40th Osor Musical Evenings 2015.

40th Osor Musical Evenings arededicated to its founder and lifelong artistic director Daniel Marušić (1931–2009)

The 40th Osor Musical Evenings are held under high patronage of the president of the Republic of Croatia, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović.

40th Osor Musical Evenings

Ivana Kocelj, artistic director

Croatian Association Osor Musical Evenings Gomboševa 36, Zagreb

Matko Matija Marušić, president of the associationPetra Jagušić, project managerFestival staff: Iva Marušić, Helena Telen, Bas van Yperen

[email protected]

Impressum

Publisher:Osor Musical Evenings

For the publisher:Matko Matija Marušić

Editor and author of texts:Marija Saraga

Translations:Ankica Žarnić, Nina Jukić, archive

Language editor: Kata Zalović-Fišter

Design:Parabureau

Printed by:Studio Flyer

Photos by:Marko Vrdoljak

Zagreb, July 2015

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Vladimir Nazor

Osor

The cold fireplaces, ruined long ago,The fallen churches, deserted monasteries,Escutcheons and blazons strewn around,They stir in me a flock of memories.

I keep remembering Peter Krešimir, the king,Orseol the dodge, the proud Morosinis –The bones of the Croats and the LatinsRot under these decaying walls.

Even in death is our fate wretched!Wherever your feet touch the ground, theyStir a cloud of ashes. Wherever you go –

Grave is over grave and scar over scar,As if some horrid plough has left bloodyFurrows on the body of this land.

(From the collection Istrian Towns)Translated by Antun Šoljan

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Luko Paljetak

OsorWhere Cres and Lošinj a kiss exchangeeach clasping tight the other’s handwhere life the dancing waves arrangein a ring that circles fast the land,the rose of life, this city was born,Osor town, you harmony in stone.

Jason’s Argonauts crossed the threshold,then came the Liburni and Histri,the Goths and Romans the town controlledleft their mark in the tide of history,and Croats, “though much at sea adeptat living”* here lasting home they kept.

City of Osor, interlacing liveon your front waves and gleams;you’re its key, its breathing archivecity of sea, and city of dreams.

Osor, ancient Croatian townin every single freestone glory,let no one dare to pull it downbut be the home of freedom’s story.

Where Cres and Lošinj a kiss exchangeeach clasping tight the other’s handwhere life the dancing waves arrangehere like ring or roses stand,emblazoned like a Glagolitic signstands Osor town, eternal shrine.

Osor town, you harmony in stone.Jason’s Argonauts crossed the threshold,then came the Liburni and Histri,the Goths and Romans the town controlledleft their mark in the tide of history,and Croats, “though much at sea adeptat living”* here lasting home they kept.

* after Constantine Porphyrogenitus

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july

Sunday, July 19 at 8pmand prior to every further concert Sound installationSeletković*

unday, July 19 at 9pmCroatian Radio and Television Symphony OrchestraAleksandar Marković, conductorFilip Fak, pianoKnešaurek*, Mussorgsky-Ravel

Tuesday, July 21 at 9pmL'Arpeggiata EnsembleChristina Pluhar, artistic directorVincenzo Capezzuto, voiceMediterraneo

Thursday, July 23 at 9pmLeon Košavić, baritoneEna Pongrac, mezzo-sopranoLana Bradić, pianoLivadić, Zajc, Papandopulo, Schubert, Tosti, Rachmaninov, Feldman, Mozart, Verdi, Donizetti

Sunday, July 26 at 9pmCroatian String QuartetMozart, Stahuljak, Grieg

Tuesday, July 28 at 9pmPavao Mašić, harpsichordHändel, Ligeti, Soler, Skender*, Bach

Thursday, July 30 at 9pmCantus Ensemble Ivan Josip Skender, conductorSiniša Hapač, baritoneSrebrenka Poljak, pianoMajurec, Babić*, Hindemith, Webern


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august

Monika Leskovar & Friends

Sunday, August 2 at 9pmMonika Leskovar, violoncelloGiovanni Sollima, violoncelloMarais, Debussy, Jelić, Sollima

Tuesday, August 4 at 9pmBoris Brovtsyn, violinGiovanni Guzzo, violinAleksandar Milošev, violaMonika Leskovar, violoncelloGiovanni Sollima, violoncelloGiuseppe Andaloro, pianoŠipuš, Beethoven, Schubert

Thursday, August 6 at 9pmBoris Brovtsyn, violinGiovanni Guzzo, violinAleksandar Milošev, violaMonika Leskovar, violoncelloGiovanni Sollima, violoncelloGiuseppe Andaloro, pianoBoccherini, Kiš*, Puccini, Schumann

Sunday, August 9 at 9pmDanijel Detoni, pianoKempf, D. Scarlatti, Beethoven, Dedić, Ravel, Liszt

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Thursday, August 13 at 9pmPapandopulo Quartet (saxophone quartet)Tudor, Ruždjak, Končić, Papandopulo, Rossini, Geiss, Ferek Petrić

Tuesday, August 18 at 9pm Zagreb Guitar QuartetBach, Rossi, Rameau, Barber, Horowitz, Marković, Josipović, Piazzolla, Lecuona, Copland

Thursday, August 20 at 9pmZagreb SoloistsKaja Farszky, vibraphoneMiletić, Malec, Tchaikovsky

Sunday, August 23 at 9pmVocal Ensemble AntiphonusInstrumental ensembleTomislav Fačini, artistic leaderBoris Čičić, violinDiana Haller, mezzo-sopranoKrešimir Stražanac, baritoneIvana Lazar, sopranoTartini, Cecchini, Purcell

* First performance of the piece commissioned by Osor Musical Evenings.

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Every island is a world of its own, at the same time connected to the whole world through sea. In Osor, the contradiction of isolation and togetherness reflects in an extreme way. The town, which as if it was about to step from Cres onto Lošinj, is separate in relation to both of the islands, and yet, it is rescued from isolation by the sea. This geographically determined duality reflects onto a festival dedicated to Croatian music, which has been happening there for already four decades. The Osor Musical Evenings might have been, but are not, a national art reserve. Instead, they have been, from their very beginnings, a place where the works of Croatian composers meet, compare and enter a spiritual dialogue with the classics of the whole music history.

This year’s 40th Osor Musical Evenings are dedicated to its founder and lifelong art director, a visionary who succeeded in realizing an impossible idea to start and maintain, in a little town with no more than 20 inhabited houses, one of the most important cultural events in the country. In the honor of Daniel Marušić, we will remember a part of the immense oeuvre which he had initiated and encouraged over the years, and which saw its first performance in Osor. Furthermore, this summer, the rich archive will be augmented by five more new festival commissions. After a decade and a half, an opera production is being prepared again, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, which will revive the original idea of Osor Musical Evenings as a festival for music and theatre music, as well as remind us of Marušić as a legendary director of TV productions of operas. Chamber music, which was always in the program’s focus in Osor, due to modest logistic conditions, will be raised onto a new level with a series of chamber concerts with top-notch international soloists under artistic leadership of Monika Leskovar.

Celebrating the 40th anniversary, we wish Osor to last long following Marušić’s ideals and to keep growing. To arrange an open-air stage; to revive musicological symposiums; to organize master classes; composers’ residences for authors who would work on the festival commissions in the dream-like peace of Osor, to organize walks through the sculpture alley, sound installations at archeological sites, projections of TV productions of operas… To get new admirers who will keep returning to it, reflecting Luko Paljetak’s metaphor of ‘the eternal note made of stone’. And, most importantly, to keep its everlasting charm.

Ivana Kocelj, artistic director of Osor Musical Evenings

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Daniel Marušić – Croatian notable with a vision

Few festivals, even outside of Croatia and its cultural circles, are so closely connected with the names of their founders like the Osor Musical Evenings (OME) are connected with the name of Daniel Marušić (Zadvarje, September 21, 1931 – Zagreb, May 26, 2009). Marušić made the first OME happen in 1976 and had remained its director and artistic leader until his death, when in summer of 2009, still in grief because of his departure, the 34th OME were held precisely according to the plan and program that he had created. Daniel Marušić, director of the OME, a man with a will and persistency of steel, had determined the concept of the music festival in Osor, that magical little town on the isthmus between the islands of Cres and Lošinj, from its very beginnings as an event which is to affirm Croatian music, and he thus did not allow any concert, whether of Croatian nor of foreign musicians, that did not contain at least one piece by a Croatian composer. With the same confidence in the value of Croatian music, he encouraged contemporary Croatian composers to write new pieces, which were then first performed at the festival. This praiseworthy initiative became a tradition which was continued even after Marušić’s death by directors who came after him, first the composer and currently the Croatian Minister of Culture Berislav Šipuš, and after him the musicologist Ivana Kocelj, already fifth year in a row. But, let us start from the very beginning.

Daniel Marušić, one of the most prominent Croatian television directors, who directed more than 200 TV series, dramas, operas and other programs, was known amongst the broader audience primarily for the most famous, the cult Croatian TV series ‘Naše malo misto’, which was aired for the tenth time on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Croatian Television, and whose power and value do not pass, but keep growing with time – according to the interest of the public. Daniel Marušić’s relationship with television dates from its very beginnings in Croatia. He directed the first Croatian TV opera ‘Putovanje’ by Ivo Lhotka-Kalinski (1957) and the first Croatian TV series ‘Stoljetna eskadra’ (in 14 episodes, 1962). During his yearlong career, he also directed TV series ‘Seljačka buna’ (1963) and ‘Čuvaj se senjske ruke’ (1964) based on works by August Šenoa, then Fedor Vidas’ ‘Ljubav na bračni način’ (1971), Marko Uvodić’s ‘Ča smo na ovon svitu’ (1973), Mirko Božić’s ‘Čovik i po’ (1974), Ivan Brešan’s ‘Ptice nebeske’ (1989) and Krešo Novosel’s ‘Olujne tišine’ (1997). One of his most notable documentary series are ‘Hrvatska Atena-Dubrovnik’ (1991) and ‘Hrvatstvo Boke kotorske’ (1992). Besides this enormous oeuvre spanning half a century, it should be stressed that Marušić was also a great advocate and

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realizer of a special segment which is of great importance for every TV station that cares about its role and value – the opera. For example, his TV adaptations and directing of Gotovac ‘Ero s onoga svijeta’ (1982) and Brkanović’s ‘Ekvinocij’ (1983) became anthological. Daniel Marušić directed only one feature-length film ‘Servantes iz Malog mista’, where he returned to the characters from the TV series with a time distance. In the 1990s, he realized the docudrama ‘Papa Sixto V.’ and the series ‘Olujne tišine’. Although a detailed list of Marušić’s works as a director is yet to be made, it is known that it contains more than 200 titles.

A little weekend house in the magical Osor, the friendship with other weekenders, first and foremost with Prof. Zlatko Stahuljak, who was then a notable viola professor at the Music Academy, for some time the director of the Zagreb Croatian National Theater’s Opera and later the Croatian ambassador in Czech Republic, and who was of great help as an excellent connoisseur of the chamber music scene, with Kazimir Burnović, a former diplomat, and with Ivo Jureković, the director of the company ‘Lošinjska plovidba’, resulted in the fruitful idea of starting an international summer music festival in such a small town, which even today does not have great accommodation capacity, but does have a very beautiful former cathedral, the Church of the Assumption of Virgin Mary.

It is important to name the first notables in the Artistic Council of the OME in 1976, the president academician Andro Mohorovičić and the members Stanko Horvat, Jasmina Juračić, Vojko Kiš, Vladimir Kranjčević, Rado Manzoni, Adalbert Marković, Daniel Marušić, Miroslav Miletić, Zlatko Pibernik, Vida Ramuščak, Mladen Raukar, Vladimir Seljan and Zlatko Stahuljak. From this list, it is noticeable that the founder of the festival incorporated right away in his praiseworthy idea many prominent persons from the Croatian musical life and institutions, many of whom have passed away long time ago.

The first OME, on the 10th of July 1976, featured a performance of the ‘Pro arte’ String Quartet from Zagreb, whose leader, violist and composer Miroslav Miletić, now in his 90s, still gladly remembers that their fee was only the tasty cheese from Cres. The guest musician was the clarinetist Pietro Cavaliere from Dubrovnik. The festival was opened by late Prof. Stjepko Humel, who was then the Under Secretary of the Secretary of Culture of the Socialist Republic of Croatia, the ‘guardian spirit’ of Croatian culture, who obviously knew how to use his authority to convince the socialist ‘big shots’ that what is being initiated in Osor is worth the attention. The introductory speech at the opening ceremony was given by the late academician Andre Mohorovičić, a versatile expert in archeological findings and an excellent connoisseur of everything related to Croatian culture. The program featured compositions by Croatian masters Julije Bajamonti, Ivan Zajc, Ivan Brkanović, Slavko Zlatić, as well as the Quintet

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for Clarinet and String Quartet Op. 115 by Johannes Brahms. There was also a promotion of the LP record ‘Osorske glazbene večeri 1976’ released by Jugoton, as well as the monograph by Dr. Ante Deanović ‘Mali vječni grad Osor’ (‘Little Eternal Town of Osor’). In other words, already the first steps were truly grand, and the concerts that followed, the performances of ‘Collegium musicum’ from Zagreb, the ‘Prokofiev’ String Quartet from Moscow, Tonko Ninić (violin) accompanied by Željko Marasović (organ) and Theo Tabake (flute) accompanied by Anđelko Klobučar (organ), as well as the final concert of our famous Zagreb Soloists, were truly carefully selected programs with plenty of works by Croatian composers. Already from the start, Daniel Marušić successfully realized his idea of Croatian music becoming the focus of the festival’s stage, and only best Croatian and international musicians could step on it.

Marušić saw Osor as a whole of immense historical importance, and through his interventions he permanently made efforts to add to the already existing beauty of the town such symbols which would mark it as a town of culture and music. Works by famous Croatian sculptors Ivan Meštrović, Fran Kršinić, Vanja Radauš, Marija Ujević and others on the topic of music enrich the main square and the neighboring streets with the sculptures of prominent composers Jakov Gotovac, Stjepan Šulek, Franjo Krežma, forming the famous Sculpture and Music Alley. And the busts of Ivo Brkanović, Boris Papandopulo, Dora Pejačević, Igor Kuljerić, Stanko Horvat, Andre Mohorovičić in the Croatian Composers’ Alley, the works of Marija Ujević, Kuzma Kovačić, Petar Barišić and Nina Horvat, remind us of the notable Croatian composers whom the OME were dedicated to in certain years. Thus, in Osor, Daniel Marušić had found the place to fulfill his personal mission of elevating Croatian culture; he encouraged the local authorities to preserve the archeological heritage, to renovate existing monuments; he encouraged a wholesome understanding and living of culture as an investment which will be recognized by the numerous tourists. Furthermore, permanent visual impressions are given by the pictures of the Stations of the Cross in the Osor cathedral, works by prominent Croatian painters, created also on Marušić’s initiative. There had been numerous art exhibitions in the town city loggia, permanent proofs of his refined taste in art.

The fact that more than 350 works by Croatian composers have been first performed at the OME by now, mostly chamber music pieces; the fact that there is no important Croatian composer who has not been invited to compose for the OME; that, in Osor, in the first years of the festival, the majestic Osor Requiem and Osor Mystery by Boris Papandopulo were performed for the first time; that, in Osor, Ivan Mane Jarnović’s opera ‘Doma i u buži oliti Đivo i Pasko’ saw its first contemporary performance; that the festival was yearly dedicated

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to the great names of Croatian music Boris Papandopulo, Ivan Mane Jarnović, Luka and Antun Sorkočević, Josip Mihovil Stratiko, Stjepan Šulek, Ivan Brkanović, Božidar Kunc, Jakov Gotovac, Baroque in Croatian music, Miroslav Miletić, Stanko Horvat, Josip Hatze and Ruben Radica, Frano and Ivo Parać, Vladimir and Juraj Stahuljak, Anđelko Klobučar, Bruno Bjelinski, Blagoje Bersa, Dora Pejačević, Ivo Maček, Natko Devčić, whose names and music could be taken as a souvenir of their time on the Adriatic by the numerous visitors of the Osor summer music festivity; as well as many other unique facts which surround the festival have been recognized in the broader social spheres and in 2011 the OME were proclaimed a national festival. Sadly, this great acknowledgement arrived after the death of the festival’s founder.

The history of the festival founded by Daniel Marušić is incredibly rich – he was truly a man with a vision. And it was not always easy to collaborate with him. He was a person of strong will, of great self-confidence, definitely assured that exactly what he wants and demands is the only right thing. I have been writing program notes for the OME for years, as well as festival reports for Croatian newspaper. Marušić paid close attention to every word, his reviews were sharp, and his praise scant. Nevertheless, after many years of collaboration, I concluded that his approach was correct because the OME were ‘his child’ and he took care of it with an immensely warm and caring fatherly love. He never let unestablished and unknown musicians come near, the quality of performance was always of utmost importance to him. And it is exactly because of this care that the OME entered the consciousness of the local notables from Cres and Lošinj as the most important summer cultural event in their area, as well as in the consciousness of the thousands of listeners, mostly international guests, many of whom plan their summer vacation in Osor exactly because of the festival.

Everything that has been happening and everything that still happens in Osor in summer is the best confirmation that Daniel Marušić was right when he gave Osor and the islands of Cres and Lošinj the gift of the summer musical festivity. This reason is more than enough to remember him forever and celebrate him. And on his usual place in the Church of the Assumption of Virgin Mary, from which he followed every concert with great interest, left of the altar, let there still be a sprig of bougainvillea, just like it has been since 2009, when he left us. The 40th edition of the OME is the proof of the rightness of Marušić’s vision which has become a permanent Croatian cultural fact already long, long ago.

Zdenka Weber, PhD

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Sunday, July 19, 8 pm Osor Main Square

Opening of the sound installation Krešimir Seletković: 40

*repeated performances will be held before each concert, at 8 pm

Krešimir Seletković (Slavonski Brod, 1974) graduated from the Music Academy in Zagreb, in the composition class of Professor Davorin Kempf. He attended master classes in Semmering (Austria), Radziejowice (Poland), Darmstadt (Germany), Szombathely (Hungary) and Grožnjan (Croatia). His compositions are performed in Croatia, Italy, Slovenia, Russia, China, Austria, Canada and Netherlands. Seletković holds the position of Associate Professor at the Zagreb Music Academy, where he also serves as a vice-dean, he is a member of the Croatian Composers’ Society and from 2003 until 2012 the editor of arc croatica editions of the same Society. He won the Rector’s Award of the Zagreb University (1999), Boris Papandopulo Award of the Croatian Composers’ Society (2000), award for the best music in a children’s play at the 19th SLUK (Puppet Theatre and Puppeteer Meeting) Osijek 2003, Stjepan Šulek Award (2004), as well as Josip Štolcer Slavenski Award (2009). His ballet Air, choreographed by Martino Müller, was declared the best ballet production in 2011 (Award of the Croatian Actors’ Guild). ‘The sound installation 40 was created as a gift for the fortieth anniversary of the festival . The piece brings forty selected frequencies, which are exposed during fifteen minutes in different combinations, creating a structure that represents a sort of crescendo and decrescendo of sound content. The piece has no duration limit, therefore it can be played repeatedly without a break. The basic idea of the piece is to drag the listener into the world of micro-changes, which in their ongoing development induce a heightened state of concentration and a certain spiritual calmness .’ (K.S.)

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Sunday, July 19, 9 pm Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Osor

Opening ceremony Croatian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra Aleksandar Marković, conductor Filip Fak, piano

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Ante Knešaurek: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (first performance) Allegro ma non troppo Largo Presto

Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (orch. Maurice Ravel): Pictures at an Exhibition Promenade (Allegro giusto, nel modo russico) Gnomus (Vivo) Promenade (Moderato commodo e con delicatezza) The Old Castle (Andante) Promenade (Moderato non tanto, pesante) Tuileries (Allegro non troppo, capriccioso) Bydlo (Sempre moderato pesante) Promenade (Tranquillo) Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks (Scherzino. Vivo leggiero) Samuel Goldenberg & Schmuyle (Andante) The Marketplace in Limoges (Allegro vivo e sempre scherzando) Catacombs (Largo) – Cum mortuis in lingua mortua (Andante non troppo, con lamento) The Hut on Fowl’s Legs (Allegro con brio, feroce) The Great Gate of Kiev (Allegro alla breve. Maestoso. Con grandezza)

Organist and composer Ante Knešaurek (Zagreb, 1978) received a degree in organ from the Academy of Music in Zagreb in the class of Mario Penzar and graduated in composition in the class if Marko Ruždjak at the same institution. He also received a Master’s degree in Zagreb in 2003, and has attended a master’s postgraduate studies in organ and improvisation in

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Detmold under Norbert Düchtel. He also studied at the Händel-Akademie in Karlsruhe, Germany, in the class of Ludger Lohmann and with Daniel Roth in Paris. In Croatia, Knešaurek studied improvisation with Academician Anđelko Klobučar. He continued his studies in composition with Amadeus Webersinke and with Thierry Escaiche. His works were performed by ensembles and orchestras from Croatia and abroad. He has won numerous awards, including the Rector’s Award of the University of Zagreb for the best student composition, the Darko Lukić Award, Günther Ramin Award for polyphonic improvisation at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy in Leipzig and the Boris Papandopulo Award of the Croatian Composers’ Society in 2014. He is the leading organist of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Zagreb since 1997. Knešaurek won the Darko Lukić Award for the best young musician in Croatia for the 2004/2005 season. He works as an associate professor at the Music Academy in Zagreb. Most recently, he was awarded two distinguished national prizes (Milka Trnina Award and the City of Zagreb Award) for the performance of J. S. Bach’s complete organ works together with organist Pavao Mašić, part of which has been documented and released on their new CD 100% BACH in 2013.

‘Concerto for piano and orchestra reminds of a classical concerto in form, but in principle there is a certain dichotomy in the dialogue between the solo instrument and the orchestral apparatus in which the sound surfaces play with each other. All elements of the traditional are taken with reserve, and are fractally used, placed in the space of complementary colors brought forth by a large orchestra. The central movement represents a certain departure from reality. It passes through the fluid of memories, through spheres of forgotten moments and feelings. The orchestra is, in this completely ethereal movement, reduced to strings, harp and piano, with vibraphone almost invoking the awakening from the dream in merely two interventions. The third movement celebrates life and its beats, ups, downs, falls, sighs. The listener is induced to search, question, accept and look forward to anything life brings.’ (A. K.)

