Croatian national principal opera soloist Kristina Kolar studied at the Zagreb Academy of Music under Ljiljana Molnar-Talajić and graduated in 2002 under Zdenka Žabčić-Hesky. She continued her studies in Milan and Trieste. She has been employed at the Croatian National Theatre Ivan Zajc in Rijeka since 1997.

She has interpreted numerous roles in Croatia and abroad, including Turandot (Turandot), Carmen (Carmen), Aida (Aida), Lady Macbeth (Macbeth), Tosca (Tosca), Manon (Manon Lescaut), Laura (La Gioconda), Maddalena (Andrea Chenier), Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Abigaille, Fenena (Nabucco), Rosalinde, Prince Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus), Santuzza, Lola (Cavalleria rusticana), Principessa (Adriana Lecouvreur), Preziosilla (La forza del destino), Gertrude (Hamlet), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Norma (Norma), Eva (Nikola Šubić Zrinjski), Irmengard (Porin) etc.

She makes regular guest appearances in Croatian theatres and abroad (Japan, Finland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia, Poland) and performs as a soloist in concerts. She has collaborated with conductors such as Nikša Bareza, Loris Voltolini, Miroslav Homen, Jiři Štrunc, Andreas Sebastian, Pavle Dešpalj, Ville Matvejeff, Matija Fortuna, Hilary Griffins, Srboljub Dinić, Gabriel Chmura, Pavle Dešpalj, Dmitrij Kitajenko, Francesco Rosa, Ivan Repušić, Antonello Allemandi, Robert Homen, Igor Švara, Tonči Bilić, Jose Cura, Tibor Boganyi, Eddi de Nadai, Alan Bjelinski, Nada Matošević, Ivan Skender and Tomislav Fačini, and with orchestras such as the Zagreb and Rijeka philharmonic orchestras, the Croatian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, the Münchner Rundfunkorchester, the Pannon Philharmonic Orchestra and the Jyväskylä Sinfonia.

She has received numerous prestigious awards in Croatia, including the Milka Trnina Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievements for the role of Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana performed at the Rijeka Summer Nights Festival (2011/12), the annual Marijana Radev Award by the Croatian National Theatre Zagreb for the role of Manon in Manon Lescaut in 2017 and the Croatian Actor Award for the role of Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana performed at the Split Summer Festival in 2020.

She has recorded eight albums: Igor Kuljerić: Glagolitisches Requiem (BR Klassik), Sakralna glazba riječkih skladatelja (Sacred Music by Rijeka Composers), Hrvatska solo popijevka (Croatian Art Songs), Hrvatska duhovna glazba (Croatian Sacred Music), Frano Parać: Missa Maruliana and the operas Nikola Šubić Zrinjski by Ivan Zajc (for Croatian Radio and Television and CPO) and Porin by Vatroslav Lisinski (Croatian Radio and Television).