Born into a musical family, Irena Simonutti began learning to play the violin at the age of five. Her professional career started when a thirteen-year-old Irena, became the third member, together with her father Tripo, violinist and her sister Ana, pianist, of the Trio Simonutti – one of the most famous and most engaged music ensembles in the country. She recorded her first LP when she was only fifteen. Later on she also recorded three CDs for PGP-RTS, the best known record company in ex-Yugoslavia, with the Trio and as a soloist, accompanied by Serbian Radio and Television Orchestra, as well as a number of tapes and video tapes and CDs for Radio Belgrade.

Irena started her university music studies at the age of 16 at the University of Belgrade (Faculty of Music), where she graduated and received her degree of Magister of Music in Violin in the class of prof. Dejan Mihailović. She also specialized in Chamber music in the class of prof. Olivera Đurđević.

Music critics characterized her playing style as “expressive and passionate, dynamically rich in nuances” (Ekspres politika – Serbian daily newspaper), as well as “distinguished and elegant” (Borba – another Serbian daily), “recognizable by its technical dexterity and striking musicality” (Serbian Radio and Television).

So far Irena has performed over two thousand times, either as a member of the Trio Simonutti or with her sister Ana at recitals or as soloist with a number of renown orchestras: Serbian Radio and Television Orchestra, Serbian Army Orchestra Stanislav Binički, the Beijing Guo Lian Orchestra, the Mongolian State Philharmonic Orchestra, The Chamber Orchestra of Niš, etc. and in collaboration with well-known conductors including Ren Huijie (China), Namsraijav Butenbajar (Mongolia), Stanko Jovanović, Vojislav Simić, Pavle Medaković, Zoran Andrić and many others.

She performed in front of the audience of numerous countries: Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Macedonia in the region as well as throughout Europe, in Austria, Hungary, Germany, Bulgaria and even in Mongolia and China.

She took part in a variety of famous festivals such as BELEF, Golden Autumn – Ulan Bator (Mongolia), NOMUS – Novi Sad, Mokranjac Days – Negotin, Marble and Sounds – Aranđelovac, Festival of classical music – Vrnjačka Banja, Budva “Theatre City”, Summer festival – Ulcinj etc. She has also had hundreds of TV appearances throughout the country and abroad.

As a soloist and a member of the Trio Simonutti, Irena won the Audience Award and the First prize of the Association of Mongolian composers at the international festival The Golden Autumn in 1998. In the year 2001 she received the Golden badge from the Cultural Educational Association of Serbia for her outstanding artistic contribution to the Serbian culture.

She has been awarded a number of times by Red Cross for her extensive humanitarian initiatives and actions. She held a lot of humanitarian concerts, as well as hundreds of concerts dedicated to enhancing the appreciation of classical music among the young audience.

A number of famous composers (Dejan Despić, Konstantin Babić, Nikola Hercigonja, Dušan Radić, Zlatan Vauda, Rastislav Kambasković, Vojislav Kostić, Miroljub Aranđelović Rasinski etc.) wrote and dedicated some of their pieces to Irena Simonutti, as a member of the Trio Simonutti.

Since 1994 she has been member of Association of Musical Artists of Serbia.

Since 1996 she has been successfully involved in pedagogical work in Josip Slavenski Music school in Belgrade.