In 1874 Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (1839 – 1881) received word that the art critic Vladimir Stassov was organizing an exhibition of works by Victor Hartmann, Mussorgsky’s close friend, who suddenly and prematurely passed away one year earlier. Following his visit to the exhibition, Mussorgsky decided to write a work for piano inspired by Hartmann’s drawings and watercolors, and he selected 10 works of art for it. The music follows the composer-visitor who

‘roves through the exhibition, now leisurely, now briskly, in order to come closer to a picture that had attracted his attention, and, at times, sadly thinking of his departed friend’. Pictures at an Exhibition were never performed during the

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composer’s life, until 1881 when Rimsky-Korsakov found the manuscript, edited it and brought it to the public eye. Numerous composers have tried their hand at orchestrating the piece, but the most successful among them was Maurice Ravel, who orchestrated the work in 1922 on a commission of the conductor Serge Koussevitsky, and whose skillful instrumentation made Mussorgsky’s already clear musical images even more crystalline. The piece begins with a Promenade of solemn tone emphasized by the brass fanfare. Promenade marks the visitor’s entering into the gallery, at the exhibition, and it recurs in various shapes several times during the piece, following his stroll from work to work. The first work is the Gnome – a wooden nutcracker, a Christmas decoration, which crushes nuts with his mouth. The Old Castle evokes the atmosphere of the times past, and Ravel’s orchestration emphasizes the dreamy, yearning ambiance and the image of the lonely castle. Solo saxophone represents the troubadour from the picture, who sings serenades in the moonlight to his sweetheart. Tuileries depicts the children’s play in the famous Parisian park, and the music is just as playful. Bydlo (cattle) portrays the picture of a peasant and his ox-drawn cart. The music follows the slow roll of wheels and the rocking of the cart. The Ballet of Unhatched Chicks turns to music Hartmann’s picture in which the ballet dancers dance dressed as chicks in egg shells, his costume design for Marius Petipa, the choreographer at the Imperial Theater in Saint Petersburg. Mussorgsky skillfully captures the chatter and hopping of chicks. This is followed by the pictures of a rich and poor Jew, Samuel Goldenberg & Schmuÿle, whose musical portrait contrast was additionally enhanced by Ravel’s orchestration. The Marketplace in Limoges illustrates bustle and gossip, petty quarrels and other trivialities in the market in the French city, and is followed by a grim picture of the Roman catacombs, which Hartman had an opportunity to explore in the tunnels under Paris. The transformed Promenade continues as part of the movement, now titled With the dead in a dead language (Cum mortuis in lingua mortua). The Hut on Fowl’s Legs is a feroce movement filled with grotesque elements, depicting the hut of an evil witch Jaga that is built on fowl’s legs. The composition concludes with The Great Gate of Kiev, the movement Mussorgsky composed inspired by Hartmann’s design for the contest for a new monument in Kiev. Grand, ceremonial, royal music is brilliantly and masterfully orchestrated, and the Promenade – integrated into the movement – undergoes a magnificent apotheosis.

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The Croatian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra grew over time by gradually broadening the first radio orchestra founded in 1929, only three years after what was then called Radio-Zagreb started broadcasting. In 1957 it started performing under the name of Zagreb Radio and Television

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Symphony Orchestra, from 1975 until 1990 the ensemble was called the Zagreb Symphony Players of the Zagreb Radio and Television, and since 1991 it has had its present name. Many notable conductors have led this orchestra: Pavle Dešpalj, Krešimir Šipuš, Josef Daniel, Oskar Danon, Milan Horvat, Uroš Lajovic, Vladimir Kranjčević and Nikša Bareza. Other conductors and soloists that collaborated with the orchestra included Lovro von Matačić, Igor Markevič, Franz Konwitschny, Claudio Abbado, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Ernst Bour, Stjepan Šulek, Krzysztof Penderecki, Antonio Janigro, André Navarra, Leonid Ko gan, Henryk Szeryng, Aldo Ciccolini, Ruža Pospiš-Baldani, Dunja Vejzović, Dubravka Tomšič–Srebotnjak, Rudolf Kle pač, Ivo Pogorelić, Mstislav Rostropovič, Maksim Fedotov, Edita Gruberova, José Carreras, Ruggero Raimondi, Bar bara Hendricks, Luciano Pavarotti and others. Besides their regular concert activity in Zagreb, and the obligation to regularly participate in the radio and television program, the orchestra gives numerous concerts at home and abroad. With those guest performances it gained recognitions and became a deserving promoter of Croatian culture abroad. At the beginning of the Croatian War of Independence, the musicians of the Croatian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, serving their country, gave dozens of concerts at front-lines from Osijek, Pakrac, Lipik, Đakovo, Gospić, Vinkovci and Bošnjak, to Šibenik, Zadar, Karlovac and even Sarajevo. Besides classical and contemporary repertoire, as well as recording for the needs of Croatian Radio and Television, as well as record companies, the orchestra also cares about the Croatian musical heritage and contemporary Croatian composers. Amongst the records published by the orchestra, especially notable are albums with works by the Croatian composers Stjepan Šulek, Milko Kelemen and Miro Belamarić, the series of CDs dedicated to principal conductors of the orchestra, Richard Strauss’ An Alpine Symphony and the album with works by the Italian composer Gino Marinuzzi the Elder. In the season 2010/2011 the orchestra celebrated its 80th anniversary. On this occasion a monograph about its work was published, together with a double-album which included recordings by orchestra’s chief conductors: Milan Horvat, Krešimir Šipuš, Josef Daniel, Pavle Dešpalj, Vladimir Kranjčević, Oskar Danon, Uroš Lajovic and Nikša Bareza. Croatian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra won the Judita award at the 59th Split Summer Festival (2013), awarded by Slobodna Dalmacija, for their performance at the concert dedicated to Blagoje Bersa and Dora Pejačević, together with pianist Martina Filjak and maestro Aleksandar Marković. Starting with the season 2015/16, the new chief conductor of the orchestra is Enrico Dindo.

Aleksandar Marković graduated from Leopold Hager’s conducting class at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien and attended master classes at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, where he was

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awarded Diploma d’onore. He gained a scholarship from the Herbert von Karajan Foundation Berlin, and won First Prize at the 7th ‘Gregorz Fitelberg’ International Conducting Competition in Katowice, Poland. At the age of 29, Aleksandar Markovic was appointed Chief Conductor of Tyrolean Opera House Innsbruck (Tiroler Landestheater), a position he held until 2008 where he conducted highly acclaimed opera productions, as well as many innovative symphonic programmes. He also performed in opera houses in Prague, Salzburg, Ljubljana and Belgrade. Currently, since 2008, he serves as the Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra. Iaddition to their annual season in Brno he has taken the orchestra to the Konzerthaus Vienna, Grosses Festspielhaus Salzburg, Palace of Arts Budapest, Stefaniensaal Graz, Brucknerhaus Linz, Queen Elisabeth Hall Antwerp, Reduta Hall Bratislava and Passau’s European Weeks festival, and on an extensive tour of Japan. Aleksandar Markovic enjoys close collaborations with the Croatian and Prague’s Czech Radio symphony orchestras, the Qatar Philharmonic, and Slovenian Philharmonic. He recently made successful debuts with both the Györ, and Bremen Philharmonics. Other recent guest conducting appearances include Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, the Symphony Orchestra of Spanish Radio Madrid, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic, Stuttgart Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Halle, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Slovak Philharmonic, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, DSO Berlin, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and Concertverein Budapest Concert Orchestra, Janacek Philharmonic Ostrava, Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of St. Gallen, the State Orchestra Braunschweig, Belgrade Philharmonic, Zagreb Philharmonic and Kremerata Baltica. A regular guest at international music festivals, Aleksandar Markovic opened the Wiener Festwochen 2008 and also conducted concerts at the Mecklenburg- Vorpommern Music Festival, Bratislava Music Festival, Belgrade Music Festival, the Dvorak’s Prague Festival and Kissinger Sommer Festival. During the 2014/15 season, he made his debut with Leeds Opera North, Lübeck Philharmonic and Mannheim Chamber Orchestra, and followed the re-invitation of the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

Filip Fak (Rijeka, 1983) obtained his primary and secondary music education in his home town, and in 2005 he completed his studies in piano at the Academy of Music in Zagreb under the mentorship of Đorđe Stanetti. He perfected himself at the Schola Cantorum in Paris in the Master Class of Eugen Indjic and there got his Diplôme de Concert with honours. He performed as soloist, chamber and orchestral musician at almost every important Croatian culture centre and in dozen European countries, as well as in the USA, Mexico and China. As soloist with the orchestra he debuted in 2001 by performing Grieg’s Piano Concerto with the orchestra of the Opera of the

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Croatian National Theatre Ivan pl. Zajc in Rijeka. He has performed with the leading Croatian orchestras and ensembles under the prominent conductors as Klaus Arp, Pavle Dešpalj, Alun Francis, Adriano Martinolli, Nada Matošević, Luca Pfaff, Yuko Tanaka, Mladen Tarbuk, and others. An important part of his work consists of collaborations with singers, for an example with the celebrated Croatian diva Dunja Vejzović or with the rising star of the operatic world, Diana Haller. Fak also did numerous recitals and chamber performances at manifestations like the Master Cycle of the Croatian Radio and Television, the Music Biennale Zagreb, Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Osor Musical Evenings, Molto Cantabile cycle, etc. Lately he also often performs as a member of the Cantus Ensemble and as pianist in various Croatian orchestras. In the function of artistic assistant he worked on different concert and stage productions, including the first performance of Benajmin Britten’s opera The Turn of the Screw in Croatia. The highlight of his theatrical work was the chamber adaptation of Bizet’s Carmen, in the Croatian National Theatre in Rijeka, in which he served as the musical director, conductor and pianist. Some of the awards he received were the Darko Lukić Award, the Samobor Prize, the First Prize and the Special Prize at the Ivan Zajc Competition, Grand Prix Lions Club, the Special Prize of the EPTA, and several First Prizes at State Competitions of Croatian Association of Music and Dance Teachers. Furthermore, for his success during the studies he received the Rector’s Prize of the University of Zagreb. He also received scholarships of the International Foundation Vladimir Spivakov from Moscow and the Gold Country Piano Institute from Nevada City (USA). Filip Fak also composes. So far he has mainly composed piano works which have been performed in Croatia and abroad, and some also received awards. Currently, he is a PhD student of Electronic Music at the Academy of Music in Zagreb, under the mentorship of Zlatko Tanodi. Since 2009 he has worked at the Rijeka regional department of the Zagreb Academy, as an artistic assistant at the Department of Singing and a teaching assistant at the Piano Department.

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Tuesday, July 21, 9 pm Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Osor

L’Arpeggiata Ensemble Christina Pluhar, artistic direction Vincenzo Capezzuto, voice

L’ ArpeggiataDoron Sherwin, cornettoVeronika Skuplik, baroque violinMarcello Vitale, chitarra battente & baroque guitareSergey Saprychev, percussionsHaru Kitamika, harpsichord and organChristina Pluhar, theorbe

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Mediterraneo Are mou Rindineddha, traditional (Grecia Salentina)Maurizio Cazzati (1616 – 1678): CiacconaPizzica di San Vito (tarantella), traditional (Puglia)

Athanasius Kircher (1601 – 1680): Tarantella Napoletana, Tono hypodorico

Nicolas Matteis (1650 – 1703) / improvisation: La dia SpagnolaLa Carpinese (tarantella), traditional (Carpino, Puglia)Canario, improvisation (Canary Islands)

Antonio Bertali (c. 1605 – 1669): Ciaccona

Marcello Vitale (b. 1969): Tarantella a Maria di Nardo’

Girolamo Kapsberger (1580 – 1651): Toccata L’ArpeggiataTu bella ca’ lu tieni (tarantella), traditional (Puglia)Pizzicarella mia (pizzica), traditional (Puglia)

Pandolfo Mealli (c. 1630 – c. 1669/1670): La VinciolinaSo maki sum se rodila, traditional (Macedonia)Naranča, traditional (Kvarner, Croatia)

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Hasapiko, traditional (Greece)

Oriamu pisulina, traditional (Grecia Salentina)Marcello Vitale (b. 1969): Sfessania

improvisation for solo percussion

Alfio Antico (b. 1956): Silenzio d’amuriAndrea Falconiero (1585 – 1656): La Suave MelodiaLu Passariellu (tarantella Pugliese), traditional (Puglia)

Mediterraneo

The sea does not separate cultures, it connects them.

The ‘Olive Frontier’ and our musical journey

The habitat of the olive tree is commonly accepted as a rough guide to the boundaries of the Mediterranean region; hence reference is sometimes made to the ‘Olive Frontier’. Only a small part of France, Turkey, and the North African countries is part of this region, while Portugal and Jordan are considered as belonging to it for cultural and climatic reasons, even though they have no Mediterranean coastline.

The starting point for this programme was the canti greci-salentini, songs and tarantellas whose musical roots lie in Italy, but which are sung in Greek by the Greek population resident in Salento for many centuries. This fascinating blend of southern Italian and Greek culture prompted us to set out on a musical voyage of discovery in the Mediterranean region and seek further interconnections. Our itinerary takes us from southern Italy eastwards to Greece and on into Turkey, and westwards to Spain (Mallorca and Catalonia) and Portugal.

Canto greco-salentino

The Greeks began to settle in southern Italy in the eighth century BC. Through this process of colonisation Greek culture was exported to Italy and mingled with the indigenous Italian cultures. The Romans called the area comprising Sicily, Calabria and Apulia Magna Graecia because it was so densely populated by Greeks. Many of the newly founded Greek cities quickly became rich and powerful, like Naples (Neapolis, ‘new city’), Syracuse, Taranto, Bari, and many others.Between the eighth and eleventh centuries AD, southern Italy was once more

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strongly Hellenised, with the establishment of an ethnolinguistic community that still exists today. In the year 727 the Byzantine Emperor Leo III decreed that holy images and symbols were to be destroyed in all provinces of the Eastern Roman Empire. Serious unrest soon broke out everywhere, led by monks who refused to obey the imperial edict. There followed the First Iconoclasm, which lasted several decades and quickly developed into a bloody civil war. In order to escape this massacre, thousands of monks left the eastern provinces of the Empire and moved to the southern regions of Italy, Calabria and Sicily, where they founded numerous monasteries. These newly colonised regions rapidly became flourishing centres not only of Greek culture, but also of social and economic prosperity, since alongside prayer and asceticism the monks devoted themselves to cultivating the fields and producing wine and oil.

This initial flow of immigration was soon followed by another, prolonged wave. In 867 Emperor Basil I succeeded to the throne of Constantinople. He had taken it upon himself to fight the Arab invaders in both the Western and the Eastern Empires. Large parts of southern Italy had fallen into the hands of the Arabs, whose raids had laid waste towns and countryside. The monks were forced to leave Sicily and Calabria and sought refuge in Salento. Their communities often created new dwellings in caves that afforded them protection. Most of these settlements were located in the area of Taranto, where the morphology of the terrain, with its gorges and tall cliffs, was favourable to the construction of such protected villages. As a result of this migration, around forty villages grew up in the centre of the Salento region, between Otranto and Gallipoli.

The early eleventh century saw the first raids by new invaders from northern Europe: in the space of a few decades, the Normans brought the power of the Byzantine Empire in southern Italy to an end, creating a unitary state there and introducing feudalism. The new rulers were of the Roman Catholic rather than the Orthodox faith, but left the Greek population in peace. However, although there were no religious conflicts with the Orthodox Greeks in southern Italy, by the early fifteenth century Orthodox monasticism had entirely disappeared and was replaced by Franciscan and Dominican foundations. After the Council of Trent in 1563, the Greek Orthodox clergy was also supplanted by Catholic priests, thus obliging the Orthodox community to hold its services, its prayers and its liturgy in Latin, a language it did not speak. As a result, the proportion of Greek-speaking inhabitants gradually diminished, especially in the villages on the Ionian Sea.

In 1945, Grecia Salentina – the region situated in southern Apulia, on the extreme south-eastern tip of the Italian peninsula (the heel of the boot) – still

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had about 40,000 residents who spoke fluent Griko, concentrated in the villages of Calimera, Castrignano, Corigliano, Martano, Martignano, Sternatia and Zollino. There is also a Calabrian Griko region that consists of nine villages in the inaccessible mountainous region of Bovesia, including Bova Superiore, Roghudi, Gallicianò, Chorio di Roghudi and Bova Marina, and four districts in the city of Reggio Calabria, but its Greek population is considerably smaller than in Salento, with a likely total of some 2,000 people.

After the Second World War, complex socio-economic factors such as the influence of radio and television, schools, and newspapers gradually reduced the number of Griko speakers still further. Today the surviving proportion is slight, because the language is now spoken chiefly by older people, and then only in the domestic environment. In recent years, however, the Griko have developed a new awareness of their origins, their history, traditions, and language, which is kept alive above all by music and the old traditional songs that have been handed down over the generations. The Italian Parliament has recognised the Griko as an ethnic and linguistic minority.1

The term ‘Griko’ designates not only the Greek-speaking inhabitants of Salento and Calabria, but also their language. The Greek dialects spoken today are different from village to village and are interwoven with words from the Salento or Calabrian dialects, which gives them a special musical quality.

The tradition of Griko music essentially displays the stylistic, harmonic and melodic characteristics of the folk music of southern Italy, but also features some Turkish and Arabic influences. It is possible to distinguish the following main musical forms: the ninna nanna (lullaby for a new-born infant such as the Christ-child), matinata and serenata (morning and evening songs for young wooers), stornello (for pugnacious challenges between peasants), moroloja (a dirge to accompany funeral processions), tarantella, and pizzica.

The Tarantula is a small venomous insect or spider found in the Kingdom of Naples, whose sting makes men very drowsy, and often unconscious, and can also be fatal to them. Many people believe that the tarantula’s venom changes in quality from day to day, or from hour to hour, for it induces great diversity of passions in those who are stung: some sing, others laugh, others weep, other again cry out unceasingly; some sleep whilst others are unable to sleep; some vomit, or sweat, or tremble… It has been said since time immemorial that music can cure the tarantula’s

1 Minoranze linguistiche grike dell’etnia griko-calabrese e salentina.

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poison. The popular belief was that when a person was bitten or stung by one sort of tarantula or another, it was necessary to use the right sort of music or song for him. Thus when someone was wounded by the Melancholy Tarantula, he became lethargic, indolent, sleepy. If he was stung by one of the Choleric variety, it made him choleric, inconstant, restless, furious, and inclined to murder and strangling. Once the person was bitten, the only treatment was dancing and music. As varied as the symptoms and causes of the illness were the musical forms that were meant to cure them. The remedy for the disease has been known since the middle ages as ‘tarantismo’.

The music examples on the treatment of tarantism are the first written-out tarantellas in musical history, and contain a whole string of ostinato basses and melodies which with slight variants are still to be found today in the folk music of southern Italy. Music, dance and colour are central to the therapy and great significance is attached to the instrumentation.

The phenomenon of the tarantella – a form of music therapy supposed to heal spider bites – has remained present in Grecia Salentina right down to our own time. Three different forms of tarantella may be distinguished:

The Pizzica tarantella2

Handed down in written sources from the Middle Ages onwards, this is an individual or collective dance of healing that was regarded as the only remedy for the bite of the tarantula. The possibility that the tarantella goes back to archaic rites in honour of the ancient Greek mythological figure of Arachne cannot be excluded. On 29 June – the feast of St Paul – the sick processed in pilgrimage to the chapel of the Greek village of Galatina to dance the tarantella on the church square and inside the church, thus combining archaic and Christian customs.

The Pizzica de core (della gioia)3

This dance is essentially performed at public festivals, weddings, baptisms, and family celebrations of all kinds. It was originally a fast dance for a single couple, but is now also performed in rows of two or as a quadrille. It is intended to represent joy, love, courtship, and passion.

2 Dance of those bitten by the spider.3 Pizzica of the heart (of joy).

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The Pizzica scherma (danza dei coltelli)4

This dance is performed on the night of 15-16 August during the celebrations of the feast of St Rocco at the village of Torrepaduli in the province of Lecce. It is danced by two men, who at one time carried real knives in their hands. The dance called for the best tamburello players, since it lasted for hours, indeed generally the whole night long. Today the knives are replaced by the fingers, with the index and middle fingers used to give the effect of a threatening weapon. The movements, gestures and facial expressions, the offensive and defensive postures conform to a certain code of honour. This dance was used to settle disputes and problems of hierarchy in the world of gypsies and horse traders.

Christina Pluhar

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Founded in 2000 by Artistic Director Christina Pluhar, L’Arpeggiata is composed of some of today’s finest soloists who work in collaboration with the most exceptional singers from the Baroque and the traditional music worlds. Their aim is to revive an almost unknown repertoire and to focus their artistic work especially from the beginning of the 17th century. The bases of L’Arpeggiata are instrumental improvisations, a different approach to singing centred on the development of vocal interpretation influenced by traditional music, and the creation and staging of attractive shows. The prize-winning ensemble’s name is taken from a toccata by Giovanni Girolamo Kapsbergerand. In the group’s work, an infectious joy in playing, delight in improvisation and thirst for experimentation are combined with highest expertise in historically informed performance practice. Since it was founded in 2000, L’Arpeggiata has been devoted to exploring the rich repertoire of lesser-known composers of the early Baroque – Roman, Neapolitan, French and Spanish. The group’s credo is expressed in a new vocal approach based on study of the recitar cantando and deeply influenced by traditional music. There is also an emphasis on instrumental improvisation, research into instrumentation and a quest for vocal authenticity in traditional music. Since its founding, L’Arpeggiata has received incredible responses from audiences and outstanding critical acclaim. Its albums-including La Villanella; Homo fugit velut umbra; La Tarantella; Teatro d’Amore; All’ Improvviso; Rappresentatione di Anima, et di Corpo; Los Impossibles; Via Crucis; and Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine - have

4 Fencing pizzica (knife dance).

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earned a string of accolades, among them ECHO Klassik and Edison Classical Music awards, Premio Internationale del disco per la musica italiana, Prix Exellentia by Pizzicato. Los Pájaros Perdidos (2012) is devoted to traditional and Baroque music from Latin America, and Mediterraneo (2013) features fado singer Mísia. In 2012, L’Arpeggiata was the first baroque ensemble to be granted an artistic residence at Carnegie Hall.

After studying guitar in her home city of Graz, Christina Pluhar graduated in lute with Toyohiko Sato at the Hague Conservatoire. She was awarded with the ‘Diplôme Supérieur de Perfectionnement’ at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Hopkinson Smith. Then she studied with Mara Galassi at the Scuola Civica di Milano. In 1992 she won the 1st Prize in the International Old Music Competition of Malmö with the ensemble La Fenice. She lives in Paris since 1992, where she performs as a soloist and continuo player in prestigious festivals with famous groups such as La Fenice, Concerto Soave, Accordone, Elyma, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Ricercar, Akademia, La Grande Ecurie et la Chambre du Roy, Concerto Köln. Her repertoire includes solo and continuo works from the 16th to 18th centuries for Renaissance lute, Baroque guitar, archlute, theorbo and Baroque harp. From 1993, she conducted master classes at Graz University, and from 1999 has served as professor of Baroque harp at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague.

Besides being an international dancer, Vincenzo Capezzuto is also a singer. He worked both as a dancer and a singer with Guido Morini and the Accordone Ensemble and with Marco Beasley in the show The Temptation of the Evil at the Mozarteum Theater in the Salzburg Music Festival. He also performs with L’Arpeggiata, directed by Christina Pluhar, and features on the ensemble’s most recent recording Via Crucis. He also participates on the famous recording Ti amo anche se non so chi sei together with the most prestigious italian singers as: Franco Battiato, Lucio Dalla, Massimo Ranieri, Gianni Morandi, Roberto Ferri. In November 2010, he was invited as singer and dancer by the European Baroque Orchestra directed by Christina Pluhar, touring all over Europe, singing traditional and baroque songs. Vincenzo created along with the Italian stage director Claudio Borgianni: Soqquadro Italiano. It’s an art project that works in the performing arts. Soqquadro Italiano is a music ensemble, a dance company and a theater company. With Soqquadro Italiano he performed at the Baroque Festival in Ala and in Venice for the prestigious Biennale di Venezia.

