctive cello talents of our time.” Siegfried Palm, a major figure in 20th-century music, described her as “one of the leading talents in the field of interpretation of contemporary music.”
Jelena Očić is currently the solo cellist of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Las Palmas.