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Thursday, July 23, 9 pm Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Osor

Leon Košavić, baritone (winner of the Zagreb Philharmonic Best Young Musician of 2014 Award and the Ferdo Livadić International Competition for Young Musicians 2014)

Ena Pongrac, mezzo-soprano Lana Bradić, piano

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Ferdo Livadić: The Stone Maiden

Ivan pl. Zajc: The Night is Silent, Op. 509

Boris Papandopulo: The Pine Tree Branch Fell by the Sea, from Four Bosnian Folk Songs for voice and guitar

Franz Schubert: Ständchen (Serenade), from the Schwanengesang (Swan Song) cycle, D. 957

Carl Loewe: Tom der Reimer, Op. 125a

Francesco Paolo Tosti: Non t’amo più

Sergey Rachmaninov: Ne poj, krasavica pri mne (Oh, do not sing to me), from Six songs for voice and piano, Op. 6

Robert Feldman: Yamshik, ne goni loshadei

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Non più andrai, Figaro’s aria from the first act of the opera Le nozze di Figaro

Giuseppe Verdi: O, de’ verd’anni miei, Don Carlo’s aria from the third act of the opera Ernani

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Gaetano Donizetti: Fia dunque vero… O, mio Fernando, Leonora’s recitative and aria from the third act of the opera La Favorita

Ma, de’ malvagi invan… Vien Leonora, Alfonso’s recitative and aria from the second act of the opera La Favorita

Quando le soglie paterne varcai, duet of Leonora and Alfonso from the second act of the opera La Favorita

Ferdo Livadić (Celje, 1799 – Samobor, 1879), born as Ferdinand Wiesner, was one of the leaders of the Illyrian movement (i.e. the Croatian National Revival), whose works have paved the way for Croatian national music by Vatroslav Lisinski and Ivan Zajc. He studied music in Samobor, then in Zagreb and Graz, where he studied law. At the same time, he also studied music with composer Anselm Hüttenbrenner, a mutual friend of Beethoven and Schubert. Soon he became known in Graz as a violinist, pianist and composer, and became an honorary member of the Styrian Music Society. After obtaining his law degree in 1822, he wanted to go to Vienna to get his doctorate and continue his musical education. However, when he turned 24, his father handed him over the estate in accordance with his aunt’s will. Livadić had to return to Samobor and take care of the estate. He left a large opus of over 250 compositions, 180 of which are songs. He mostly composed chamber, piano and vocal pieces; he composed quickly and often for a particular occasion. His songs, which are a valuable contribution to the Croatian early Romantic Lied, are characterized by an expressive melodic line, often under the influence of the German musical tradition, simple harmonic piano accompaniment and hints of drama. He composed the ballad The Stone Maiden in 1844 to a text by Antun Mihanović.

Composer, conductor and music teacher Ivan Zajc (Rijeka, 1832 – Zagreb, 1914) was educated in his hometown, and continued at the Milan Conservatory. When he returned to Rijeka, he accepted the position of conductor and concert master of the City Theater Orchestra, and also taught string instruments at the Philharmonic Institute. In 1862, he moved to Vienna where he wrote operettas that were a great success with the audience. In 1870, Zajc came to Zagreb and became the director and conductor of the first permanent Croatian opera, as well as the head of the Music Institute’s school. He led the opera until its first dissolution in 1889, but he retained his post at the school until his retirement. He is credited with the establishment of a professional opera ensemble and modernization of teaching in the Croatian Music Institute’s school. Zajc was an exceptionally prolific composer. His manuscripts include more than one thousand works – there are around 170 songs to Croatian,

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Italian and German texts, around 300 choir works, around 80 orchestral works, around 100 chamber and piano compositions, 19 operas, 26 operettas and 22 stage music works. His historical, national trilogy (1870–1876) was especially important for the Croatian National Movement, as it drew on the themes from the Croatian history and historical legends. His opera Nikola Šubić Zrinjski remains one of the most performed national operas. In musical terms, in these works the composer strived to enrich his Italian-Verdian expression (with some features of the Viennese operetta) with melodies idiomatic to or based on interpretations and quotations from suburban and national folklore. Zajc composed the song The Night is Silent to a text by the poet Josip Eugen Tomić, which tells a story of a troubled heart of the one in love, who – in spite of a calm night – does not find peace in his heart and, although tired, is lying awake in the silence of a starry night troubled by his amorous sufferings.

One of the most prominent artistic personalities in Croatian music, and one of the most prolific composers, was definitely Boris Papandopulo (Honnef am Rhein, 1906 – Zagreb, 1991). He graduated in composition in Zagreb, in the class of Blagoje Bersa, and in conducting with Dirk Fock at the Vienna Conservatory. Already as a student, he introduced himself to the public at the same time as a conductor and composer, conducting his own music, as well as music by other composers. In his working career, he had many positions – for instance, he was the conductor of Operas in Zagreb, Rijeka, Sarajevo and Split; as the guest conductor of the Opera in Cairo; and as the director of the choirs Kolo and Zvonimir (Split). His musical language as a composer ranged from a national style in the years before the First World War, over gradual integration of elements of European modernism, and all the way to then very modern composing techniques, such as the dodecaphony, which he occasionally used in some of his important works. He was one of the first Croatian composers to show great interest in Neoclassicism. His enormous oeuvre consists of several hundred works, and includes almost all musical genres: chamber, symphonic and concert music, operas, ballets, solo-, vocal- and vocal-instrumental pieces, as well as film music.

Boris Papandopulo composed the song cycle Four Bosnian Folk Songs for voice and guitar in 1981. It includes songs Kod ovakve duge noći (On such a long night), Bacala se l’ jepa Cvjeta jabukom (Lovely Cvjeta threw an apple), Igrali se vrani konji (The raven horses played) and Grana od bora pala kraj mora (Pine branch fell by the sea). Papandopulo retained in all the songs the characteristic rhythmic-melodic peculiarities of the traditional Bosnian songs. His interpretations emphasize the character of the songs, as is the case with the song The Pine Tree Branch Fell by the Sea, in which playful accompaniment underlines the humorous and ambiguous banter between a waitress and a young man.

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Schwanengesang (Swan Song) is a collection of songs composed in 1828, and published in 1829, just months after the death of Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828). The title was chosen by the publisher, implying that this was the composer’s last major work. Schubert did not regard the thirteen songs that make up the cycle as a whole, but was in fact working on two separate cycles. However, after his death, his brother clustered the songs and presented them to the publisher in this manner. That is why this cycle does not have the elaborate architecture as Schubert’s other cycles do, such as Winterreise. On the other hand, it shows a great diversity in the approach to the text, various musical expressions and moods. The songs were composed to the verses of three poets: Ludwig Rellstab (1799–1860), Heinrich Heine (1797–1856) and Johann Gabriel Seidl (1804–1875). The poem Ständchen (Serenade) was composed to Rellstab’s verses, which tell a story of a young man who, in the middle of the night, is urging his sweetheart to come down to him and make him happy. Schubert depicts a melancholic atmosphere with his music, as the young man is not certain if his sweetheart will respond to his pleas, and the music closely follows his turmoil. Broad, singable vocal line and gentle, swinging piano accompaniment make this song exceptionally musically appealing both to listeners and performers, and for this reason it has become one of Schubert’s most popular songs.

Carl Loewe (1796 – 1869) was a German composer and singer. In his lifetime, he was well enough known for his songs (he wrote more than 400 of them) that it earned him the nickname ‘Schubert of North Germany.‘ He usually composed ballads to long narrative texts with particularly prominent quality of piano accompaniment. Tom der Reimer is a ballad to a text by Theodor Fontaine, who translated in the 18th century certain parts of a Scottish ballad from the 14th century. The ballad tells a story of a fairy queen who seduces young Tom, and then shows him the way to heaven, hell and her fairy world. After seven years, she returns Tom to his place, leaving him with the gift of prophecy. Fontaine selected the verses, so the textual template of Loewe’s song only tells the story of Tom being impressed with the queen’s beauty and agreeing to be in her service for seven years only for a kiss from her lips. Loewe composed the ballad around 1860. Because of the masterful form of the dialogue between Tom and the fairy queen, this song is often compared with Schubert’s Fairy King (Erlkönig). It is interesting to note that Loewe also wrote a poem of the same title to the same textual template by Goethe.

Francesco Paolo Tosti (1846 – 1916) was an Italian singer and composer. He began his life in great poverty, but his fortunes turned after moving to Rome, where he became a concert singer and a singing teacher for Princess Margherita of Savoy. He composed more than 300 songs, which are

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characterized by their sentimentality and simple, singable melodies. Non t’amo piu is a very emotional song on the dying of a love. It was composed in 1884 to a text by Carmelo Errico. The singer is addressing his former sweetheart, recalling their first meeting and the good times, which she destroyed with her lies. In the end, he declares that he no longer loves her, wants her, or miss her kisses and that he does not think of her, although it appears that he is trying to make himself believe this rather than this being the actual truth. By using painful, long melodies Tosti skillfully captures the suffering of a broken heart.

Although it is often cited as the traditional Roma song, Yamshik, ne goni loshadei was composed by the Russian composer of Jewish origin Jakov Feldman (1884 – 1950). The protagonist, obviously with a broken heart or shattered dreams, is telling the driver not to force the horses to go faster as he is in no hurry, has nowhere to go and no one to love; the past seems like a dream, and he is left only with the gray and somber present, which Feldman illustrates with the atmosphere of the song.

The song Ne poj krasavica, pri mne (Oh, do not sing to me) was composed to a text by Alexander Pushkin. Apart from Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 – 1943), many other composers such as Balakirev, Glinka and Rimsky-Korsakov set this Pushkin’s poem to music. Rachmaninoff composed his version at the age of 19, as the fourth song in the cycle Six songs for voice and piano, Op. 6, written between 1890 and 1893, which is also the composer’s first published song collection. Rachmaninoff’s vocal music from this period is filled with lyrical, broad themes, and a wide range of emotions that are also present in the song Ne poj krasavica, pri mne. In this song, the vocal line is filled with the characteristics of traditional Russian chants, which gives her a special charm and elegiac tone.

Non più andrai is Figaro’s aria from the first act of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s (1756 – 1791) opera The Marriage of Figaro. It is one of Mozart’s most popular operas, composed in 1786 to a libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte. One of the characters in the opera is Cherubino, the page of Count Almaviva, a young man susceptible to the charms of women, who falls in love easily. The Count had already suspected that Cherubino has made attempts towards his wife, and at the end of the first act, he finds him in the quarters of Susanna, future wife of Figaro, Count’s valet (and the Count himself has a good eye for Susanna). Irritated by the newest Cherubino’s attempt, the Count decides to send him off to army. In the aria Non più andrai he sings to Cherubino mockingly and smugly about how his carefree days have ended; he won’t be able to flutter around women like a butterfly any more – what’s waiting for him is marching through mud with a rifle on his shoulder.’

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In 1843 Giuseppe Verdi (1813 – 1901) was commissioned by the Teatro La Fenice in Venice to write an opera, fifth in a row, but the first he composed for a theater other than La Scala in Milan. He ordered the libretto from the young poet Maria Piave to the play Hernani by Victor Hugo, and he composed the opera Ernani, which quickly gained popularity. The bandit Ernani loves Elvira, the niece and fiancée of the nobleman Don Ruy Gomez de Silva, who requites his love and wants him to rescue her from an unwanted marriage. The Spanish king, Don Carlo, is also in love with Elvira, and confesses his love for her disguised as a peasant, which provokes a fight with Ernani. de Silva finds them fighting and seeks revenge. He makes a deal with Ernani to kill the king. This love quadrangle becomes further entangled and although in the end Ernani and Elvira are united, however shortly, the story ends in a tragedy as Ernani has to take his own life because of his oath to de Silva. Don Carlo sings cavatina O de’verd’anni miei in the third act of the opera, at the tomb of Charlemagne, while waiting to see if he was chosen as the next Holy Roman Emperor. He realizes that the conspirators are waiting for him and are plotting to end his life, so he reminisces on his youth and vows to change his life for the better if he is chosen as the Emperor, so that his name could last forever.

The opera La favorita by Gaetano Donizetti (1797 – 1848), composed in 1840, to the libretto by Alphonse Royer and Gustave Vaëz, is also centered around a love plot. The protagonists are the King Alfonso XI of Castile, his mistress Leonora and a young monk Fernando, who wants to leave the monastery because of Leonora, not knowing who she really is. After a series of twists, Fernando marries Leonora, but after learning that she was the king’s mistress, he feels duped and leaves her to return to the monastery. One day Leonora faints from exhaustion in front of the cross in the monastery and is brought inside, where Fernando finds her. She begs him for forgiveness and compassion. After a while, Fernando is ready to give their love a chance, but it is too late – Leonora dies in his arms. Recitative and aria Fia dunque vero… O, mio Fernando occurs in the second act, when the king decides to fulfill Fernando’s wish because of his merits during the war and Fernando declares that he wishes to marry Leonora. Leonora, surprised and confused, sings the aria in which she expresses her mixed feelings

– happiness because of Fernando’s love as well as sadness and fear over the fact that she has to reveal her origins to him, which will probably distance him from her. Ma de’ malvagi invan... Vien, Leonora, a’ piedi tuoi is a recitative and aria of King Alfonso from the second act of the opera, in which he sings to Leonora of his love. This is soon followed by the duet of Leonora and the king, Quando le soglie paterne varcai, in which Leonora tells him how she no longer wishes to be his mistress, exposed to the mocking of the world, and wants to finally become his wife, while he assures her of his love.

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Leon Košavić (1991) began his vocal education at the age of twelve learning under the guidance of Tonci Petkovic and continued with his studies at The Academy of Music in Zagreb with Giorgio Surian with whom he studies today. In 2011 he was awarded the first prize at the Croatian national competition for students, he made his debut as Moralés in a production of the Academy of Music in Zagreb, and made his professional debut at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb as Papageno. In 2012 Leon Kosavic appeared as the Emperor in Stravinsky s The Nightingale in another Academy production, at the Music Biennale Zagreb. In 2013 he was awarded the Audience Choice Award at the competition for young artits of Croatia and then performed as Mr. McC in Introductions and Goodbyes by Lukas Foss at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, where he played Masetto in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Leon Košavić was awarded the first prize at the competition for young artists in Zagreb and performed with the Croatian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra conducted by maestro Vladimir Kranjčević. In 2014 Leon Košavić appeared as Orfeo in Gluck s Orfeo ed Euridice and participated in Ungarn für Deutschland, Opera for Europe 1989-2014 in Budapest. He was awarded third prize at the Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition. He played Don Giovanni at the Croatian National theatre in Osijek in March, and sang the same role in May, at the Croatian National Theatre Rijeka. In April, he performed as Pilate in Bach s Johannes Passion with The Sinfonia Finlandia Jyväskylä and in October he will be playing Malatesta in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale at The Finnish National Opera in Helsinki. Leon Kosavic was proclaimed Young Musician of the Year and awarded by The Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra for his achievements in 2014. and he was awarded The Emmerich Smola Award (Emmerich Smola Förderpreis 2015). Troughout his education Leon Kosavic attended masterclasses held by Marvin Keenze, Norma Enns, Helena Lazarska and Gerhard Zeller.

Ena Pongrac, mezzo-soprano, began her vocal education in 2007 with Darija Hreljanovic and continued at the Kunstuniversität Graz where she studied under the guidance of Agatha Kania-Knobloch and received her bachelor degree in 2013. During her studies, Ena Pongrac attended various masterclasses, such as one at the Stage School Hamburg, as well as lessons with Angelika Kirchschlager. In 2012 she made her stage debut in the lead role of Ravel s opera L’enfant et les Sortileges. In 2013 she participated in a Flashmob in a few Slovenian cities. She also started her master studies at the Universität der Künste Berlin under the guidance of Elisabeth Werres. In 2014 Ena Pongrac sang the role of Adelaide in Drei Wünsche by Bohuslav Martinu, Lana in Exit Paradise by Arash Safaian at the Neuköllner Oper Berlin, Dorabella in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte and Charlotte in Massenet s Werther. She collaborated with Jonathan Alder and Eric Scheider and attended Prof. KS Christa Ludwig s

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masterclass at Bad Häring in Austria. She also performed in Bach s Cantata Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied with the Vogtland Phillfarmonic Orchestra and Wolfgang Wedel. In 2015 Ena Pongrac performed as a soloist with the Mendelssohn Kammer Chor in Mendelssohn-Remise Berlin and in the Bellevue Palace in Berlin.

Pianist Lana Bradić was born in Zagreb, where she graduated in piano from the Academy of Music in the class of Professor Stjepan Radić. During her studies and following them, she regularly attended classes for accompaniment and Lied interpretation with Professor G. Zeller at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, thus gaining an extensive experience in this area. She has been actively participating in numerous Lied seminars held by Professors G. Zeller and K. Richter, and has shown great interest and a peculiar sensibility for solo songs. She collaborated with many renowned opera singers (G. Surian, M. Zadro, D. Šeparović Mušović, B. Martinović and others). She works at the Academy of Music, the Department for Solo Singing, as a senior artistic associate – accompanist. She performed at numerous concerts and festival throughout Croatia and Europe.

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Sunday, July 26, 9 pm Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Osor

Croatian String Quartet (winners of the Darko Lukić Award 2014) Krunoslav Marić, violin Alina Gubajdullina, violin Aleksanadar Jakopanec, viola Adam Chelfi, violoncello

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: String Quartet No. 21 in D Major, KV 575 Allegretto Andante Menuetto: Allegretto Allegretto

Juraj Stahuljak: String Quartet No. 2 in C minor, Op. 15 Allegro moderato Lugubre ed andante molto sostenuto Allegretto (Wheel Dance) Allegro ma non troppo (Fugue)

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Edvard Grieg: String Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 27 Un poco andante - Allegro molto ed agitato Romanze: Andantino Intermezzo: Allegro molto marcato - Più vivo e scherzando Finale: Lento - Presto al saltarello

In 1780 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791) broke the shackles imposed by his permanent job, returned to Vienna and started working as a freelance artist there. Although that was his most productive period of life, he embarked on another journey in 1789 with the aim of finding new employment or patronage due to financial difficulties he found himself in. After visiting Dresden and Leipzig, the path led him to Potsdam and Berlin, the residence of the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm II, a music lover and an amateur cellist.

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However, historical records tell that Mozart was not received by the king, but by the queen. After returning to Vienna, Mozart nevertheless decided to compose six sonatas for piano and six string quartets, and dedicate them to Friedrich II and his daughter, Princess Friederike, hoping to get a job offer based on these compositions or at least the king’s patronage in order to make a living, which would enable him to work more freely. Because of this dedication (although never officially said or written), the quartets are referred to as the Prussian Quartets. He composed the first of them, String Quartet No. 21 in D major, KV 575, within two months of his return from Berlin, and he completed the next two in 1790. Although he intended to compose a series of six quartets, he was constantly interrupted in composing by commissions of some smaller works (which paid the bills), and then finally by his premature death in 1791. The quartet was subtitled ‘The Spring Quartet ’ as it uses the motifs from Mozart’s song ‘Das Veilchen’ (Violet) in the second movement. Mozart composed very gallant music for this piece, such as was popular at the court of the king Freidrich II. The quartet exudes elegance and optimism, wealth of melodies, as well as ease and freshness, most certainly in an effort to win over the king’s approval, which Mozart tried to get by composing a very elaborate cello passage, and dedicating to it – the king’s instrument – very cantabile melodies and expressive beats throughout the entire piece, but especially in the second, lyrical movement.

Juraj Stahuljak (Sv. Jana, 1901 – Zagreb, 1975) was a member of the largest Croatian musical family, which marked the middle of the 20th century with their work. Music was not his only profession, as for the most members of his family. He was persuaded to pursue music by his father Vladimir, composer, organist and choir master, and his mother Paula, who was a singer. Juraj Stahuljak graduated history and geography at the Faculty of letters in Zagreb, and finished music studies at the Conservatory of the Croatian Music Institute (now the Music Academy in Zagreb). His teachers, among others, were Fran Lhotka, Franjo Dugan and Blagoje Bersa. He worked as a history and geography teacher in high schools in Zagreb, and for a short period, he also taught music in secondary schools. He was the main organist in churches of St. Peter in Zagreb and in Petrinja, and for more than 30 years in the parish church of St. John in Zagreb. He created more than 100 pieces orchestra, piano, chamber ensembles, choirs, solo voice (song cycles), music scene and for the Catholic liturgy. He is recognized as a composer of intimate musical language, confirmed in many small-scale pieces; he arranged Croatian folk songs and used them in his work, thus creating a national style, based on classical forms and romantic content, with rare indications of contemporary expression. His insufficiently known opus remains a valuable monument of that time, and therefore an important part of the Croatian musical heritage.

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Juraj Stahuljak composed his String quartet No. 2 in C minor, Op. 15 in 1932. This piece testifies to all of the above mentioned qualities of Stahuljak’s aesthetics. Andrija Tomašek writes: ‘The four movements of the quartet illustrate a combination of the classicist tradition of form and the orientation or inclination towards folk music. The symbiotic bond of these two principles expressed in individual movements – the first in the sonata form in a moderately fast tempo (Allegro moderato), the second juxtaposed in expression (Lugubre) and tempo (Andante, molto sostenuto), the final in the form of a moderately fast fugue (Allegro ma non troppo), and the third, which is a playful (Allegretto) wheel dance, instead of being a traditional minuet or scherzo – reflects the quest for a coexistence of classicism and contemporary music of the time. This is expressed by means of a more deliberate movement within one type of the strictly defined characteristics in terms of form, contents and expression – the classical form and romanticist contents partly based on folk melody.’

Edvard Grieg (1843 – 1907) spent the summer of 1877 on the Hardanger fjord, in the town of Lofthus, where he built a cottage to which he escaped when he needed peace, especially for composing, in the years to come. Impressive Norwegian scenery which he loved so much, provided a well of inspiration, and in the fall of 1877 he composed his First String Quartet in G minor, Op. 27, the only complete string quartet he will ever compose (he tried his hand at the quartet both before and after this one, but he never finished them). The melody which Grieg earlier used in the song Spillemaend (Players), to a text by Henrik Ibsen, unites all movements and could be perceived as a certain motto of the work, which tells of a water spirit that is giving musicians exceptional musical gifts in exchange for their happiness. The composer wrote to his friend: ‘I recently finished a string quartet in G minor I did not hear yet, but which is not intended for those of the little mind! It strives for width, force, flight of imagination, but above all, the fullness of tones of the instruments for which it is written.‘ Indeed, the dense texture of the quartet and the full tone could mistakenly lead the listener into believing that there are more than four instruments involved. The piece was received with success, as evidenced by Franz Liszt’s journal entry after listening to it for the first time: ‘I have not heard a composition, especially a string quartet, that intrigued me to the point this Grieg’s did for a long time; it is a special and praiseworthy work.‘ Truly, it is an original work, full of invention, contrast, playful and passionate topics, but also courage.

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The members of the Croatian String Quartet played together in various ensembles during their studies at the Academy of Music in Zagreb, and after graduation they had decided to form a string quartet. They performed all over Croatia: at the Croatian Music Institute in Zagreb, at the MaG Chamber Music Festival in Split, with pianist Aljoša Jurinić at the 33rd Zagreb Summer Evenings, at the 28th Music Biennale Zagreb and at the 54th Musical Evenings in St. Donatus in Zadar. The Croatian String Quartet attended the international chamber music master class at Weikersheim (Germany) held by distinguished pedagogues, including the Cogler Quartet and the Alban Berg Quartet. In 2014, they won an award at the 47th Darko Lukić Competition.

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Tuesday, July 28, 9 pm Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Osor

Pavao Mašić, harpsichord

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Georg Friedrich Händel: Chaconne for harpsichord in G Major, HWV 435 Johann Sebastian Bach: Partita for harpsichord No. 1 in B flat Major, BWV 825 Praeludium Allemande Corrente Sarabande Menuet I Menuet II Gigue

György Ligeti: Continuum

Antonio Soler: Fandango in D minor

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Johann Sebastian Bach: Chaconne from Partita for Violin No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004

Ivan Josip Skender: Seven Preludes (first performance) Johann Sebastian Bach: Partita for harpsichord No. 5 in G Major, BWV 829 Praeambulum Allemande Corrente Sarabande Tempo di Minuetto Passepied Gigue

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Suites for keyboard instruments by Georg Friedrich Händel (1685 – 1759) were published in two collections, the first in 1720 in London, as the composer’s response to the ‘pirate’ and distorted versions of his works which had began circulating throughout Europe, and the second in 1733, with the composer reportedly not involved in its publication. The most famous composition from the second collection is not a suite, but a single-movement piece – Chaconne for Harpsichord in G Major, HWV 435. The presentation of the basic theme is followed by its 20 variations.

Between 1726 and 1730, The Partitas for Harpsichord BWV 825–830 by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750) were published separately, but in 1731 they were published as a single volume known as the Clavier-Übung I. These partitas were the last collection of harpsichord suites that Bach composed, and were preceded by the French and English suites. The Partitas for Harpsichord BWV 825–830, sometimes also referred to as the German Suites, are characterized by Bach’s greatest departure from the firm and strict structure, making them very technically demanding for performers. Music theorist Johann Nikolaus Forkel describes the impact The Partitas had in the world in his biography of Johann Sebastian Bach (1802): ‘This work caused quite a sensation among Bach’s contemporaries; such splendid keyboard compositions had never previously been seen or heard.’ All partitas follow the classical structure of a suite, consisting of Allemande – Courante – Sarabande – Gigue movements, but to each of partita Bach purposely added three optional dance movements. Partita No. 1 in B flat Major, BWV 825, begins with a smooth Prelude of calm and serene atmosphere, and is followed by Allemande, Courante, Sarabanda and Gigue reflecting the classical arrangement of movements in a suite, although before the final Gigue Bach added two short Menuets. Allemande is strong and determined, while Courante is of lighter character and a more carefree atmosphere. Extensive Sarabanda moves slowly and in long waves, calming the current progress of the composition. Two short Menuets follow one another without a pause, and the suite ends with a furioso Gigue. Partita No. 5 in G Major, BWV 829 is the shortest in the collection and consists of the usual seven movements. It begins with a playful and lively Praeambulum, followed by the usual Allemande, fast and energetic yet short Courante, which brings phrases in one breath and leaves little room for rest. The contrast to this bustle is a calm, graceful yet playful Sarabande. Menuet continues with a playful character that dominates the whole work, and is followed by Passepied of bolder gestures and steps. As customary, Gigue concludes the work, but is interrupted in the middle by a virtuoso and demanding fugue section.

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Continuum is a short work composed by György Ligeti (1923 – 2006) in 1968, which – according to the composer’s instructions – must be played in prestissimo in the span of four minutes. The composition requires a furious pace that renders single notes imperceptible – Ligeti wanted to achieve an impression of a continuum: ‘I thought to myself, what about composing a piece that would be a paradoxically continuous sound, but that would have to consist of innumerable thin slices of salami? A harpsichord has an easy touch; it can be played very fast, almost fast enough to reach the level of continuum, but not quite (it takes about eighteen separate sounds per second to reach the threshold where you can no longer make out individual notes and the limit set by the mechanism of the harpsichord is about fifteen to sixteen notes a second).’

Antonio Soler (1729 – 1783) was a Spanish composer whose works span the late Baroque and early Classical music eras. He took holy orders at the age of 23 and spent his life in prayer and simple life inside the monastery walls. However, music remained his great love, as evidenced by around 500 works he created, 150 of which are concertos for organ, harpsichord and pianoforte. The most celebrated part of his opus are the sonatas for harpsichord, whose quality is often compared to the famous sonatas composed by Domenico Scarlatti. Apart from the sonatas, Soler’s most famous composition is Fandango, although nowadays some doubt that Soler is truly the author of this composition. Fandango became popular in Spain in the early 18th century, as a folk dance performed at fairs or as entertainment in pubs, so in Soler’s time it was still a novelty, although later on similar kinds of music developed from it – malagueña, granadina, murciana and rondeña. All from the same source – the fiery flamenco. It is not impossible that Soler used for his composition a tune he heard on a street, performed by street singers or dancers and an instrumentalist (as fandango could also be sung or just played).

Alongside 24 Paganini’s Capriccios, Six sonatas and partitas for violin by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750), written in 1720, belong to the most performed minutes of music written for solo violin. Partitas usually consist of dance movements, and that is also the case with the Partita No. 2 for violin in D minor, BWV 1004. It ends with one of Bach’s most magnificent movements, the majestic and extensive Chaconne, a series of 64 variations on a short theme in which Bach explores all the possibilities of violin playing in his time. The movement is extremely challenging even for interpreters today, and it is often performed separately, independent of the rest of the Partita it belongs to. The power of Bach’s Chaconne was maybe best expressed by Brahms who said: ‘On a single staff, for a small instrument, the man writes a whole world of the deepest thoughts and the most powerful feelings.’

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Ivan Josip Skender (Varaždin, b. 1981) enrolled in composition studies at the Academy of Music in Zagreb (in 1997) in the class of Željko Brkanović as the youngest composition student in the history of the academy. In 1999, he also enrolled in conducting studies in the class of Vjekoslav Šutej. He later attended various seminars and classes in conducting (Klaus Arp, Bertrand de Billy, Zubin Mehta, etc.) and composition (Michael Jarell, Joszef Soproni). From 2010 to 2012 he attended a two-year postgraduate course of orchestra conducting in Vienna with Uroš Lajovic. His compositions were performed in almost all European countries, the USA, Canada, and Mexico. In 2011, he composed his most extensive work, the opera Šuma Striborova/Stribor’s Forest that had its premiere at the Croatian National Theatre Ivan pl. Zajc in Rijeka as part of the Music Biennale Zagreb. He was the first composer to represent Croatia at the MusMa Festival (Music Masters on air, 2012). As a conductor he collaborated with many Croatian and foreign choirs and orchestras. Palma academic Choir of the Basilica of the sacred Heart of jesus in Zagreb won four state choir competitions under his leadership as well as many other awards. He was one of the founders and the first choir conductor of the Girls’ Choir in Croatia. In his conducting career he is particularly dedicated to performances and premieres of contemporary Croatian authors, and in 2012 members of the Cantus Ensemble elected him their permanent conductor. Since 2006 he has been employed as the choir conductor at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, and in 2009 he became Uroš Lajovic’s assistant at the Academy of Music in Zagreb. He had his debut at the Vienna Musikverein in 2011, and in 2012 at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb with the opera Love Potion by Gaetano Donizetti. That same year he directed the premiere of the Shoemaker from Delft by Blagoje Bersa, for which he received the award of the Society of University Teachers in Zagreb. He was the acting director of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb from 2013 to 2014.

‘Seven preludes are dedicated to Pavao Mašić. As the title suggests, it is a series of seven short musical situations, in which odd and even preludes are linked together through motivic work. Therefore this piece recalls a conversation between two people, in wich one is not too interested in what the other has to say, but somehow they reach a similar conclusion.’ (I. J. S.)

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Upon graduation from Zagreb Academy of Music in organ, harpsichord and music theory, Pavao Mašić (Šibenik, 1980) pursued further organ studies at Haute Ecole de Musique in Lausanne where he graduated Soloistic Diploma Studies (cum laude) with Kei Koito. He also studied harpsichord and historical keyboard instruments with Dr. Robert Hill and Michael Behringer, graduating

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from the Musikhochschule in Freiburg im Br. He received additional artistic impulses from several important musicians including harpsichordists Pierre Hantaї, Christophe Rousset & Skip Sempé, as well as organists Daniel Roth, Luigi F. Tagliavini, Christoph Bossert, Andjelko Klobučar, Eric Lebrun, Ton Koopman and Bine Bryndorf. In October 2013 he was selected by French Academy in Rome to study interpretation of French harpsichord music at Villa Medici – special place where the laureats of the famous Prix du Rome since 1803 have been pursuing their artistic work. He is the winner of The Grand Prix Bach and Audience Prize at 2006 Lausanne Bach Organ Competition and he actively pursues successful career of a concert organist and harpsichordist. Different aspects of his art include extensive interest in Baroque and Romantic music repertoire - especially music of J. S. Bach and French composers – which, combined with in-depth exploration and constant need for expression, result in rich, virtuosic and much admired performances. Since 1999, he has been the Main Organist at the Church of St. Mark on the Upper town in Zagreb, and he is the Assistant Professor at Zagreb Academy of Music where he teaches new generations of organists and harpsichordists. He often appears in recitals and with orchestra performing at important concert venues throughout Europe and Russia. The quality of his work has been recognized through more than 20 important international and national awards, among which are: Grand Prix Bach de Lausanne (Switzerland, 2006), Andrea Antico da Montona (Croatia, 2006), and the Ivo Vuljević Award for The Best Croatian Young Musician in 2006. In 2009 he was a laureate at the 1. Concurso internacional CAI de Organo (Zaragoza), while the particulary successful 2010 was marked by him receiving all three awards given to prominent musicians by the Varaždin Baroque Evenings festival: Ivan Lukačić Award, Jurica Murai Award, and the Cantor Award received for the best interpretation of J. S. Bach’s music. He records for Croatian Radiotelevision and Croatia Records; diverse discography includes three albums, crowned with seven Porin Awards, among which The Best Croatian Classical Album in 2011. One of his recent albums, 100% BACH presents both new organ of St. Mark’s Church, as well as selection of J. S. Bach’s organ music, whose complete organ works Mašić performed together with organist Ante Knešaurek. For that project both organists were awarded two most distinguished national prizes: Milka Trnina Award & City of Zagreb Award.

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Thursday, July 30, 9 pm Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Osor

Cantus Ensemble Ivan Josip Skender, conductor Siniša Hapač, baritone Srebrenka Poljak, piano

Dani Bošnjak, fluteBranko Mihanović, oboe Danijel Martinović, clarinetLovre Lučić, clarinetŽarko Perišić, bassoonBánk Harkay, french hornVedran Kocelj, trumpetMario Šincek, tromboneMarko Mihajlović, percussionHrvoje Sekovanić, percussionFilip Fak, pianoIvan Novinc, violinMislav Pavlin, violinTvrtko Pavlin, violaJasen Chelfi, violoncelloNikša Bobetko, double bass

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Sanda Majurec: Contrattempo, for chamber ensemble I II III

Antonio Babić: When I Become Grass, for voice and chamber ensemble (first performance)

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Paul Hindemith: Kammermusik No. 2, Op. 36, No. 1, for piano and 12 instruments Sehr lebhafte Achtel Sehr langsame Achtel Kleines Potpourri: Sehr lebhafte Viertel Finale: Schnelle Viertel

Anton Webern: Passacaglia for orchestra, Op. 1 (ar. for chamber ensemble: Henri Pousseur)

Sanda Majurec (Mali Lošinj, 1971) graduated in composition from the Music Academy in Zagreb under Stanko Horvat, and harpsichord under Višnja Mažuran. She has attended master classes in Semmering with Erich Urbanner and in Szombately with Michael Jarrell. She attended the International Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt and collaborated with the contemporary music composer Robert Zanata in writing pieces for acoustic instruments and electronics. In 2006 she was in residence at the Composers’ Centre in Visby, as part of a cultural exchange between Croatia and Sweden. Since her student days she has been collaborating with prominent artists and ensembles, and here pieces were performed in Croatia and abroad, at festivals such as Music Biennale Zagreb, Osor Musical Evenings Bartók Festival in Szombately, Amadeo Festival, among others. As a harpsichord player, she attended many masterclasses in baroque music and dance, and she performed with many ensembles and orchestras. She is one of the founders of the Little Harpsichord Festival and the Croatian association of harpsichord players. She is full professor of the Arts Academy in Osijek.

The composition Contrattempo by Sanda Majurec was commissioned by the 51st Music Festival in Opatija, where it was performed by the Cantus Ensemble conducted by Maestro Ivan Josip Skender in November 2014. On this occasion, the composer wrote: ‘The expression contrattempo marks an unexpected incident that disrupts the planned course of events, while in music terms it refers to a syncope. More broadly, viewed as a word game, the expression could also be seen as an internal conflict or contradiction. The piece was written for the Cantus Ensemble and questions the meaning of the very title in three movements.’

After graduating from the Ivan Matetić Ronjgov Music School in Rijeka (in accordion and theory), Antonio Babić (Rijeka, 1990) enrolled at the Academy of Music in Zagreb in the class of Professor Frane Parać. He is currently in his senior year. He spent the academic year 2013/2014 in Belgium at the

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Lemmensinstituut Leuven as an Erasmus student in the class of professor Jan Van der Roost. He wrote a dozen compositions for solo instruments, choirs, chamber and orchestral ensembles that were performed in Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and Belgium. He participated at the Music Festival in Opatija (2010, 2012, 2014), International Workshop for Composition Students and Young Composers in Novi Sad (2012) and the Summer Music Camp in Murska Sobota (2013) organized by the Jeunesses Musicales Slovenia. He received the 2014 Rudolf and Margita Matz Foundation Scholarship awarded by the Croatian Composers’ Society. Recently he had an opportunity to collaborate with a well-known American composer John Corigliano (an Oscar winner, and the winner of 5 Grammy awards and a Pulitzer prize) at the Bosnia International Music Festival in Sarajevo (2015). He also won at the competition for composition students held as part of the festival and received, one could say, a double prize – a commission for a work to be performed at the next festival and the collaboration with movie directors as a movie music composer.

‘‘The only burden I will carry in my new life will be dew.’These words were written on one of the tombstones in the Mirogoj cemetery and their beauty inspired me as soon as I saw them. It was a sign that I needed to find the poem from which the quote was taken, which led to an idea for a new composition. When I Become Grass by Dobriša Cesarić is a sad and depressing poem of extreme introversion in which the author questions whether he will be better off if he died and became a grass that will grow from the soil in which he was buried and that will carry dew as the only burden in his new life. My music is at the same time reflection of these dark Cesarić’s verses (e.g. ‘When one day I turn into worms and lumps of soil’), but also of the ‘brighter’ ones that glorify a potentially better life (e.g. ‘I will swing in the grass merrily, sprinkled with moonlight and sunlight’). By emphasizing the word ‘maybe’ throughout the almost entire composition, I wished to highlightt the dilemma of Dobriša Cesarić with which almost every person could identify. Sonorous cluster of low registers opens the piece and introduces the dark atmosphere of the first part in the form of a bow in which ABCBA is the form of the composition.’ (A. B.)

German composer Paul Hindemith (1895 – 1963) wrote a total of eight ‘chamber pieces,’ that is compositions for various ensembles which he simply named Kammermusik. The first two pieces were written for an ensemble and wind quintet, while the others are concertos featuring a soloist accompanied by an ensemble. Hindemith composed this series of works between 1921 and 1927. Kammermusik No. 2, for piano and 12 instruments, Op. 36, No. 1 was composed in 1924. Hindemith’s chamber pieces are not chamber music in the true meaning of this word as many of them ask for relatively

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large ensembles, but are certainly chamber in terms of musical thinking. Hindemith concentrates in them on motif, clarity of lines and pronounced rhythm, paying thus homage to Bach’s counterpoint and clarity of form as opposed to expressive emotions of post-Romantic period. At the beginning of his composing career, from 1918 to 1923, Hindemith searched for his own style even in Romanticism, though he later moved away from it, finding his own path. 1924 marked the beginning of a composing period in which he explored neo-Baroque and neo-Classicism, especially the former. The best compositions from this period are Concert music for viola and large chamber orchestra, Op. 48 and Kammermusik No. 2. In the very first movement one can hear reminiscences of the Baroque motor rhythm; the piano passage is designed with Bach’s pieces for harpsichord in mind, and Baroque is evoked in dialogues between soloists and ensemble. The mysterious atmosphere of the second movement is built in three layers: piano passage enriched with trills and figures is dialoguing with wind section of the ensemble that moves in dissonant shifts, and is opposed to the pedal block of the string section of the ensemble in unison. The middle section brings tranquility to piano in a lyrical scene with more singable phrases. The third movement is a miniature satirical image reinforced by polymetry, while in the last one the composer returns to the atmosphere of the first movement, thus encompassing the work.

Although the Passacaglia for Orchestra by Anton Webern (1883 – 1945) was marked as opus no. 1, that marking does not mean that this is the composer’s first work. On the contrary, this masterpiece was preceded by many others, completed and unfinished works, exercises and sketches, but only when he reached a certain level he was satisfied of and completed his studies with Schönberg, had the composer decided to label one of his works as the beginning of his opus and let it into the world signed with his name. Passacaglia was composed in the spring of 1908, when Webern had just started working as a conductor and choirmaster in Bad Ischl. The work received its first performance in November in Vienna under his baton. The basis of passacaglia, in Webern’s case, was octameter that is repeated with new material developing around it. Passacaglia is Webern’s most acclaimed work, and also his most frequently performed one. The composer uses extended tonality in the work, while the clear and transparent orchestral texture used actually reveals his chamber inclinations. Still, here we hear great, late Romantic sound and the outlines of other melodies that he will later abandon in search for his personal, ascetic expression. Tonight, the Cantus Ensemble will perform Henri Pousseur’s arrangement of Webern’s Passacaglia for chamber ensemble.

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Cantus Ensemble started their activity in 2001 within the Music Biennale Zagreb and later continued developing as a high quality ensemble for contemporary music, giving performances of only the best of the best in the international context and the newest of the new. It is precisely because of that that the Cantus Ensemble managed to stay ahead and act as the most active participant on the new music scene (Croatian, regional and international). At the same time, the ensemble decided to expand its repertoire to encompass the beginning of the New Sound by Stravinsky and Hindemith, just so it could make up for some lost scores to its audience. The Cantus & Lisinski concert cycle which it has hosted since the 2006/2007 concert season has quickly turned into a lively venue for music lovers. In cooperation with the Dutch Foundation Gaudeamus, Gaudeamus Musik Week Festival, and the Croatian Music Youth, the ensemble held workshops for young conductors and composers at the International Cultural Centre in Grožnjan and participated in the project Re: New Music and New Music: New Audience in collaboration with the Animated Film and New Media Section of the Academy of Arts and the Music Showroom SC. The trip to Sweden in 2006 as part of the international project Musical Links and ‘the trip around the world’ that took the Ensemble to Beijing and Toronto where they successfully presented around ten scores of music of Croatian composers of the 20th and 21st centuries paved the way for further international collaborations. In 2008, it was named the official ensemble of the ISCM. In the 2009/2010 concert season, the ensemble held a successful concert at the BEMUS Festival in Belgrade and for the first time held performances in the United Kingdom at the Sounds New Festival in Canterbury. The season 2010/2011 saw them performing at the concert cycles of the Dôme des Invalides in Paris and at the Tonhalle in Düsseldorf, the Ensemblia Festival in Mönchengladbach, and as a guest ensemble of the Paul Klee Centre in Bern. In 2012, the Cantus Ensemble performed at one of the largest music festivals in the world – the NCPA May Music Festival. For their concert at the 58th Split Summer Festival, the Cantus Ensemble received the Slobodna Dalmacija’s Judita award. After appearing at the Culturescapes Festival in Switzerland, and giving performances at the Days of Kogoj Festival in Slovenia, in 2014 the ensemble made a guest performance in Canada where it held concerts in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Kitchener presenting the music by fourteen Croatian composers.

You can find the biography of Ivan Josip Skender at p. 44.

Baritone Siniša Hapač was born in Zagreb in 1970. He studied singing with Prof. Mario Gjuranec, and from 1996 furthered his education at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan. He became member of the Opera of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb in 1998 as a choir singer, and in

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2004 he became the soloist of the Opera. In 2008, he was promoted into a principal opera soloist. He made his debut as a soloist in the Zagreb CNT in 2001 as Alcalde in Verdi’s La forza del destino. Since then, he has performed a great number of well received roles, such as: Don Carlo in Verdi’s La forza del destino, the King and Amonasro in Verdi’s Aida, Simone and Marco in Puccini’s one-act opera Gianni Schicchi, Michele and Talpa in Puccini’s Il tabarro, Benoit in Pucinni’s La Boheme, Paolo in Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra and Verdi’s Aida, Rigoletto in Verdi’s opera of the same title, Tonio in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, Renato in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera, Lescaut in Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, Count di Luna in Verdi’s Il trovatore, Koriolan in Šulek’s opera of the same title, Niko in Ivan Brkanović’s Ekvinocij and many others. He is a frequent guest of the Croatian National Theatres in Split and Rijeka, and he also performed in the Slovene National Theatre in Maribor, as well as the Opera in Ljubljana. At the end of June 2004, he opened the Čakovec Summer Evenings in the Zrinski and Frankopan Castle singing the role of Nikola Šubić Zrinski in the opera of the same title by Ivan noble Zajc, which he then performed in the same season at three premieres in Sarajevo, Split and Osijek. For this role, he was nominated for the Croatian Actors’ Guild Award. He successfully collaborates with prominent Croatian and international directors such as Igor Pison, Ozren Prohić, Krešimir Dolenčić, Philipp Himmelmann, Arnaud Bernard, Andejs Žagars, as well as conductors such as Vjekoslav Šutej, Nikša Bareza, Loris Voltolini, Ivo Lipanović, Pavle Dešpalj, Mladen Tarbuk, Zoran Juranić, Michael Helmarth, Tonči Bilić, Antonello Allemandi and Wolfgang Scheidt. He collaborates with renowned artists such as Elisabetta Fiorillo, Giafranco Cecchele, Kristjan Johannsson and Zoran Todorovich. He is the winner of the yearly Vladimir Ruždjak award of the Croatian National Theatre for the role of Mazeppa in the same-name opera by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and for this role he has received the Croatian Actors’ Guild Award. He has been given a special plaque for his high artistic achievement from the Mayor of Szigetwar for his role as Nikola Šubić Zrinski. He achieves great results in his pedagogic work with young opera artists. He is the President of the Friends of Music assocciation and organizes projects which include school children. He is an active humanitarian and collaborates with Caritas’ Shelter for Victims of Family Violence. He has received the Caritas Award for his humanitarian work.

Srebrenka Poljak graduated and earned Master of Arts in piano with Professor Zvjezdana Bašić (a pupil of legendary Heinrich Neuhaus) at the Music Academy of the University of Zagreb. Training with Professor Leon Fleisher during the Jerusalem Music Encounters in 2000 has been a turning point in shaping her overall musical personality. She is an active chamber musician and regularly collaborates with many Croatian and international artists. Since 2003 she has been collaborating with violinist Stefan Milenkovich, with

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whom she has already held more than 80 recitals in major Croatian, Slovenian, Bosnian, Serbian and Italian concert halls (e.g. Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, etc.). As a member of the Zagreb Piano Trio she won several prestigious awards, most notably the 1st prize at the International Chamber Music Competition in Trondheim, Norway (2000), 2nd prize and the prize for the best piano trio in Heerlen, Netherlands (1999). As a soloist and pianist within orchestra, she performed numerous times with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, Choir and Symphonic Orchestra of the Croatian Radiotelevision, the Symphonic Wind Orchestra of the Croatian Army, Croatian Chamber Orchestra, Varaždin Chamber Orchestra, and Zadar Chamber Orchestra. As a solo artist and regular member of the Cantus Ensemble she has been performing and recording the works of contemporary composers many of them as premieres. She currently works as a Senior Artistic Associate, and also teaches the course in Piano Accompaniment and Chamber music for piano students at the String Department of the Music Academy of the University of Zagreb.

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Sunday, August 2, 9 pm Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Osor

MONIKA LESKOVAR & FRIENDS Monika Leskovar, violoncello Giovanni Sollima, violoncello

• Marin Marais: Suite for two violas da gamba and continuo in D minor, from the first book of Pieces for viols Prélude Allemande Courante Sarabande Gigue Gavotte Menuet

Claude Debussy: Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, arr. Giovanni Sollima)

Vinko Jelić: Ricercar tertio, from Parnassia militia, Op. 1

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Giovanni Sollima: The Interpretation of Dreams The Wood Madre, figlio, natura Acheronte, movevo, aqua (il sogno di Leonardo) Virginia Woolf, il flusso di coscienza The Dangerous Prevalence of Imagination Leaves Postcards Du bist wie eine Blume (Robert e Clara Shumann) Frida’s Dream Calamity Jane

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Marin Marais (1656 – 1728) was a French Baroque composer, who was known in his time as the viola da gamba player. He studied composing with Jean-Baptiste Lully, and worked as a viola da gamba player at the royal court in Versailles. As a skilled musician and an expert in this instrument, Marais is the most prominent French composer of music for viola da gamba (he wrote more than 600 compositions for this instrument!), although he also composed other works, including four operas. Between 1686 and 1725 he wrote the most important part of his oeuvre – five collections of compositions for viola da gamba, entitled Pièces de viole, which mostly consist of a series of suites. Suites represent the most diverse dance movements, popular at the time on the royal court, with added preludes, chaconnas or passacaglias with ingenious variations. Suite for two violas da gamba and continuo in D minor belongs to the first collection (published in 1686). Formal introductory prelude of slow movement is followed by the classic arrangement of dance movements, with the ‘optional’ parts of suite, Gavotte and Menuet, inserted in the end, after Sarabande, which was not the usual procedure.

Claude Debussy (1862 – 1918) often searched for inspiration in the poetry of the French symbolists, especially the poetry of Stephan Mallarmé. It was his poem, The Afternoon of a Faun, that inspired Debussy to conceive a new three-movement orchestral work that should have consisted of a Prelude, Interlude and Paraphrase. He completed the Prelude in 1894, and was polishing it until moments before the premiere in Paris. The remaining two parts were never finished, so the composition remained a single-movement one named Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. The characteristic chromatic line with which the work begins (in the original, orchestral version it is introduced by flute) first descends and then ascends, and represents an embodiment of the faun and his pipes – it is also, without doubt, one of the most recognizable motifs of classical music. Debussy’s work does not follow Mallarmé’s poem in terms of program music, but tries to conjure up the atmosphere of the scenes of faun’s thoughts, desires and dreams on a hot afternoon. Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun became Debussy’s most famous orchestral work right after the premiere, but it also the one that left the biggest impact on the future course of music history. By using innovations in harmonic language and the treatment of form Debussy opened the door to modern music.

Vinko Jelić (Rijeka, 1596 – Saverne, after 1636) was a Croatian composer of the early Baroque style, singer and instrumentalist. He spent his childhood in Rijeka, then went to Graz where he became a member of the court chapel orchestra and where he later acquired a thorough musical education. He emphasized his Rijeka origins in the titles of his printed works, adding to them e.g. "Fluminensi Sancti Viti." He was a musician at the court of Archduke

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Leopold V, and the bishop of Saverne (in the province of Alsace), but he disappeared without a trace in the maelstrom of the Thirty Years War. He wrote a collection of spiritual concertos Parnassia militia, Op. 1 (1622), two collections of motets and other church compositions such as Arion primus and Arion secundus (1628). Parnassia militia, Op. 1 is a collection of 24 spiritual concertos for one to four voices and basso continuo, and includes four instrumental ricercari. This only fully saved Jelić's work was published in 1622 in Strasbourg. Jelić originally wrote the ricercars in the collection for cornet and trombone.

About his piece The Interpretation of Dreams, Govanni Sollima wrote: ‘Pieces of a volcanic nature, floating and suspended. They form a suite in several movements... or portraits, or visions. Virginia Woolf, Emily Dikinson, Leonardo da Vinci, Clara and Robert Schumann, and others... when I ‘saw’ them I woke up sweating weeping shouting and laughing. And I wrote them as I remembered. Then I learned to dream them again and I saw them again. And I wrote them again.’

• Croatian cellist Monika Leskovar (born Kreutztal, Germany, 1981) studied with Dobrila Berković-Magdalenić at Elly Bašić Music School in Zagreb and later with Valter Dešpalj. In 1996, she became a student of David Geringas at the Hanns Eisler Hochschule für Musik in Berlin, where – from 2006 to 2011 – she was an assistant. In master classes she worked together with Mstislav Rostropovitch and Bernard Greenhouse. She was the winner of several prizes at international cello competitions – International Tcahikovsky Competition for Young Musicians (Sendai, 1995), Antonio Janigro (Zagreb, 1996), Rostropovich (Paris, 1997), Eurovision Grand Prix (Vienna, 1998), Roberto Caruana ‘Stradivari’ (Milano, 1999), International ARD (Munchen 2001), 5th Adam (New Zealand, 2003). Sofia Gubaidulina once said of her: ‘Monika perfectly performed my Preludes for solo violoncello… She is truly remarkable, and simply I adore her… Monika is the sort of talent that only appears by the Grace of God’. She performed as a soloist with orchestras such as the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic, Sendai Philharmonic, Slovenian Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Symphonic Orchestra, Zagreb Philharmonic, Essen Philharmonic, Prague Chamber Orchestra, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, Kremerata Baltica, Zagreb Soloists; with conductors such as Valerij Gergiev, Thomas Hengelbrock, Krzysztof Penderecki; and in solo recitals, chamber music projects and at noted festivals such as Lockenhaus, Schleswig-Holstein, Rheingau, Dubrovnik, Casals Festival (Tokyo), Rostropovich Festival (Riga), Zagreb International Music Festival

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(in collaboration with Gidon Kremer), Yuri Bashmet, Boris Berezovsky, Julian Rachlin, Itamar Golan, Tabea Zimmermann, Sofia Gubaidulina, Mario Brunello, Nikolai Zneider, Jeanine Jansen and Kolja Blacher, among others. Since 2005, she has been collaborating with cellist and composer Giovanni Sollima, with whom she recorded the album We Were Trees, recently published by Sony/BMG. In 2008, she recorded the G major Cello Concerto of Stamitz and the Danzi Variations on a theme from Don Giovanni for the label OEMHS classics. In 2010/2011, she was the principal cellist of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, and since 2012 she has been teaching at the Conservatory of Italian Switzerland in Lugano. Monika Leskovar plays a cello by Mantegazza, Milano 1765 loaned to her by Kronberg Academy.

Giovanni Sollima was born in Palermo in 1962 into a family of musicians. He studied cello with Giovanni Perriera and Antonio Janigro and composition with his father and Eliodoro Sollima and Milko Kelemen. From an early age he worked with musicians such as Claudio Abbado, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Jörg Demus, Martha Argerich, Riccardo Muti, Yuri Bashmet, Katia and Marielle Labèque, Ruggero Raimondi, Bruno Canino, DJ Scanner, Victoria Mullova, Patti Smith, Philip Glass and Yo-Yo Ma. Giovanni Sollima was born in Palermo into a family of musicians. He studied cello with Giovanni Perriera and Antonio Janigro and composition with his father and Eliodoro Sollima and Milko Kelemen. From an early age he worked with musicians such as Claudio Abbado, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Jörg Demus, Martha Argerich, Riccardo Muti, Yuri Bashmet, Katia and Marielle Labèque, Ruggero Raimondi, Bruno Canino, DJ Scanner, Victoria Mullova, Patti Smith, Philip Glass and Yo-Yo Ma. This internationally renowned cellist and composer has a unique expression which combines elements of various genres from classical music to rock with the Mediterranean folk elements. Sollima performed in prestigious places, but also in alternative venues: Carnegie Hall, BAM, Alice Tully Hall, Knitting Factory in New York, Wigmore and Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Salle Gaveau in Paris, Musicgebouw in Amsterdam, Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, Kunstfest in Weimar, La Scala in Milan, Santa Cecilia in Rome, Festivals of Kronberg, Kuopio, Istanbul, Tokyo, Venice, Ravenna, Spoleto, Shanghai (Expo 2010). As composer, Sollima has been captivated by every kind of languages and has thought to create new blends among the most diverse genres by combining elements of classical and rock music, as well as of music of all the Mediterranean area. He composes for acoustic and electric instruments, and others invented himself or created for him. Besides he composed music for directors and choreographers, such as Peter Greenaway, Bob Wilson, Peter Stein, John Turturro, Karole Armitage and Carolyn Carlson. Giovanni Sollima, teaches at the Accademy of Santa Cecilia in Rome and at the Fondazione Romanini of Brescia. He plays a cello by Francesco Ruggieri cello (1679, Cremona).

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Tuesday, August 4, 9 pm Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Osor

MONIKA LESKOVAR & FRIENDS Boris Brovtsyn, violin Giovanni Guzzo, violin Aleksandar Milošev, viola Monika Leskovar, violoncello Giovanni Sollima, violoncello Giuseppe Andaloro, piano

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Berislav Šipuš: Gonars TrioInterludio – misterioso / Rondo / Ultimo canto Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Trio in B-flat Major, Op. 97, Archduke Allegro moderato Scherzo: Allegro Andante cantabile, ma però con moto Allegro moderato. Presto

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Franz Schubert: String Quintet in C Major, D. 956 (Op. Posth. 163) Allegro ma non troppo Adagio Scherzo. Presto – Trio. Andante sostenuto Allegretto

Berislav Šipuš (Zagreb, 1958) is one of the most active composers of the Croatian middle generation. Paralelly with studying Art History at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb, he had studied and graduated in composition from the Music Academy in Zagreb in the class of Stanko Horvat

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in 1987. He pursued his education in composition with Gilberto Bosco in Udine (1986) and François Bernard Mâche and Iannis Xenakis in Paris (1987). He has mastered conducting with V. Kranjčević, Ž. Brkanović, K. Šipuš and M. Horvat. From 1979 until 1982, he was a permanent piano accompanist at the Ballet of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb; from 1987 until 1989, he taught music theory at the Elly Bašić Music School in Zagreb; from 1988 until 1989, he was a piano accompanist at the Bermuda Civic Ballet, and in 1989 a producer for the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall in Zagreb. In 1989, he began his collaboration with the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, where he was a piano accompanist at the Ballet (1989 – 1999), orchestra conductor in productions of the Ballet (1997 – 1999), piano accompanist and conductor assistant in the Opera (1999 – 2001). At the same time, he was active in Zagreb, especially at the Music Academy, where was a lecturer of theory subjects (1988 – 1989), senior lecturer at the Department of Composition and Music Theory (from 1998), Associate Professor (from 2005) and Full Professor since 2009. He has left an important trace on the Music Biennale Zagreb, first as its producer (1987 and 1989), and later as its artistic director (from 1997 until 2011). He was the director of the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra from 2001 until 2005, as well as the artistic director of the national festival Osor Musical Evenings (from 2009 until 2011), and a president volunteer of the Jeunesses Musicales Croatia. He was a founder and artistic director (from 2001 until 2011), and since 2011 the honorary artistic director of the Cantus Ensemble, which up until now first performed more than 300 works by national and international composers. Berislav Šipuš composed over fifty pieces of different genres for which he received many national and international awards: the University of Zagreb Rector’s Prize (1985), the first and the third prize at the 15th International Competition of Music Youth (Belgrade, 1985), the Seven Secretaries of SKOJ Award (1985), the Music Biennale Zagreb Award (1987), the Award of the Croatian Music Institute (1988), the Josip Štolcer Slavenski Award (1995), the Boris Papandopulo Award of the Croatian Composers’ Society (2002 and 2009), the Vladimir Nazor Award (2009), the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts Award (2012), etc. He was awarded the medal Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of France (2004), as well as the medal Order of Danica Hrvatska with the face of Marko Marulić (2009). Since December 2011, Berislav Šipuš was filling the post of Deputy Minister of Culture of Republic of Croatia, and in April 2015 he was appointed Minister of Culture of the Republic of Croatia.

The composition Gonars Trio, premiered by Trio Orlando in 1990 in Osor, is described in composer’s own words: ‘The work was created in fragments. First the epilogue itself was developed that carries a special title Ultimo Canto (The Last Song). Then the first movement emerged, almost according to Messiaen’s ‘instructions’, a slow introduction from nowhere, harmonies that ‘descend

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from somewhere’, looking for... togetherness... three instruments in unison, a monody that moves in hops, in some form of quick dance, powerful, loud, strong, followed by and even quicker dance, and even quicker movement, with a rhythmical structure that deliberately seeks, as someone would say ‘not polyrhythmics, but non–rhythmics’, ‘musica non misurata’... After the ‘course’, the static climax, the encore of the ‘hopping’ subject matter from the beginning... but now each (instrument) with itself... piano the only one in ‘thickened’ chords calls from a melody of large, wide movements — gaps..., and the violin and the cello are already enclosed into their own worlds... And then a calm–down, calmness... The title of the work is a peculiar way of my life at that period. Namely, at that time I often travelled on the route Milano – Zagreb, driving along a small place Gonars in Northern Italy, close to the Slovenian border... I think that my best bars, formal solutions, bridges, themes, motives I heard exactly there, around that place... I drove and sang, composed, listened and then sang again, tempted, tried and the Gonars sounded in my ears then just like music at that period of time... .’

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827) started working on his Piano Trio in B-flat major, Op. 97 in 1810, and finished it already at the beginning of 1811. The work is dedicated to the composer’s student, the son of the former Emperor Leopold II and the grandson of Maria Theresa and Joseph II, the Archduke Rudolf of Austria, who will later on become the Archbishop of Olmütz. For this reason, the trio is subtitled ‘The Archduke.’ This was not the only work the composer dedicated to his blueblood student. Some of Beethoven’s other famous works were dedicated to him as well, for example The Fourth and The Fifth Concerto for piano and orchestra, Missa solemnis, Great Fugue and Hammerklavier sonata. The trio is a crown of the composer’s middle creative period, a magnificent music for trio of virtuoso musicians (in Beethoven’s music, piano is not the only prominent instrument – violin and cello are also equal participants in the musical dialogue), but it is also a work that brought new life into the piano trio as a form. In spite of significant contributions by Haydn and Mozart, Beethoven was the one who created a mature piano trio by using the force of melody invention, virtuosity, depth of expression and skillful handling of form, thus opening the path for romantic works by composers such as Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms and Dvorák. In the first movement, the piano presents the themes, which are then developed by the strings. The second movement is a carefree scherzo with a somewhat darker central section; dance themes are now presented by the strings and only later move to the piano section. Calm Andante is written in the form of variations on the singable theme of a gentle movement, while the dreamy atmosphere is interrupted by the last movement, which – without a pause – brings playful, swirling motions.

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Benjamin Britten once said that the period in which Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828) composed the cycle Winterreise, Symphony in C major, last three piano sonatas, String Quintet in C major and a great number of other famous compositions was ‘the richest and most productive eighteen months in music history’. Franz Schubert composed the String Quartet in C major two months before his death, in the summer of 1828. This chamber music master piece was his last instrumental work. It amazes with its expressiveness, harmonic richness and the thick, dark sound which was accomplished by using two violoncellos instead of two violas. Schubert sent his Quintet to a publisher already in 1828, but, in his reply, the publisher asked him to send instead his vocal and piano pieces in a more ‘popular’ style, which audience accepted best. This is why it took 22 years for the composition to be first performed – a period during which Schubert gradually stopped being seen only as a composer of vocal music, and interest in his until then marginalized chamber and orchestral works awoke.

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You can find the biographies of Monika Leskovar and Giovanni Sollima at p. 55 ‐ 56.

Boris Brovtsyn was born in 1977. After graduating from Moscow’s Central Music School in 1994, he entered the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory where he studied with Maya Glezarova. During his time there he became a laureate of international competitions, such as Georg Kulenkampf (1994, Cologne), Transnet (1996, Pretoria) and Yehudi Menuhin (1998), before graduating with top honours in 1999. He became a student of David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2000, and in 2004 he won the GSMD’s highest award, the Gold Medal (past winners include Jacqueline du’Pre, Tasmin Little and Bryn Terfel). In 2001 he was a finalist at the Queen Elizabeth Violin Competition and won the 2001 Reuters Prize. The following year he won the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition. Brovtzyn appeared among others with Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Orchestre National de Lille, Orchestre BBC Philharmonic, CBSO Birmingham, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège, Sinfonieorchester Basel, Berner Symphonieorchester, Warsaw Philharmonic, Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra and Utah Symphony Orchestra. He has performed at Verbier Festival, Lugano Festival, Edinburgh Festival, Oxford Chamber Music Festival, Ryedale Festival, Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival and in the ‘George Enescu’ Festival among others. As a soloist, Boris has worked with Sir Neville Marriner, Yuri Bashmet, Gerd Albrecht, Marek Janowski, Neeme Järvi, Louis Langrée, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Gilbert Varga, Antoni Wit, Alexander Lazarev, Vassily Sinaisky,

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Vladimir Fedoseev, Alain Lombard and Arvo Volmer to name but a few. He plays regularly in chamber music concerts with such colleagues as Janine Jansen, Maxim Rysanov, Amihai Grosz, Boris Andrianov, Anastasia Voltchok and others.

Violinist Giovanni Guzzo was born in Venezuela to parents of Italian and Venezuelan heritage. He has captivated audiences around the world with his unique and passionate approach to his performances. Giovanni started his musical studies with the piano at the age of five and violin at the age of six under the guidance of Emil Friedman and Luis Miguel Gonzales. At the age of 12 he became the youngest violinist to win 1st prize at the National Violin Competition Juan Bautista Plaza in Venezuela. A protégé of the renowned French virtuoso violinist Maurice Hasson, Giovanni was granted a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London, from where he graduated with the highest honours. He previously studied with Zakhar Bron at the

‘Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia’ in Madrid. A keen recitalist and chamber musician, Giovanni has worked closely with some of today’s leading musicians, including Martha Argerich, Joshua Bell, Colin Carr, Martin Fröst, Daniel Hope, Stephen Hough, Mats Lidstrom, Gerhard Schulz, Gábor Takács-Nagy, the Maggini and Takacs Quartets and Maxim Vengerov, to name but a few. His talent has been recognised with numerous awards including Her Majesty the Queen’s commendation for Excellence, Gold medal at the Marlow Music Festival 2006, HRH Princess Alice’s Prize, PROMIS award given by the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Manoug Parikian and Myra Hess award. Giovanni has performed on several occasions for the Britich Royal Family. Giovanni continues to perform as soloist in some of the most prestigious venues around the world, including the Wigmore Hall and Zurich Tonhalle, and is a regular guest at the Verbier Festival, Schloss Cappenberg and Mecklenburg Vorpommern festivals. He is thr principal guest leader of the Budapest Festival Orchestra. Giovanni Guzzo plays on a 1709 Antonio Stradivarius Violin, kindly on extended loan to him by Philanthropist Jonathan Moulds.

Awarded the highest Slovenian prize for cultural achievement (the Prešeren Award), Aleksandar Milošev is a versatile artist with a broad range of stylistic interests. Recently appointed as Principal Viola of the Philharmonia Orchestra, Aleksandar Milošev has also appeared as a soloist with the Zagreb Soloists ensemble, under the baton of Marc Coppey, En Shao and Uroš Lajovic, and with the Slovenian Philharmonic, Zagreb Philharmonic and Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestras. Aleksandar has collaborated with many renowned artists, such as Bruno Giuranna, Rocco Filippini, Jan Talich, Franco Gulli, Julian Rachlin, Irena Grafenauer, Radovan Vlatkovic, Gautier Capucon, Viktoria Jagling, Alexandar Rudin, Richard Tognetti, Christian Altenburger and Edin Karamazov. An avid chamber musician, Aleksandar is

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also a founding member of The Tartini String Quartet which has performed in many prestigious venues around the world. He has performed in many chamber festivals including the Colmar Chamber Music Festival, Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Maribor Musical September, Ljubljana Summer Festival and Samobor Festival. He is currently principal violist with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, and has held previous positions with the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra in London, Zagreb Soloists, Deutsche Kammer Orchester and Arturo Toscanini Orchestra. CD recordings include Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Mozart’s flute quartets with Davide Formisano for Italian label Stradivarius, and many recordings with the Tartini String Quartet. Aleksandar currently teaches viola at the Zagreb Music Academy in Croatia as well as at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London.

Giuseppe Andaloro, considered one of the leading international concert pianists of his generation, was born in Palermo in 1982. He is a first prize winner of the Hong Kong International Piano Competition 2011 (Chairman of the Jury: Maestro Vladimir Ashkenazy), the Bolzano Ferruccio Busoni Competition in 2005, the London World Piano Competition in 2002, and several other competitions in Japan, Portugal and Italy. In 2005 he was given the Award of Artistic Merit by the Italian Ministry of Culture. His repertoire ranges from Frescobaldi to Ligeti and his contemporaries. Giuseppe Andaloro he has performed at renowned festivals, including those of Salzburg FestSpiel, the Ruhr-Klavier, the Due Mondi of Spoleto, the George Enescu of Bucarest, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Young Prague, the Pleven, the Ravello, the Beirut Al Bustan Festival, the Rittergut Bennigsen of Hannover, the Lindau Bodensee, the Duszniki-Zdrój Chopin, the Festival of Brescia and Bergamo, the Bregenzer Festspiel, the Jiménez of Morelia, the Liepaja Piano Stars, the Sendai Classical, the Beijing Music Festival and others. He has toured with internationally acclaimed orchestras, includig Philharmonische Camerata Berlin, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, London Chamber Group, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphonic Orchestra National of Porto, Orchestra Sinfonica del Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Orchestra del Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, and Orchestra Sinfonica del Teatro San Carlo di Napoli. He has collaborated with the famous conductors, including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Gianandrea Noseda, Tomasz Bugaj, Julian Kovatchev, Alan Buribayev, Michael Güttler, Andrew Parrot, Donato Renzetti, Umeda Toshiaki, Ola Rudner, Alexander Shelley, Arturo Molina, Alberto Martini, Daniele Moles, Peter Altrichter, Gyorgy G. Ráth, Günter Neuhold, Daniele Giorgi, Giuseppe Lanzetta, Gustavo Guersman, Maffeo Scarpis, Lothar Koenigs, Johannes Wildner; and in duos and ensembles with various distinguished artists, including Sarah Chang and Sergej Krylov. Giuseppe Andaloro has served on juries for international piano competitions, and given international master-classes.

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Thursday, August 6, 9 pm Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Osor

MONIKA LESKOVAR & FRIENDS Boris Brovtsyn, violin Giovanni Guzzo, violin Aleksandar Milošev, viola Monika Leskovar, violoncello Giovanni Sollima, violoncello Giuseppe Andaloro, piano

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Luigi Boccherini: String Quintet (Quintettino) in D Major, Op. 40. No. 2, G. 341 Grave assai Fandango Minuetto. Allegro Ivana Kiš: By Serious Immobilities (first performance)

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Giacomo Puccini: Crisantemi, elegy for string quartet Robert Schumann: Piano Quintet in E-flat Major, Op. 47 Sostenuto assai – Allegro ma non troppo Scherzo: Molto vivace Andante cantabile Finale: Vivace

In the opus of the Italian composer and virtuoso cellist LUIGI BOCCHERINI (1743 – 1805) his own instrument, the cello, takes on a very important role. This can be seen already in Boccherini’s string quartets, which follow the tradition of Haydn, but in which the cello is given a much more important role than just filling in the harmonies. A special love and affinity for the unique

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sound of the cello is also reflected in Boccherini's string quintets, in which instead of two violas, which was the standard, he uses two cellos. Boccherini began composing string quintets during his service for Don Luis, at the Spanish court, and he composed more than a hundred of them. Because of the characteristic rhythm of the Spanish fandango in the central movement of the STRING QUINTET IN D MAJOR, OP. 40, NO. 2, G. 341, composed in 1788, the whole piece is referred to as the Fandango Quintet. The work is one of six ‘small quintets’ (quintettinos) from Boccherini's opus 40. Boccherini later arranged the movements from this quintettino and used them in another, more popular work, his Quintet for guitar and strings in D Major, G. 448, which also carries the subtitle Fandango.

Ivana Kiš (Zagreb, 1979) studied composition at the Academy of Music in Zagreb with Professor Marko Ruždjak, from which she graduated in 2002. In 2003 she started her studies at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague with Louis Andriessen, Gilius van Bergeijk and Diderik Haakma Wagenaar. In 2006 she completed her master’s degree studies with the concert Sell yourself in the marketplace. Kiš’s compositions have been performed by many ensembles (ASKO, Maarten Altena Ensemble, Cantus Ensemble, Netherlands Wind Ensemble, Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, Croatian Radiotelevision Symphony Orchestra). For the last few years she has been writing and performing several music theater pieces. In her later pieces she is connecting music with drama and/or visual elements. She lives in Israel where she’s teaching music at the School of Arts in Tel Aviv and the Music Conservatory in Kiryat Ono.

‘The piece is written for strings and piano. I treated the string instruments as a string ensemble: they are not a group of soloists and they are completely dependant on each other. The piano is not playing as a part of the ensemble, but is presenting the same material in the different role. The central idea of the piece is incapability of movement. I wrote the majority of the piece while being sick with disease which made every movement of every part of my body very painful. Originally, it was not my idea to deal with that issue in the piece, but it seems that subconsciously I built it into the music. In the end it turned out to be the major idea of the music progressions: the need to move and the incapability to do so. The title is a quote from the introduction text of Satie’s Vexations. My piece is in no way connected with the Satie’s piece (though I love that and other Satie’s works). I just liked these words and their order.‘ (I. K.)

Giacomo Puccini (1858 – 1924) was primarily a stage work composer. His instrumental works are few in number and little known. Yet, one work was more successful on concert stages than the others – Crisantemi, an elegy for string quartet. The story goes that Puccini composed this elegy in

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just one night in 1890, shaken by the news of the death of Amedeo of Savoy, the Duke of Aosta. Melancholic movement overflowing with strong emotions introduces two themes of mourning character – the first being more restless and filled with pain, while the other is more wistful and gentler. Puccini will again use both themes in his opera Manon Lescaut that he will finish three years later.

Oeuvre of Robert Schumann (1810 – 1856) could in an unusual way be divided into musical genres. In certain stages of his creative oeuvre, the composer dedicated himself almost exclusively to a single musical area, a genre or an instrument. From 1831 to 1839 he worked on piano pieces, 1840 is now commonly referred to as the year of Lied, and in 1841 Schumann wrote symphonies. 1842 is often referred to as the year of chamber music. Until then, the composer only superficially worked with chamber forms, but that year, in just six months, he composed three string quartets, a piano quintet and various works for other ensembles, including Phantasiestücke, Op. 88 for piano trio and Piano Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 47, that we will hear tonight. This marked a return to smaller ensembles after a year in which he wrote his first two symphonies, a return that was likely initiated by his study of string quartets by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, which lasted from April to June of that year, as could be seen by the entries in his diary. Schumann composed the Quartet for Count Wielhorsky, an excellent amateur cellist, who premiered the work along with the pianist Clara Schumann, violin virtuoso Ferdinand David, and the composer Niels W. Gade on viola in 1844 in Leipzig. The Quartet begins with short, slow introduction that reappears twice in the first movement, though in a somewhat different form. This is followed by a theme (derived from the introductory motif) that dominates the movement. Candescent Scherzo of ominous omen evokes Mendelssohn’s movements in which the worlds of ghosts and fairies are invoked, but is interrupted by two trios of less charge colored in the same mood. The third movement is one of Schumann’s most romantic works, an exceptionally sensitive and wistful movement, with broad melody first introduced by cello that is then taken over by the first violin. The central section is conceived as an interlude, followed by the reappearance of the material from the beginning. The movement ends in a pedal tone in cello, above which one can see the outline of the main theme of the next movement. In the last, incandescent movement Schumann uses numerous fugato sections in which the voices are densely intertwined to create an expression of unstoppable energy that fills even the moments of lyrical respite.

You can find the biographies of the performers at p. 60 ‐ 62.

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Danijel Detoni, piano

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Davorin Kempf: Three Views of Osor CathedralView from AntiquityView of the Bell TowerView of the Altar (Introibo ad Altare Dei)

Domenico Scarlatti: Sonata for harpsichord in G Major, K. 55Sonata for harpsichord in D minor, K. 9Sonata for harpsichord in F Major, K. 82

Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109 Vivace ma non troppo. Adagio espressivo Prestissimo Gesangvoll, mit innigster Empfindung. Andante molto cantabile ed espressivo

Srđan Dedić: All that Blues

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Maurice Ravel: Sonatina Modéré Mouvement de menuet Animé

Franz Liszt: The Forgotten Waltz No. 1, S. 215/1

Petrarch Sonnet No. 123, from the cycle Years of Pilgrimage: Second Year – Italy, S. 161

Hungarian Rhapsody No. 7, S. 244/7

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Davorin Kempf (Virje, 1947) graduated in piano from the Music Academy in Zagreb (under Stjepan Radić) in 1971, conducting (Igor Gjadrov) in 1972, and composition (Stjepan Šulek) in 1973. He continued his studies in composition (as a grantee of German Academic Exchange Service) at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart (Milko Kelemen, Erhard Karkoschka) during the 1975- 76 academic year, and at the Musikhochschule Köln (Mauricio Kagel, Joachim Blume, Hans - Ulrich Humpert) during the 1976-77 academic year. He completed graduate study in composition/music (Fulbright Grant) at the University of Iowa in the U.S. (Donnald Martin Jenni, Kenneth Gaburo) in 1990, receiving a Master of Arts degree. In 1994 and 1997 he carried out his short-term studies/researches (as a grantee of German Academic Exchange Service) at the Technische Universität Berlin, Elektronisches Studio (Folkmar Hein). He earned his PhD degree from the Freie Universität Berlin, Fachbereich Philosophie und Geisteswissenschaften (Albrecht Riethmüller) in 2006. Since 1995 he has been working as a Professor at the Academy of Music of the University of Zagreb in the Department of composition and theory of music. From 1996 to 2004 he was the Artistic Manager of the Požega Organ Evenings. He holds the status of a Composer in Residence of the Zagreb Philharmonic. His compositions have been performed at concerts and festivals in Croatia and abroad, as well as broadcasted in various radio and television programmes. His doctoral dissertation Symmetrie und Variation als kompositorische Prinzipien: Interdisziplinäre Aspekte was published in 2010 by Books on Demand, Norderstedt, FR Germany. He has created music broadcasts for Croatian Radio. He has given lectures on music at the Ruđer Bošković Institute in Zagreb, International Symposium CroArtScia2011, Symmetry: Art&Science in Zagreb, universities in Iowa City, Graz, Ljubljana and Maribor, as well as at the international congresses in San Francisco, Dublin and Washington, D.C. He is the recipient of the annual awards Josip Štolcer Slavenski and Vladimir Nazor (1986), the Porin discographic award (2011), the Vladimir Nazor Annual Award (2012); the International Award of Recognition (1991) and the Twenty-five Year Achievement Award (1992) both presented by the American Biographical Institute.

Three Views of the Osor Cathedral (2007) is a piano triptych where the titles of movements — View From the Past, View of the Bell–Tower and View of the Altar (Introibo ad altare Dei) — point towards the visual–cum–acoustic and spiritual connotations and inspirations. Setting out from the expanse of the historical vista, and focussing on the exterior (the bell–tower from which the sound spreads through time and space), the composition ends with the entry into the church. The final view stops in contemplation at the altar as an architectural and spiritual centre of a church.

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During Domenico Scarlatti’s (1686 – 1757) life, only a fraction of his opus was published. The printed editions of his works from that time include a collection of 30 exercises for a keyboard instrument (published in the late 1730s in London), that soon became popular and were widely used, especially for home music practices. More systematic study and collection of his works revealed that it actually consists of an impressive 555 sonatas for keyboard instruments. The composer himself refers to these works as exercises – Essercizi per gravicembalo, and the word ‘sonata’ that is added to them does not indicate the form that will develop at a future time, merely that these are works to be played on an instrument (suonare = play), unlike the cantata that is intended for voice (cantare = sing). All the sonatas are short, mainly consisting of one- or two-part movements. During the first part of his career the composer lived in the shadow of his father, composer Alessandro Scarlatti, but from 1719, when he left for Portugal, and then Spain, where he worked as a court musician, he outdid his father. His sonatas for harpsichord left a permanent mark in the music history. With these compositions he improved the possibilities of playing harpsichord and explored new harmonic and rhythmic areas. Sonata in G major, K. 55 is playful and bravura and reveals the technical skills of a performer. Sonata in D minor, K. 9 is often referred to as the Pastoral, undoubtedly because of the ease of temperament, lyricism of expression and cheerful atmosphere. By contrast, Sonata in F major, K. 82, just like Sonata in G major, is a technical exercise in quick tempo

Sonata for piano No. 30 in E-flat major, Op. 109 is one of the last three sonatas for piano that Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827) composed. It was written in 1820 and belongs to his late composing style. In these pieces he achieved the most profound degree of personal expression and introspection. In all three sonatas Beethoven partly breaks the classical sonata, abandoning the traditional arrangements and movement forms and exploring new possibilities. In case of Sonata Op. 109, this is evident in an unusual arrangement of movements – none of the movements are where one expects them to be. The first movement is marked as Vivace – but after only eight bars it descends into a gentle Adagio espressivo, which sounds as a free fantasy, a dreamy improvisation. It is followed by a perturbed, short Prestissimo, and the sonata ends with a movement that delivers expressive theme and its six variations.

Srđan Dedić (Zagreb, 1965) graduated in composition in the class of Stanko Horvat at the Zagreb Music Academy in 1989. He specialized in electronic music at the University of Strasbourg in the class of François-Bernard Mâche, and at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam with Geert van Keulen. In 1998 and 1999 he studied composition with Joji Yuasa in Tokyo. Since 2005 he has been teaching at the Department of composition and music theory of the

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Music Academy in Zagreb. Respectable orchestras and musicians perform his compositions, such as the Louisville Symphony Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Korean Chamber Orchestra, Zagreb Philharmonics, Croatian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, Slovenian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, Cantus Ensemble, Penderecki String Quartet, Bruxelles Philharmonic Orchestra, etc. He has received numerous awards, such as the first prize at the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers in Paris in 1988, Music Biennale Zagreb Prize for student orchestral compositions in 1989, Croatian Music Institute Award in 1990, and the first prize at the 29th Contemporary Music Festival in Indiana in 1995. In 2011 he won the Josip Štolcer Slavenski Award for the composition Symphonic Movement first performed by the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra. ’

‘For more than a hundred years a fascinating 12-bar harmony progression has served as the foundation for improvisation to blues or jazz musicians as well as to musicians in other genres. In the composition All That Blues progression became the harmonic basis for five variations that use the elements of my experience of contemporary music, but it also contains blues overtones. Variations are divided by a contemplative motif in the bass register. The composition was written for the Dutch pianist Marcel Worms, who recorded it for the album New Blues for Piano containing contemporary compositions inspired by blues, while the score was published by the US-German publisher Peermusic.’ (S. D.)

The Sonatina for piano developed from a movement which Maurice Ravel (1875 – 1937) began composing for the competition organized by the Weekly Critical Review magazine. Since the magazine lost the money intended as the reward, Ravel turned out to be the only competitor, but he was disqualified because his movement exceeded the limit of 75 bars by several bars. After the competition failed, Ravel decided to use what he had composed and write another two movements. He probably completed the Sonatina for piano in 1905. The piece is typical of Ravel’s early work – it is gleeful and light in colour. The diminutive ‘sonatina’ in this case refers to the length of the piece, and not the level of technical challenge or expressiveness of the content. The Sonatina is Ravel’s homage to the elegance and structure of a classical sonata.

In his youth, Franz Liszt (1811 – 1886) wrote many waltzes, such as Valse de bravoure, Valse mélancolique, Valse-Impromptu, but then he made a pause that lasted for almost forty years before returning to this stylized dance movement. Between 1881 and 1885 he composed Four Forgotten Waltzes, whose melodic and rhythmic characteristics remind of salon waltz cliches, although he dressed them in a new harmonic attire. These waltzes are merely one part of the

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‘forgotten’ compositions – a series of works that Liszt marked as forgotten in their titles, and which he composed in his later composing period, during which he went through a personal crisis, loneliness, resignation and ponderings on death.

The cycle of piano compositions entitled Years of Pilgrimage is considered to be a masterpiece of Franz Liszt, a sublimation of his style. Liszt worked on the cycle for more than twenty years. The second volume of the cycle was composed in the period between 1837 and 1849. It is set in Italy, and unlike the previous book set in Switzerland, it does not evoke the country’s sights and atmospheres, but impressions of the masterpieces of Italian art. Liszt finds his inspiration in the works of Raphael, Michelangelo, Dante, but also in the sonnets from Petrarch’s Canzoniere. As a template for Three sonnets of Petrarch (Sonnets 47, 104, 123) Liszt used his tenor lieder composed some ten years earlier. In the Sonnet No. 123, I’ vidi in terra angelici costumi (I saw angelic virtue on earth) Liszt creates the atmosphere of peaceful sublimity, depicting the angelic appearance of the poet’s sweetheart, as well as the celestial heights Petrarch writes about.

Franz Liszt composed his 19 Hungarian Rhapsodies in the period between 1846 and 1853, and again later, from 1882 to 1885. He probably decided to compose this celebration of his homeland after visiting Hungary in 1839, after13 years of absence. In the Hungarian Rhapsodies Liszt uses many melodies which had at that time been considered to belong to Hungarian traditional music. Liszt might have heard them played by various groups, especially Romani ensembles. Many of these melodies were not authentic, but composed by Liszt’s contemporaries ‘in Hungarian style’. The influence of Hungarian Romani music is particularly recognizable – Liszt successfully interwove them into his compositions. All Hungarian Rhapsodies have been composed by stringing together slow and fast sequences modeled on the Hungarian dance verbunkos.

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Pianist Danijel Detoni (Zagreb, b. 1983) started his musical education in Zagreb, in the class of Olga Detiček. He studied piano in the class of Lászlo Baranyay and Balázs kecskés at the Liszt Ferenc academy of Music in Budapest and later in the class of Itamar Golan at the Paris Conservatory. He attended master classes and lessons given by artists as Pnina Salzman, Emanuel Krasovsky, Hamsa Al-Wadi, Felix Gottlieb, Pál Éder and Dénes Várjon. He performed at prestigious festivals as a soloist and a chamber musician, such as: Music Biennale Zagreb, Festival Musica Danubiana Ljubljana, Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Osor Musical Festival, Julian Rachlin & Friends,

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Transeuropéenes in Rouenu, Schleswig-Holstein in Hamburgu, ReMusica in Prištini, Carniarmonie in Udine and Trieste Prima in Trieste. Danijel has played with artists such as Itamar Golan, Boris Brovtsyn, Gábor Boldoczki, Boris andrianov, Irvin Venyš, Pavel Vernikov, Tsugio Tokunaga, David Aaron Carpenter and ensembles like the Zagreb Philharmonic, the Dušan Skovran String Orchestra, Budapest Strings, Beijing Symphony Orchestra and others. He regularly makes recordings for Croatian radio. Being a dedicated chamber musician since his early age he won the first prize in duo with Márta Deák at the Leó Weiner state Competition for Chamber Music in Budapest in 2003, and in 2006, he received the award of the Israeli Isman Foundation for his extraordinary interpretation of Ligeti’s music. Danijel was awarded as the best young musician in 2008 by the Croatian Jeunesses Musicales. He has been teaching at the Zagreb Music Academy since 2009.

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Papandopulo Quartet Nikola Fabijanić, soprano saxophone Gordan Tudor, alto saxophone Goran Jurković, tenor saxophone Tomislav Žužak, baritone saxophone

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Gordan Tudor: Several miniatures for saxophone quartet

Marko Ruždjak: Arioso Ivan Končić: Perpetuum Mobile Phone Boris Papandopulo (arr. Ivan Batoš): Study No. 4

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Gioacchino Rossini / Gaetano di Bacco: Rossini… per quattro Philippe Geiss: Patchwork Margareta Ferek Petrić: Melankolija gegen rakija

Saxophonist and composer Gordan Tudor (b. 1982) was educated in Split, Zagreb, Amsterdam and Paris. He is the winner of many national and international saxophone competitions. He performed all around Europe and North America in various chamber ensembles and as a soloist in many orchestras. Gordan plays alto saxophone in the Papandopulo Quartet. He received the Rector’s Award, the Judita Award for the best musical achievement on 52nd Split Summer Festival, the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra Award for the best young musician in Croatia, the Lions Club Grand Prix, the second prize on the Mare nostrum international composers’ competition in Berlin, the fellowship of Rudolf and Margita Matz Foundation, the Porin Award for best classical

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music composition, and many others. As an interpreter, he first performed about thirty compositions by Croatian and foreign composers. He composed in various genres and for many combinations of instruments. He is the art director of the festival Days of New Music in Split where once a year he invites eminent musicians from all over the world. He teaches saxophone. He is assistant professor on the Split Academy of Arts, a teacher at Josip Hatze Music School and a visiting professor of saxophone on the Music Academy in Novi Sad (Serbia). He is currently recording his first CD for the Cantus label. He spent thesummer of 2011 in residence on the Bang on a Can summer festival in USA.

‘The piece Several miniatures was written in spring of 2007, in the urging of former university professors – Dragan Sremec and the Zagreb Saxophone Quartet. My intention was to compose 10 miniatures and connect them in a whole. During this period I was rediscovering my hometown Split, after seven years of living away from the city (I would say, the most important seven years in the life of a 25-year-old, because it’s always the last few years that matter the most). Images that inspired me to compose these pieces would remain unnoticed to somebody else, but to me they were worth the attention. For instance, children’s ride on karets along the streets of Veli Varoš, night sky above Marjan, swimming in April, shopping centers or the ‘famous‘’new riva. I’ve intentionally avoided giving titles to the movements, not wanting to impose my own images to others. The piece, in its final form, contains 13 miniatures. Zagreb Saxophone Quartet performed it for the first time in Osor, in July 2007.’ (G. T.)

Composer and Academician Marko Ruždjak (1946 – 2012) graduated in 1968 in clarinet, and in 1972 in composition, in the class of Milo Cipra, from the Music Academy in Zagreb. He furthered his education in composition with Ivo Malec and Pierre Schaeffer in Paris, and Milko Kelemen at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne. Soon thereafter he became a professor of theoretical subjects at the Music Academy in Zagreb, where he also became a regular professor of composition in 1990. Ruždjak was also the editor of publications at the Zagreb Concert Management, and the head of its Music Information Centre. He is the author of a large, varied and multiply rewarded oeuvre, which, due to the unique compositional aesthetics, holds a special place in Croatian contemporary music. He was awarded, amongst others, two Seven Secretaries of SKOJ Awards, the Vjesnik Josip Slavenski Award, the Vladimir Nazor Award, the Boris Papandopulo Award, the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts Award, and others, and he also won three Croatian discography Porin Awards. Besides his inestimable contribution to Croatian music, often dedicating his works to particular Croatian performers and ensembles, Ruždjak will also be remembered by his colleagues and students as an exceptional pedagogue and music connoisseur. His oeuvre

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was marked by chamber music pieces in which his instrument, clarinet, and other wind instruments, as well as voice, often have a prominent role.

Arioso (written in 1990) is dedicated to the Zagreb Saxophone Quartet. In the one-movement composition, Ruždjak contrasts two basic situations: in the first one, which we hear right at the beginning, he is treating the quartet as a single organism, exploring the possibilities of colors in a uniform and joint progression of all four voices; however, in the second situation he gives voice to certain instruments through the use of a rhythmically more indented framework. Alternating change of approach is accomplished slowly, while always maintaining moderation and an austere expression typical for Ruždjak.

Ivan Končić (Dubrovnik, July 21, 1988) was born into a musical family. After primary and secondary music education in the Luka Sorkočević Art School in Dubrovnik, he entered the Academy of Music in Zagreb, where he graduated in composition in the class of Professor Željko Brkanović. His graduate thesis, the symphony Elements, was first performed in a concert for the Academy of Music held by the Zagreb Philharmonic conducted by Maestro Tomislav Fačini. In 2011, he won the third prize for the composition Motifs with variations at the international competition for composing Franz Josef Reinl Stiftung. He received the Dean’s Award of the Academy of Music in the academic year 2010/2011 for this achievement. He also won the Rector’s Award of the University of Zagreb in the academic year 2012/2013 for his composition The Raven – the final project of his undergraduate studies. In collaboration with the Marin Držić Theater in Dubrovnik he worked as a composer for the play Misunderstanding, directed by Dario Harjaček. The composition Pandora, written on the commission of the Music Biennale Zagreb, was first performed in 2015 by the Slovak ensemble of Veni Academy conducted by Maestro Marian Lejava, in collaboration with the Academy of Music in Zagreb and the New Music Group of the Elly Bašić Music School. In 2012, he won a scholarship from the Rudolf and Margita Matz Foundation for young composers. Although he passed the entrance exam for King’s College in London, and was admitted to the master studies in composition (2014/2015) there, he never went to London. He currently works at the Brkanović Music School as a teacher of music theory subjects. His works were performed in Dubrovnik, Zagreb, Split, Opatija, Novi Sad, Ljubljana and Munich.

‘Perpetuum Mobile Phone was created at the initiative of Nikola Fabijanić and Tomislav Žužak, so it is dedicated to a fantastic quartet Papandopulo that first performed it in 2015 at the Showcase of a Contemporary Sound in the great hall of the &TD Theater in Zagreb. The composition uses the traditional ABA form and the ‘perpetuum mobile’ concept to show in a humorous manner the excessive use of smart phones and the lack of true communication in today’s society. Part

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A presents the busy lifestyle dominated by cell phones. In the quiet part B, a man and a cell phone go to bed/get recharged and then wake up in a repeated part A, which – this time – contains a few absurd situations in which two men do not know what to talk about so they again turn to their toys. The repeated part A is even busier that the original one because of the use of different variations, and the composition ends with the vibrating of a cell phone that is reminding the man to pick it up and use it. Although every composition ends in silence, this time that silence is a part of the composition.’ (I. K.)

You can read more about Boris Papandopulo (1906–1991) on p. 31.

Boris Papandopulo wrote The Eight Studies for piano in 1956 and dedicated them to Svetislav Stančić, a distinguished educator and the founder of the Zagreb pianist school. The composition consists of eight virtuoso movements in different styles, from Baroque toccata to contemporary dance forms, and could be considered a kind of study in composing. While the quick études are motoric, the slow ones evoke various moods. The works contain harmony, aesthetics and rhythm of jazz and pop music. The fourth study (Allegro vivace, 3/8) is a scherzo, somewhat sarcastic waltz, whose motor rhythm and quick tempo convey the impression of an almost mechanical, unstoppable movement. The success of these short, impressive movements is manifested by their continuous performance on concert stages in Croatia and abroad.

Potpourri Rossini... per quattro by the Italian saxophonist Gaetano di Bacco introduces familiar melodies from Rossini’s operas The Barber of Seville, The Thieving Magpie, The Italian Girls in Algiers and Semiramide, as well as from the Neapolitan tarantella La Danza, arranged for a saxophone quartet – the familiar, often heard melodies are painted in a wealth of sound colors, so that they can impress us with their new attire. The composition Patchwork by the French composer Philippe Geiss (b. 1961) uses a single, recognizable material that is repeated using different instruments, then piled up and connected, creating thus some kind of a collage through which, as a contrast, other type of material is shown. In the second part of the composition dance rhythms are brought to the surface, and the players are also required to ‘play’ with their voices. Strong rhythmic pulse brings about a remarkable and energetic end of the composition. Margareta Ferek-Petrić (Zagreb, b. 1982) studied composition, under Ivan Eröd and Chaya Czernowin, and media composition under Klaus Peter Sattler at the University of music in Vienna. She was a winner of numerous scholarships and, in 2011, she received the Theodor Körner prize (preis der Stadt Wien) for her

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orchestral piece Take 7. Her works are being performed throughout europe and South america, and in 2010, a ‘portrait-concert’ of her works was presented at the Lisinski Hall in Zagreb as part of the Music Trails Concert Cycle. Margareta Ferek Petrić collaborates with a number of renowned soloists and chamber ensembles, such as the Koehne and Papandopulo quartets, ensembles Reconsil, Platypus and die Reihe, Maria Radutu, Florian Fennes and many others. She says her music stems from a combination of modern instrumental techniques, inspirations from different art forms, science, folk music from the Balkans and the orient, classical esthetics and, most of all, a deep personal need for the creation of new sounds. ‘Melankolija gegen rakija connects the world of contemporary music and jazz with a typical ‘Balkan’ expression using an (auto)ironic approach. The composer explores colors and possibilities of a saxophone quartet with a touch of humor, experimental sound and improvisation. Throughout a constant game with a 7/8 measure emphasis is put on a strong dance character, which supports the irony of composition.’ (M. F. P.)

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The Papandopulo Quartet consists of four Croatian saxophone players, all of them graduates of the Music Academy in Zagreb, in the class of professor Dragan Sremec. They continued their education at Conservatoires in Paris, Amsterdam and Vienna as well as on the masterclasses held by world renowned saxophone players. During the years at the Academy and after their graduation they were active, among the other musical activities, as a saxophone quartet under the name New Sax Quartet and accomplished a remarkable series of performances from 2000 until today. The quartet performed at many famous festivals such as Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Music Biennale Zagreb, Music Festival in Opatija, Split Summer Festival, New Music Festival in Split and Echoraum in Vienna. They also held numerous concerts in Budapest, Bard, Zagreb, Split, Zadar and other cities. The ensemble pays special attention to the promotion of new music by young Croatian and foreign composers; they have premiered pieces by Mirela Ivičević, Frano Đurović, Mattias Kranebitter, Dubravko Palanović, Tena Borić and others, without neglecting the classical music of the past centuries. Their firsd CD, published by Croatia Records, is the best selling CD of classical music in Croatia in the past few years. Performances of Papandopulo Quartet have been described in superlatives by the critics. The members of the quartet are also engaged in pedagogical work, teaching at Music Academies in Zagreb, Sarajevo and Novi Sad, music schools in Zagreb, Split, Jastrebarsko and Samobor, working as teachers on the workshops in Croatia and abroad. Together they founded School of Saxophone in Jaska, a highly successful international spring seminar for saxophone students.

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Tuesday, August 18, 9 pm Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Osor

Zagreb Guitar Quartet Tomislav Vasilj Krunoslav Pehar Melita Ivković Frane Verbanac

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Johann Sebastian Bach: Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 545 (arr. Ante Čagalj) Salamone Rossi: Sonata prima detta La Moderna (arr. Ante Čagalj) Jean-Philippe Rameau: Gavotte et 6 Doubles (arr. Ante Čagalj) Samuel Barber: Pas de deux, from Souvenirs, Op. 28 (arr. Ante Čagalj) Joseph Horovitz: Ghetto Song (arr. Ante Čagalj) Adalbert Marković: Three Impressions of Osor (arr. Ante Čagalj)

• Ivo Josipović: Allegro Minimo Astor Piazzolla: Fuga y Misterio Ernesto Lecuona: Danzas Afro-Cubanas (arr. Ante Čagalj) Danza negra La primera en la frente Lola está da fiesta La conga de media noche Aaron Copland: Danza de Jalisco (arr. Ante Čagalj)

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The earlier version of Prelude and Fugue for organ in C major, BWV 545 by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750) was written during Bach’s stay in Weimar between 1708 and 1711, but the final version of the work was created after Bach went to Leipzig. Bach once again masterfully pairs movements: Prelude is elated and powerful, while the Fugue is of noble progression. In some versions of the work, the central Largo (from the Trio Sonata BWV 529) is added to the movements, making the work a three-movement piece.

Salamone Rossi (ca. 1570 – 1630) was an Italian composer and violinist of Jewish origin. His oeuvre is at the turning point between the late Renaissance and early Baroque. Sonata prima detta La Moderna from his collection ll terzo libro de varie sonate, sinfonie, gagliarde, brandi e corrente, Op. 12, was published in 1613.

French Baroque composer Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683 – 1764) is the author of three collections or books of compositions for harpsichord, Pièces de clavecin. The third book, Nouvelles Suites de Pièces de Clavecin, published in 1726 or 1727, contains Suite in A minor that includes the movement Gavotte et 6 doubles, themes with variations. The composition attests to a mature composing style and masterful handling of the instrument. Many music historians compared this movement to Air from Händel’s Suite for harpsichord in D minor. The themes that vary indeed use very similar musical material, and in the first three variations Rameau also ‘copies’ figurations and structure of phrases. However, from then on he proceeds his own way: from the fourth variation on he introduces virtuoso shifts, challenging jumps and new playing techniques, all extremely demanding, perhaps wanting to show that he learnt from Händel, but surpassed him.

Pas de deux is a movement from the suite for four-hand piano Souvenirs (Memories), Op. 28, that Samuel Barber (1910 – 1981) composed in 1951, and in 1952 arranged for piano solo and orchestra (the latter version was used a few years later as a ballet score). Tonight, we will listen this movement in an arrangement for a guitar quartet. Suite represents composer’s memories of afternoon teas at the Plaza where his mother took him when they visited New York while he was a boy. Six movements introduce different dances that the salon orchestra could have played there around 1914, and each represents a memory of a place in New York around 1914. The movement Pas de Deux, a dance duet, conveys nostalgic atmosphere and melancholy lines that rise to a strong, passion-charged climax, after which the emotions slowly disperse.

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Joseph Horowitz (b. 1926) was born in Vienna. As a boy, he and his family emigrated to the United Kingdom in order to escape the Nazi persecution of the Jews in his native country. In the United Kingdom he became a respected conductor and composer of a relatively large opus, and was also a longtime professor at the Royal College of Music in London. In several of his compositions he used Jewish musical heritage, e.g. in the composition Ghetto Song, written in 1970 (originally for guitar solo), he paraphrased the song Belz, Mayn Shtetele Belz (Belz, my small town of Belz), that was written for the movie Cantor’s Son in 1937 by another composer of Jewish origin, the American Alexander Olshanetsky.

Composer, conductor and teacher Adalbert Marković (Zagreb, 1929 – Zagreb, 2010) graduated in composition from the Academy of Music in Ljubljana in the class of Lucijan M. Škerjanc. From 1954 he worked as a high-school teacher, then as an editor at the Radio Zagreb, and between 1961 and 1971 as a professor at the Pavao Markovac Music School. From 1972 to 1978 he taught at the Teacher Training College, and from 1978 to 1999 he was a professor at the Academy of Music in Zagreb, where he founded and for many years led the Department of Music Education. He was an outstanding promoter of amateur works. For a number of years, he successfully led several choral ensembles. His social endeavors have permanently marked the activities of the Croatian Composers’ Society where he served several terms as a president. He was ‘particularly committed to the protection of copyright, social recognition of composers’ status and to promoting Croatian music works in the country and abroad.‘ He created a large oeuvre for various ensembles (orchestral, chamber, choral, tamboura etc.) and received many awards for his artistic works, such as Vladimir Nazor Award for lifetime achievement in 1991, Award of the City of Zagreb in 1993, Boris Papandopulo Award of the Croatian Composers’ Society in 1998, Lifetime Achievement Award of the Croatian Society of Music Teachers in 1998, the Order of Danica Hrvatska with figure of Marko Marulić in 1995, Order of Danica Hrvatska with figure of Antun Radić in 1997 as well as a number of acknowledgments, plaques and awards received at various festivals.

Three Impressions of Osor (Morning, Cypresses at Noon, Mistral) were written and first performed in 1997. The work is dedicated to the Zagreb Guitar Quartet, and was inspired by the beauty of nature in a very old and at one point very important town of Osor located on the isthmus of the islands of Cres and Lošinj. Ever since, Three Impressions of Osor are part of this ensemble’s repertoire and performed on their foreign tours. In 2007, the work was performed in Montreal along with other works by Croatian (M. Miletić, T. Uhlik) and foreign authors (J. S. Bach, J. Turina, O. Peterson).

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Ivo Josipović (Zagreb, 1957) graduated from the Zagreb Faculty of Law, where he obtained his master’s degree and his doctor’s degree. Josipović pursued his studies in composition at the Zagreb Music Academy, studying with Stanko Horvat. From 1984 he worked at the Faculty of Law, and, in 2000, he became associate professor of Criminal Procedure Law and International Penal Law. He was also a professor at the Zagreb Music Academy. For a number of years he was the Director of Music Biennale Zagreb, and was Secretary-General of the Croatian Composers’ Society. He has received numerous Croatian and international prizes for his compositions, including the University of Zagreb Rector’s Prize, the Seven Secretaries of SKOJ Award, the Boris Papandopulo Award, the medal Order of Danica Hrvatska with the face of Marko Marulić, many awards at Croatian music festivals and many others. As a legal expert, Ivo Josipović has published several books and a number of scholarly and expert papers. He drafted or co-drafted a number of Croatian legislative bills. Josipović’s work has been especially dedicated to questions regarding copyright law and its implementation in Croatia. He is a member of many Croatian and international scientific and artistic organizations, including the World Academy of Art and Science. His works have been performed regularly in Croatia and abroad, and appeared in print as well as in recordings on numerous CDs. He became a member of Croatian parliament in 2003. Josipović won the Presidential elections on January 10th, 2010 and took his oath of office as President of the Republic of Croatia on February 18th, 2010. He held the position until February 2015. Allegro Minimo is a piece comissioned by the Osor Musical Evenings. It was frst performed in Osor in 2000, by the Zagreb Guitar Quartet, who performed it many times since, in Croatia and abroad.

The composer Ástor Piazzolla (1921 – 1992) was born in Argentina, in an Italian family, and as a boy he moved to New York. Although he lived there for only several years, those experiences were crucial for his later musical development and nuevo tango, the trademark of his work – a versatile mixture of the Ar- gentinian tango and different traditions of Western music, including jazz. In 1968, Piazzolla composed the tango opera María de Buenos Aires, based on a libretto by the Uruguayan poet Horacio Ferrer which brings a supernatural story about a soul’s voyage, redemption and rebirth enabled by true love. Fuga y misterio comes from the fi fth scene of the opera. After a playful tango-section with a typical Piazzolla’s sound, a short, gentle, melodic and meditative section follows, and the composition fi nally ends with the return of the vivacious tango notes.

Virtuoso Cuban pianist and composer Ernesto Lecuona (1895 – 1963) left behind more than 500 compositions, mostly works for his instrument, as well as songs, orchestral compositions, zarzuelas, operas, ballets and film music. His

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songs Malagueña, Andalucia, Siboney, and Siempre En Mi Corazon are some of the most famous melodies from the first half of the 20th century, which earned his a nickname ‘Cuban Gershwin.’ From 1943, he was the Cuban ambassador to the US, where he promoted Cuban culture until his death. DANZAS AFRO-CUBANAS is a suite of pieces inspired by Afro-Cuban dances. The suite was composed for piano originally. The Zagreb Guitar Quartet will perform four of the six dances of the suite, in an arrangement for guitar quartet. American composer and conductor

Aaron Copland (1900 – 1990) is often called ‘the dean of American composers.’ His music is regarded as the archetypal ‘American’ sound and Copland one of the most powerful promoters of American music. Through his activities and texts on theory, he encouraged fellow composers to develop their own independent, modern American music by merging elements of classical European music with jazz. The composition Danza de Jalisco (Dance from Jalisco – one of the Mexican states) was written on the commission of the opera festival Festival dei Due Mondi held in Spoleto, Italy. It was first performed in 1963, in the version for chamber orchestra. That same year Copland also wrote an arrangement for two pianos. In order to achieve the South American sound, the author used interchange between 6/8 and 3/4 measure (Bernstein used the same procedure in the song America in the musical West Side Story to evoke the atmosphere of a Latin American neighborhood in New York) and characteristic rhythmic accents.

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The Zagreb Guitar Quartet was founded in 1990 by Ante Čagalj, one of the leading guitar teachers in Croatia. Čagalj assembled the Quartet from his students and he is still the ensemble’s artistic director. The Quartet’s current members are Tomislav Vasilj, Krunoslav Pehar, Melita Ivković and Frane Verbanac. This experienced ensemble of young musicians has given a multitude of concerts in Croatia and in other countries, from Canada to India, from Russia to South Africa – including appearances at the Austrian Parliament in Vienna, Pontificio instituto di musica sacra in Rome, Les Invalides in Paris, Palazzo Pitti in Florence, Kamani Auditorium in New Delhi, Amici del Loggione del Teatro alla Scala in Milan and Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow. It has successfully appeared at several prestigious international competitions, winning first prize at Trofeo Kawai in Tortona, Italy (1996) and at Simone Salmaso in Viareggio, Italy (1998), as well as the Grand Prix at the Ghitaralia Festival Competition in Przemysl, Poland (1998, when Zbigniew Dubiella wrote in Swiat Gitary: For more than few years I haven’t heard something so exciting – after their performance, all that one could do was to get out and scream: Viva guitarra!). At the Varaždin Baroque Evenings

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in 1998, the Quartet won the Ivan Lukačić Award for the best performance of the festival. Two years later at this same festival, the Quartet treated the audience to the world premiere of Bach’s The Art of the Fugue arranged for four guitars, receiving rave reviews from Colin Cooper, the editor of the well-known magazine Classical Guitar: it was one of the most extraordinary and vivid experiences including the guitar I can remember. The Quartet has mastered a huge repertoire ranging from Renaissance and Baroque masters to contemporary composers. It is not afraid to make excursions into jazz and other music, and has made brilliant arrangements of traditional compositions from the Croatian coast and mainland. The Zagreb Guitar Quartet members are also distinguished by the special attention they pay to living Croatian composers amongst whom Željko Brkanović, Miroslav Miletić, Anđelko Klobučar, Vlado Sunko, Adalbert Marković, Sanda Majurec, Tomislav Uhlik, Ivo Josipović, Krešimir Seletković and Ivan Josip Skender have all dedicated original works to this artistically inquisitive ensemble.

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Zagreb Soloists Kaja Farszky, vibraphone

Zagreb Soloists

ViolinsSreten Krstić, concertmasterĐana KahrimanKrunoslav MarićMislav PavlinSaki Kodama-BedićIvan Novinc

ViolasHrvoje PhilipsMarko Otmačić

VioloncellosSmiljan MrčelaZlatko Rucner

Double bassMario Ivelja

HarpsichordFranjo Bilić

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Miroslav Miletić: Four Seasons, for strings and continuo Spring – La Primavera (Andante con moto) Summer – L’Estate (Andantino) Autumn – L’Autunno (Andante) Winter – L’Inverno (Vivace)

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Ivo Malec: Vibrafonietta, for vibraphone and string orchestra

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Petar Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Souvenir de Florence, Op. 70 Allegro con spirito Adagio cantabile e con moto Allegretto moderato Allegro con brio e vivace

Miroslav Miletić (Sisak, 1925) is a Croatian composer, viola player and pedagogue. Miletić graduated violin from the Zagreb Academy of Music in 1953, in the class of Prof. Stjepan Šulek and Ivan Pinkava, and chamber music in the class of Antonio Janigro. He studied composition privately, and his understanding of music was further deepened through studies in different European centers such as Salzburg, Austria and Hillversum, the Netherlands, where he studied conducting with Lovro von Matačić and Willem van Otterloo, respectively. He continued mastering his studies in Prague; viola with Ladislav Cherny, and composition with Pavel Bořkovec. As a violist, Miletić has found his full expression in chamber music. He was not only the founder and an active member of the Pro Arte String Quartet, but also the artistic director and manager. It performed at more than 2000 concerts, and edited records and CDs under his professional guidance. The majority of concerts were held outside of Croatia (then Yugoslavia), namely in Europe, Africa, former Soviet Union, and USA. The quartet has played a significant role in the Croatian music circles through well-thought-out repertoire choices pointing towards modern music, in particular Croatian music, as well as introducing this repertoire to the audiences around the world. As composer, Miletić has a unique expression that reflects his respect and devotion for Croatian national folklore. From the experience of a reproductive artist he writes symphonic music, operas, concertos for different instruments, chamber music, piano works, as well as film and children music. His special interests and skills are devoted to viola, violin and guitar compositions. His knowledge of the modern music trends and a partial use of the avant-garde music experiences in many a composition never eliminated his fascination with simplicity, even naivety, we could say, of the melodic elements and rhythmics of original folklore provenance. Every year, in his home town of Sisak, Croatia there is a two-day concert celebration in his honor entitled The Music Days of Miroslav Miletić. Miletić won many international awards and acknowledgments. Among them the Gaudeamus Foundation Award (Netherlands, 1959) for the Concerto For Viola and

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Orchestra, the Golden Lion in Venice (1960) for music for the film Piko. He is also the recipient of numerous domestic awards and prizes.

For his piece The Four Seasons, Miletić won the prestigious Josip Štolcer Slavenski Award. The jury wrote: ‘Miletić wrote his composition The Four Seasons on the commission of the Osor Musical Evenings. He did not resort to tonal painting, but to conjuring up special, personal atmospheres with his music that were inspired by the paintings of Ivan Lacković Croata and his visions of the seasons. Through it, he consistently maintains his creative orientation directed at national expression, colorful wealth of musical idiom and clear, well laid-out composing design. He dedicated his Seasons exclusively to a string ensemble with harpsichord continuo, wittily building the architecture of individual movements using two solo violins that are replaced in the second movement, The Summer, with a warm, soft sound of viola d’amore, while in the third movement he excludes harpsichord. As an experienced, active string musician, he finds varied effects and decorations in certain passages, applying mostly calm tempos through which the timbres of particular instruments become more prominent. Known for the wit of his composing procedures in the style of ‘new simplicity’ or ‘new Romanticism,’ Miletić incorporated into his work a quote from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, but he also drew on the memories of our musical heritage, in a quote from an old litany from Hvar. First reviews of the Osor performance of Miletić’s The Four Seasons highlight the masterful refinement of his string idiom, which is further evidenced by the fact that a distinguished foreign ensemble chose the score for its performances. The panel’s attention was drawn by the deeper meaning in assessing the personality of a proverbially modest composer, whose creative works very much deserve the award given to his most recent and one of his most mature works, characterized by the beauty of authentic musical inspiration.’

Composer Ivo Malec (Zagreb, 1925) graduated from the Classical Grammar School in his hometown of Zagreb. He studied art history, and then graduated in composition in the class of Milo Cipra and in conducting at the Music Academy in Zagreb. Malec moved to Paris in 1959, where he became a member of the Groupe de recherches musicales, founded in 1960. Having fi nished a course lead by Pierre Schaeffer, he participated as an assistant in the preparations for his epochal work Traîté des objets musicaux. At the same time he started composing in the new technique of musique concrète whose theoretical basis was developed by Pierre Schaeffer, but he also remained faithful to the „traditional‘ techniques of composition which he tried to enrich through his experiences in studying concrete and electroacoustic music. He was a professor of composition at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, and during eighteen years (19721990) he infl uenced

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numerous young French composers. Ivo Malec held many master classes, and widened his activity as a composer to an increasing number of methods and techniques, from orchestras to instrumental and vocal ensembles, from the stage to electroacoustic music, with a particular interest in the so-called mixte music, as well as in solo instruments. He has received numerous awards for his work as a composer.

The basis of Vibrafonietta for vibraphone and strings are Malec’s Sequences for vibraphone and strings composed in 1960. Unwilling to put his name on the first version of the work, the composer revised, one may even say completely re-written, this composition in 2001. The result was an entirely new work, which accordingly has a new title. Although determined to rewrite all of it, the composer decided to stay within the stylistic framework of the previous work, yet he could not keep more than a few fragments from it that he later developed in the context of the new composition. As a result, a true concerto for vibraphone and strings came to life. According to the composer,

‘Vibraphonietta joins the family of concertos that I composed earlier (for violin, double bass, percussion and, of course, cello), and reflects more strongly my aesthetics from the late 1950s than those from the present day.’ The work was not written in a multi-movement form, but – on the contrary – it aims to put the frequent changes of tempo and atmosphere into continuity of a single movement that extends throughout the composition, which makes it closer to the composer’s current approach. However, towards the middle of the work, there is also a ‘slow’ transition based on the ostinato repetition in five, occasionally even seven, notes that vary, easily and continuously, either in length or color (by changing the percussion rod). When it comes to the relationship between a soloist and an orchestra, the work is primarily characterized by equality throughout the composition, as suggested by the title – except, of course, in the cadence of vibraphone that allows the soloist to shine, as he/she is using the latest techniques of playing. As for the finale, this is the most energetic part that leads the composition to a tumultuous end by accumulating all the energy of the previous movements.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 –1893) originally wrote his Souvenir de Florence, Op. 70 for string sextet, but has been on the standard repertoire of chamber string orchestras for a long time. The composer dedicated the work to the memories of the Italian city of Florence, where he spent three months while working on the sextet, after finishing his opera The Queen of Spades. Upon completing the opera, he wrote to his nephew: ‘Now I am terribly, indescribably tired! And what do I need now to get me back to normal? To enjoy myself, to go on the binge? Not at all! I am going to start straight away on a large new work, but of a completely different kind; a string sextet.’ Memories

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of Florence was outlined in two weeks and orchestrated in eleven days. However, the premiere in 1890 in St. Petersburg did not fulfill the author’s expectations, so he put the work aside. A year later he decided to revise it and write a new version. We should not be fooled by the title – although the work was dedicated to Italy (in a letter to his patron and friend Nadezdha von Meck he reminisces on his stay in Florence and the quietest and most productive period of his life), Tchaikovsky still expressed ideas close to him, so that the sextet’s sound is more Russian than Italian. The reason may be that he missed the mother Russia, as he remarked in a letter to his brother Modest in which he revealed that his usually beloved Florence no longer provided pleasure as it used to: „I continue to ignore Florence; I mean I do not visit any museums or churches

– only cafes after dinner.’ [...] ‘Apparently I am much more attached to my dear fatherland than I thought; the delights of climate and nature rarely have much attraction for me.‘ The work shows that the composer was enthralled and refreshed by his productive period and had composed music of graceful expression and refreshing lightness.

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The Zagreb Soloists ensemble was founded in 1953 by the Zagreb Radio and Television under the artistic direction of the world-famous cellist Antonio Janigro. For more than five decades, under the artistic direction of several concertmasters such as Dragutin Hrdjok, Tonko Ninić, Anđelko Krpan and Borivoj Martinić-Jerčić, the ensemble has maintained the enviable quality of musicianship and played in prestigious world concert halls. All of the members are disciplined virtuoso performers, exceptional in their enthusiasm and love of chamber music-making. The ensemble has appeared in over 3500 concerts on all continents, in the greatest music centers and halls, such as Musikverein (Vienna), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Royal Festival Hall (London), Berlin Philharmonic Hall, Tchaikovsky Hall (Moscow), Santa Cecilia (Rome), Carnegie Hall (New York), Opera House (Sydney), Victoria Hall (Geneve), Teatro Real (Madrid), Teatro Colon (Buenos Aires), etc. The ensemble regularly appears in guest performances at the best-known music festivals in the world, such as those in Salzburg, Prague, Edinburgh, Berlin, Bergen, Barcelona, Istanbul, Prades Ossiach and Dubrovnik, and many eminent soloists have performed with them, such as Henryk Szeryng, Alfred Brendel, Christian Ferras, Pierre Fournier, Leonard Rose, James Galway, Jean- Pierre Rampal, Aldo Ciccolini, Katia Ricciarelli, Lily Laskine, Zuzana Ružičkova, Mario Brunello, Isabelle Moretti and Guy Touvron. So far the ensemble has recorded over seventy records and CDs for the companies Vanguard, EMI, ASV, Eurodisc, Melodia, Hispa-vox, Pickwick and Croatia Records. The Zagreb Soloists have received numerous eminent awards and prizes: the first prize in

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Mar del Plata (for the album 18th Century Concertos), the Pablo Casals Medal, the Elisabeth Sprague Coolidge Medal (for contemporary music performance), the Vladimir Nazor, Milka Trnina, Orlando, Josip Štolcer Slavenski (for the best performance of a piece by a Croatian composer), Ivan Lukačić and Villa Manin awards, the UNESCO Award, the City of Zagreb Award, the Silver CD given by Croatia Records, the Silver Merit Medal, the City of Zagreb Plaque, multiple Porin discography awards (among them the award for life achievement in 1994), the Silver Plaque of the Croatian Music Youth, and countless other awards. During the Croatian War of Independence, the Zagreb Soloists have performed about 70 charity concerts (for Dubrovnik, for the destroyed music schools in Croatia, for the destroyed building of the Croatian National Theatre in Osijek, for the Zagreb Children’s Hospital, for destroyed Croatian sanctities, etc.). In 2010 the ensemble has been awarded the Orlando Grand Prix prize for special artistic contributions in the realization of the overall program of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival. Recent recordings include a CD with Guillermo Figueroa and Pepe Romero for Naxos and an album of works by Boris Papandopulo, released by the German label CPO.

Kaja Farszky (Zagreb, 1988) is a versatile percussionist who works as a soloist, but also cooperates with numerous chamber ensembles, orchestras, music and theater artists in Croatia and abroad. Contemporary music works, including the premiers and rarely performed works in Croatia – make a significant part of her repertoire. In 2014 she received two awards – Ivo Vuljević award for the most prominent work by a young musician from the Jeunesses Musicales Croatia and the Croatian Composers’ Society award for the best performance of a composition by a Croatian author at the 47th Darko Lukić Competition. Her approach to music performance is characterized by excellence of her performance, but also by a clearly defined extramusical dramaturgical concept, carefully thought through. She dedicates equal attention to the visual elements as well as elements of the scene and her performances are characterized by a powerful artistic personality, both in the classical music performances and in the most challenging pieces of contemporary music literature. She is active in the classical, contemporary, improvisation and musical theater scene, and is the author of solo works and projects. She studied at the Academy of Music in Zagreb and the Catalonia College of Music (ESMUC) located in Barcelona, and has given numerous guest performances in Europe and the world.

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Vocal Ensemble Antiphonus Instrumental Ensemble Tomislav Fačini, artistic leadershipBojan Čičić, violin Diana Haller, mezzo-sopranoKrešimir Stražanac, baritone Ivana Lazar, soprano

Vocal Ensemble AntiphonusSopranos: Monika Cerovčec, Ana LiceAltos: Vesna Matana, Sonja RunjeTenors: Ivan Bingula, Siniša GalovićBasses: Vjekoslav Hudeček, Sreten Manojlović

Instrumental ensemble:Bojan Čičić, Silvio Richter, violinsVlatka Peljhan, violaZita Varga, violoncelloAnamarija Zajc, celtic harpTomislav Fačini, harpsichord

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Giuseppe Tartini: Sonata for violin and continuo in G minor, Op.1, No. 10, Didone abbandonata Affettuoso Presto Allegro

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Tomaso Cecchini: Amorosi concetti, third book of madrigals, Op. 7 (selection) Ch’io mi scordi di voi? Se dite che l’partir Io, senza fede? Hormai che giunta e l’ora

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Henry Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, opera in three acts

Italian Baroque composer and violinist Giuseppe Tartini (1692 – 1770) was born in Piran, in the present-day Slovenia. The largest part of his opus consists of concertos (around 135) and sonatas for violin (more than 200). Sonata for violin in G minor, Op. 1, No. 10, was published in Amsterdam in 1732 as part of the collection of twelve sonatas. The composer named it Didone abbandonata (Dido Abandoned), and according to some musicologists, it tells the story of Dido and Aeneas at the time of Aeneas’s departure from Carthage: the first movement portrays Dido’s feelings at the moment she learned that Aeneas had left, the second movement describes her anger after finding out what had happened and the third movement recounts her decision to end her own life, depicting a dignified queen who would rather face death than humiliation.

‘The most important Italian composer working in the area of Croatia in the first half of the 17th century was Tomaso Cecchini (Verona, 1580 or 1582 – Hvar, August 31 1644). Very likely in his native town, or somewhere else in Italy, he acquired a sound musical training, and arrived in Dalmatia for the first time in 1603. He stayed in Split for some time, until about 1607, and then there is no trace of him until 1612, when in Venice he published the first independent collections of monodic madrigals Amorosi concetti; in 1614 he moved to Hvar and remained there for the rest of his life. In Split, and then in Hvar, he had a variety of musical duties. He was kapellmeister for the cathedrals, singing master and organist. Like the Istrian Franciscan composer Gabriello Puliti, Cecchini acquired friends and patrons to whom he dedicated his printed works; they wrote poems and compositions in his praise. He had a family in Dalmatia, his son Franjo becoming a master organ builder. That Cecchini became assimilated to the milieux of Split, Hvar and Dalmatia in general was important; together with Šibenik’s Ivan Lukačić, he was the leading representative of the early Baroque in Croatia. Between 1612 and 1635, Cecchini published at least 27 independent collections of spiritual and profane music at the respected Venetian publishers Ricciardo Amadino and Giacomo and

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Alessandro Vincenti, including monodies, madrigals and canzonettas for several voices, psalms, motets, several collections of masses and instrumental sonatas. He introduced many musical forms into Dalmatia. Thus the collection Amorosi concetti. Madrigali voce sola facili per cantare et sonare nel clavicembalo, chitarone o liuto, libro primo (1612) was the earliest collection of Baroque compositions written for the Croatian milieu. Amorosi concetti, il terzo libro de’ madrigali, op. 7 (1616) comes from the early period of Cecchini’s work and is perhaps the most studied collection by the composer to date. In the collections Amorosi concetti I and III, in the monodies and in the duets, the early Baroque style is evident; it is close to Florentine Mannerism. These collections are an interesting testimony to the rapid reception of recent Italian compositional innovations on the eastern coast of the Adriatic. At the same time, Amorosi concetti III shows itself to be one of the watershed collections in the whole of Cecchini’s composing, seeming to be the final one of the early period, when the Veronese master was still fond of experimenting with vocal virtuosity. Later he subordinated his composing style to the more modest capacities of the performers in Split and Hvar. The high level of aesthetic organisation and their insertion into Croatian social and cultural circumstances ensure for Amorosi concetti III the position of one of the most important works of the early Croatian musical Baroque.’ (Ennio Stipčević)

Dido and Aeneas is an opera by the British composer Henry Purcell (1659 – 1695), composed to a libretto by Nahum Tate, based on the fourth book of Virgil’s Aeneid. The opera was first performed probably in 1688, but it disappeared into obscurity after several performances. It was rediscovered in 1895, when it was performed in London on the occasion of the two-hundredth anniversary of Purcell’s death. This is the only ‘real’ opera Purcell composed, and in a slightly less than an hour we get to experience a true masterpiece rich in varied music, arias, recitatives, choirs and dances, using which he masterfully shapes the personalities of the characters and places. The opera begins with an overture in the French style. Act 1Palace of Queen DidoDido, the queen of Carthage, is in her chambers, feeling sad and restless. Her sister Belinda is trying to cheer her up, but to no avail. Belinda senses that the cause of the queen’s sadness could be young Aeneas, the Trojan prince who came to Carthage following a shipwreck and concludes that the solution to Carthage’s problems could be a marriage between Dido and Aeneas. Dido, however, fears that this love could weaken her strength as a ruler, but Belinda assures her that even heroes fall in love. Aeneas arrives to the court and at first Dido receives him coldly, but after a while accepts his marriage proposal.

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Act 2Sorceress’s caveThe sorceress is planning the destruction of Carthage and Dido, and is summoning her subjects to assist her in planning. She decides to send her faithful servant, disguised as Mercury, to Aeneas in order to convince him to leave Dido and go to Italy. His departure would surely break Dido’s heart and she would have nothing left, except to die. They cause a storm that forces Dido and Aeneas to return to court.

Grove during the huntDido and Aeneas are hunting with their retinue. They stop at a grove. Their socializing is stopped by the thunder coming from far away, and Dido orders everyone to return. Everyone returns except for Aeneas, who is stopped by Mercury, who is seemingly conveying to Aeneas Jupiter’s command not to wait any longer and to go to Italy in order to found a new Troy. Aeneas is heartbroken because he has to leave Dido, but he has to obey the command of the gods. He is preparing to leave Carthage.

Act 3Port in CarthageTrojans are preparing to leave Carthage. The sailors are singing, then come the witches who are rejoicing in the success of their plan. They continue to plot how to destroy Aeneas and his fleet at sea.

CourtDido and Belinda are in disbelief over Aeneas’s sudden departure. Belinda comforts Dido. Aeneas arrives and explains the reasons for his imminent departure. Finally, he decides to defy gods and stay with Dido, but she rejects his offer as he has shown inconstancy of his love by just thinking about leaving her. She pushes him away from her and concludes that she is now left with nothing – only death, and then she dies.

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Vocal Ensemble Antiphonus was founded in 2008. Its members are musicians of various profiles who became a homogeneous group after a long period of playing together in different ensembles. Their repertoire consists of works dating from the earliest periods of European music to contemporary pieces by Croatian and foreign composers. The Ensemble has so far performed at almost all Croatian festivals (Varaždin Baroque Evenings, Music Biennale Zagreb, Contemporary Choral Music Festival, Korkyra Baroque, etc). They have held many concerts, and have recorded three concert programs for the

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Croatian Radiotelevision. In 2012, the Antiphonus performed at the Croatie, la Voici Festival of Croatian Culture in France, and performed at the celebration of Croatia joining the European Union. The Ensemble regularly performs at concerts sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, and has held concerts seasons in collaboration with the Museum of Arts and Crafts in Zagreb, and with the Zagreb Concert Management at the church of St. Catherine in Zagreb. In 2013, the Antiphonus recorded a CD of early Croatian music in collaboration with the audiophile label Opus 3. After touring Slovenia in 2014 as a part of the SEVIQC festival, the Ensemble has been invited to record Monteverdi’s madrigals and works of the Slovenian Baroque masters for the Slovenian Radio.

Tomislav Fačini (b. 1975) studied conducting at the Zagreb Music Academy in the class of Professor Igor Gjadrov. He graduated in 1996, receiving the Rector’s Award. That same year he won the second and the special prize at the Antonio Pedrotti international conducting competition in Trento, Italy. He continued his studies in Italy (at the Accademia Hans Swarowsky in Milano, in the class of Julius Kalmar) and in Germany (at the Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe, in the class of professor Andreas Weiss). He developed his conducting skills on concert and opera stages alike. He conducted the Oratory Choir of the Church of St Mark in Zagreb, Croatian Radio and Television Choir, Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, Croatian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, Croatian Chamber Orchestra, Varaždin Chamber Orchestra, Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, Croatian National Theatre Orchestras in Zagreb and Rijeka, Orchestra of the National Theater Opera in Sarajevo, Novi Sad Chamber Orchestra, Kotor Art Festival Orchestra, Haydn di Trento e Bolzano Orchestra, Baden-Baden Philharmonic Orchestra, Sicilian Symphony Orchestra, Slovenian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, and the Symphony Orchestra of the Croatian Army (he was the orchestra’s principal conductor from 2003 to 2009). He participated in all the important festivals in Croatia, and from 2006 to 2009 he was the artistic director of the Musical Evenings in St Donat. With the symphonic orchestras of the Croatian and Slovenian Radio Television he performed many concerts, and also recorded albums and music for film and audio archives. For four years in a row he conducted the International Youth Orchestra (Neumarkt, Germany) whose members are young musicians from ten countries. Between 1994 and 2008 he lead the Oratory Choir of St Mark’s church. He is the artistic leader of the Vocal Ensemble Antiphonus. He conducted several modern performances of old Croatian masters and first performed many works, promoting Croatian music whenever possible. Fačini composes and arranges symphonic, vocal and chamber music. Since 2014 he is the principal conductor of the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra. He teaches conducting at the Music Academy in Zagreb.

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Bojan Čičić originally graduated with a diploma in modern violin from the Zagreb Academy of Music. After finishing his studies at the Paris Conservatoire and The Guildhall School of Music and Drama with F. Fernandez and Rachel Podger, he embarked on a career as a chamber musician and leader using the vast and diverse musical influence he was lucky to have gained in his formative years. He regularly performs with leading ensembles and orchestras in the UK: The Academy of Ancient Music, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Florilegium. In August 2006 Trevor Pinnock asked him to be one of the soloists in the European Brandenburg Ensemble on their tour across Europe and Asia. Their recording of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos won the Gramophone Award in 2008. Since becoming the principal violinist of the ensemble Florilegium in 2010, he regularly leads this group in their various orchestral and chamber projects in the most renowned concert halls: The Wigmore Hall, the Royal Festival Hall, the Concertgebouw, and the Esplanade Concert Hall (Singapore). Bojan plays on a violin by Francesco Rugieri ca. 1680, kindly loaned to him by the Jumpstart Junior Foundation.

Born in Rijeka (Croatia), Diana Haller started her voice studies with Prof. Margareta Togunjac in her native town, where her final singing exam mark was accredited, and continued her academic studies at the Conservatorio Statale di Musica Giuseppe Tartini in Trieste (Italy) in the class of Prof. Gloria Scalchi and M° Silvano Zabeo. She finished her Bachelor studies achieving the highest mark and praise under the leadership of Prof. Cinzia de Mola. Immediately after that Diana was admitted to the Master of Arts degree at the Royal Academy of Music (London) in the class of Prof. Anne Howells and graduated with distinction (DipRAM) in only one year. After her UK studies Diana continued her Postgraduate studies at the University of Music in Stuttgart, Germany in the Soloist Opera School degree with Prof. Dunja Vejzović. She continued her studies at masterclasses of many renowned artists, such as Brigitte Fassbaender, Marjana Lipovšek, Thomas Quasthoff, Thomas Hampson, Emma Kirkby, Malcolm Martineau, Julius Drake and others. During the season 2009/10 Diana Haller was a member of the opera studio at the State Opera Stuttgart and gave her debut as Knappe in Parsifal (R. Wagner); later roles included Glascha in Katja Kabanová (L. Janáček) and Mercédès in Carmen (G. Bizet). From the season 2010/11 on she became the youngest member of the soloist ensemble starting the season with Laura in a new production of Verdi’s Luisa Miller. Future roles at the State Opera Stuttgart included Mère Jeanne in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmelites (new production) and Rossini’s Berta in Il barbiere di Siviglia. At the Rossini Bad Wildbad Festival 2011 she sang the role of Alberto in Balducci’s Il noce di Benevento, for which she was given the prestigious International Belcanto Award. In July 2011 Diana

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gave her debut with the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart (Helmuth Rilling) singing Mozart’s Requiem. She also partecipated in a Recording of Bach/Handel CD with Concerto Köln and the Bayerisches Rundfunk (P. Dijkstra). In 2012 she sang Dvorak s Requiem with the Philharmonischer Chor Köln, Mozart’s Great c-minor Mass KV 427 on a tour with Philippe Herreweghe. In October 2012 she won with the pianist Katharina Landl the first prize at the 8th International Song Competition Hugo Wolf in Stuttgart. In the summer 2014 Diana made her Debut at the Salzburger Festspiele as Ines in Verdi s Trovatore and Cenerentola (for children). In October 2013 she became Young singer of the Year 2013 awarded by the magazine Opernwelt. She was awarded the price Ivo Vuljevic 2013 for outstanding musical achievement, as well as the prize from the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra Best young musician of the year 2013.

The Croatian Bass-Baritone, Krešimir Stražanac, studied with Professor Dunja Vejzović and Professor Cornelis Witthoefft at the University of Music and the Performing Arts Stuttgart. He has won the International La Voce Competition of the Bavarian Radiotelevison and the International Cantilena Competition in Bayreuth and the Intternational Hugo Wolf Competition in Hugo Wolf 's birthplace in Gradec, Slovenia. Since the 2007/2008 season Krešimir Stražanac belongs to the ensemble of the Opernhauses Zürich, where he was heard as Ping in Turandot, Baron Tusenbach in The Three Sisters, Harlequin in Ariadne auf Naxos, Don Fernando in Fidelio, Morales in Carmen and Principe Yamadori in Madama Butterfly, under the direction of conductors such as Nello Santi, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Peter Schneider, Franz Welser-Möst, Carlo Rizzi, Bernard Haitink, and Placido Domingo. In 2014/2015 he had his Debuts with the WDR-Symphony Orchestra singing 4 concerts of J.S. Bach's cantatas and the Christmas Oratorio at the Philharmony Hall in Cologne, Germany; later with Concerto Köln and the Bavarian Radiotelevision (singing Bach's St. John-Passion) as well as the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra (Schuberts A-flat Major mass), the Staatsorchester Stuttgart and the Symphony Orchestra of the princedom of Asturias, Spain (Brahms' Requiem) On CD / DVD / BLU-RAY Krešimir Stražanac can be heard in complete recordings of the operas Carmen (Welser-Möst, a DECCA production), Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (van Zweden, Live from the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, a Quattro Live production) and Fidelio (Bernard Haitink, a BBC Opus Arte production). Upcoming are the new recording of Bachs „St. John-Passion“ with the Bavarian Radiotelevision and Concerto Köln (CD and DVD/Blu-Ray). 2016 he will debut with the Akademie für alte Musik Berlin and H.C. Rademann performing Bach's St. John-Passion and Magnificat as well as the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra performing Ein Deutsches Requiem of Johannes Brahms and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra performing Haydns Creation.

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Ivana Lazar was born in Tuzla in 1976. In 2001, she graduated in solo singing in the class of Professor Mira Zidarić-Orešković from the Academy of Music of the Zagreb University, where she also received the Marija Borčić Award for the best graduate student. She completed her postgraduate studies at the same Academy in the class of Professor Lidija Horvat Dunjko, followed by Lied interpretation and oratorio studies in the class of Professor Karlheinz Donauer at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz. After completing the studies, she attended master classes held by Dunja Vejzović, Konrad Richter and Oliver Miljaković. Ivana Lazar has proved early on to be an excellent interpret of soprano passages in oratorios and stage works by the Baroque, pre-Classical and Classical masters. For several seasons she was a soloist with the Croatian Baroque Ensemble, and also collaborated with the Croatian Radio and Television Choir in the same capacity. She is the co-founder of the Camerata Garestin Ensemble, and since 2006 a permanent guest-soloist of the Le Parlement de Musique Ensemble from Strasbourg, with which she – at the invitation of Maestro Martin Gester – went on an extensive tour through France. As an excellent concert singer she has performed in Austria, Germany, France, Luxembourg, Sweden, Ireland, Finland, Lithuania, Egypt, Argentina, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and Serbia. Her concert and stage performances have won the audience and critics alike at the leading Croatian festivals (Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Split Summer Festival, Rijeka Summer Nights Festival, Osor Musical Evenings and Varaždin Baroque Evenings). Under the guidance of renowned foreign and Croatian conductors, she gave solo performances with the Zagreb Philharmonic, the Symphony Orchestra of the Croatian Radio and Television, Varaždin Chamber Orchestra, Sarajevo Philharmonic, as well as numerous instrumental ensembles specializing in the music of the Baroque masters. She made her debut on the stage of the Croatian National Theater in Zagreb in Puccini’s opera Sour Angelica, followed by her brilliant performances in Zagreb, mostly in coloratura roles of soprano repertoire such as Gilda (G. Verdi: Rigoletto), Queen of the Night (W. A. Mozart: The Magic Flute), Ophelia (A. Thomas: Hamlet), Oscar (G. Verdi: A Masked Ball), Clorinda (G. Rossini: Cinderella), Lucia (G. Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor) etc. She has received outstanding recognition for her artistic work (Marija Borčić Award, Darko Lukić Award, Milka Trnina Award as well as the Jurica Murai Award for the best interpretation at the Varaždin Baroque Evenings). From 2004 to 2006 Ivana Lazar was a scholarship holder of the CEE Musiktheater / Deutsche Bank from Vienna, and since 2010 she is a member of the Croatian National Theater Opera in Zagreb.

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First performances, first contemporary performances and other performances of works by Croatian composers

*** (traditional)Naranča (Orange)Tuesday, July 21L'Arpeggiata Ensemble

Antonio BabićWhen I Become Grass – first performanceThursday, July 30Cantus Ensemble / Ivan Josip Skender, conductor / Siniša Hapač, baritone

Tomaso CecchiniAmorosi concettiSunday, August 23Vocal Ensemble Antiphonus

Srđan DedićAll that BluesSunday, August 9Danijel Detoni, piano

Margareta Ferek PetrićMelankolija gegen rakijaThursday, August 13Papandopulo Quartet

Vinko JelićRicercar tertio, from Parnassia militia, Op. 1Sunday, August 2Monika Leskovar and Giovanni Sollima, violoncellos

Ivo JosipovićAllegro MinimoTuesday, August 18Zagreb Guitar Quartet

Davorin KempfThree Views of Osor CathedralSunday, August 9Danijel Detoni, piano

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Ivana KišBy Serious Immobilities, for piano and strings – first performanceThursday, August 6Boris Brovtsyn, violin / Giovanni Guzzo, violin / Aleksandar Milošev, viola / Monika Leskovar, violoncello / Giovanni Sollima, violoncello / Giuseppe Andaloro, piano

Ante KnešaurekConcerto for piano and orchestra (first performance)Sunday, July 19Croatian Radio and Television Orchstra / Aleksandar Marković, conductor / Filip Fak, piano

Ivan KončićPerpetuum Mobile PhoneThursday, August 13Papandopulo Quartet

Ferdo LivadićThe Stone MaidenThursday, July 23Leon Košavić, baritone / Lana Bradić, piano

Sanda MajurecContrattempo Thursday, July 30Cantus Ensemble / Ivan Josip Skender, conductor

Ivo MalecVibrafonietta Thursday, August 20 Zagreb Soloists / Kaja Farszky, vibraphone

Adalbert MarkovićThree Impressions of OsorTuesday, August 18Zagreb Guitar Quartet

Miroslav MiletićThe Four Seasons, for strings and continuoThursday, August 20 Zagreb Soloists

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Boris PapandopuloThe Pine Tree Branch Fell by the SeaThursday, July 23Leon Košavić, baritone / Lana Bradić, piano

Study No. 4 (arr: Ivan Batoš)Thursday, August 13Papandopulo Quartet

Marko RuždjakAriosoThursday, August 13Papandopulo Quartet

Krešimir Seletković40, sound installationSunday, July 19

Ivan Josip SkenderSeven Preludes (first performance)Tuesday, July 28Pavao Mašić, harpsichord

Juraj StahuljakString Quartet No. 2 in C minor, Op. 15Sunday, July 26Croatian String Quartet

Berislav ŠipušGonars TrioTuesday, August 4Giovanni Guzzo, violin / Giovanni Sollima, violoncello / Giuseppe Andaloro, piano

Gordan TudorSeveral Miniatures for saxophone quartetThursday, August 13Papandopulo Quartet

Ivan pl. ZajcThe Night is SilentThursday, July 23Leon Košavić, baritone / Lana Bradić, piano

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40th Osor Musical Evenings 2015.

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