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August 26th – opening Late Summer Festival

Today is a big day for Dubrovnik: the Late Summer Festival of the Symphony Orchestra begins. It is also the anniversary of the festival, which celebrates its 10 years of existence. It has been successful throughout its history thanks to its quality musicians and conductors who have performed about 150 concerts.

This year the theme is “Winner’s Circle”. The DSO will play with international award winning artists, with many promising young musicians. They will be accompanied mainly by the talented conductor Marc Tardue, but we are lucky to work with three other conductors as well (Natalia Ponomarchuk, Valentin Egel & Toby Thatcher).

The festival will start tonight, Friday August 26th and will continue tomorrow night with a concert of Marc Tardue and Ivan Krpan (pianist).

You can find all the information about the festival in the program 2022, with the details of the participants (musicians and conductors) of the concerts (times, places and program).

See you there !

 

Concerts Marc TARDUE & Ivan KRPAN

On August 26 start de Late Summer Festival !

On August 26 and 27, two concerts will be held at Rector’s Palace. Conductor Marc Tardue will accompany the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra and pianist Ivan Krpan. A wonderful duo that deserves to be presented:

Marc Tardue is appointed Chief Conductor of the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra since 2018. He was born to French-Italian parents and was raised in the United States. He graduated from the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore.

He studied piano, conducting and voice with great names in the field. He has working with a lot od orchestras across Europe (Porto, Grenoble, Bienne…).

He has a wide chamber, choral, symphonic and opera repertoire ranging from baroque to contemporary music, with several world and national premieres to his credit.

Due to his outstanding artistic achievements, he was awarded with many prestigious prizes for example « Chevalier des Arts et Lettres » from the French government.

Ivan Krpan is a talented pianist. Since 2013, he has studying piano at the Music Academy in Zagreb, his hometown.

For the past 8 years, he has won several first prizes in national and international piano competitions. At the age of 20, he won the Ferrucio Busoni International Piano Competition 2017.

Futures engagements include concerts in Italy, Germany, China, South Korea, Japan and a tour in South America.

Come and see them perform together on stage with the program:

R. Wagner: Siegfried Idyll

F. Liszt: Piano Concerto No.1 in E flat major, S.124

L. van Beethoven: Symphony No.5 in C minor, Op.67

To get a ticket:

The 26: https://www.ulaznice.hr/web/event/71/560?fbclid=IwAR3dcRTsnEp7foGPA2g2QUDHz0JvsZQtRhWoXq0DGjBPlfCc5kFjXlHPNGU

The 27: https://www.ulaznice.hr/web/event/71/561?fbclid=IwAR3AuCwcI107TBq4lLVNLdkmMCgV8VllRwM3HMsZSt6pEL0ZvLcgU8UEGfc

Dubrovnik Summer Festival

The Dubrovnik Summer Festival is a festival that has taken place every summer in Dubrovnik since 1950. The idea was to create an event to harmonize the renaissance and baroque atmosphere of Dubrovnik. The festival enlivens the old town every evening between August 10 and 25 and attracts a lot of tourists. 

Many different kinds of live arts are mixed during the performances. A rich program containing theater, dance, opera and of course, classical music. 

The Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra is at the heart of these performances every year. Founded 25 years ago (1925), it has participated in the festival from the beginning. It gives several performances throughout the festival. Other Croatian and international orchestras sometimes join the event. Many famous artists and orchestras from all over the world have performed here. But the Dubrovnik orchestra keeps its place and its well-installed a unifying role in its city.

The Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, and the Dubrovnik Summer Festival in general, contribute to the cultural influence of Dubrovnik on Croatia and of Croatia on the world. 

The Four Seasons – Vivaldi

Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra String Chamber Ensemble and violinist Dan Zhu will be performing The Four Seasons on Tuesday, June 28th at 9pm, Rector’s Palace.

Maestro Marc Tardue will be the conductor for this concert.

Get your tickets here.

 

The Four Seasons of Antonio Vivaldi probably is, to this day, one of the most popular and well-known classical pieces in the world. Whether it was in a movie, a commercial or anywhere else, you most likely have listened to it at least once in your life (purposely or not).

The Four Seasons or “Le quattro Stagioni” in Italian was written in 1720 and published in 1725 in Amsterdam during the Baroque era. It is undoubtedly one of the best-known works of Vivaldi and actually constitutes the 8th opus of a 12 concerti work named “The contest of Harmony and Invention”.

The Four Seasons, as the title evokes, contains 4 concerti in this order: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Each of these are divided in 3 movements with a tempo going: fast-slow-fast.

In addition to the music in itself, the concerti are accompanied by short poems -most likely to also be written by A. Vivaldi- which transcribes perfectly what the composer is trying to express through his music. This custom [the program music] was pretty unusual at the time but marked how pioneer was Vivaldi’s vision, since it became much more common later on during the Romantic era.

Here are the poems for each season:

–       Spring:

Allegro

Springtime is upon us.

The birds celebrate her return with festive song,

And murmuring streams are

Softly caressed by the breezes.

Thunderstorms, those heralds of Spring roar,

Casting their dark mantle over heaven,

Then they die away to silence,

And the birds take up their charming songs once more.

Largo

On the flower-strewn meadow, with leafy branches

Rustling overhead, the goat-herd sleeps,

His faithful dog beside him.

Allegro

Led by the festive sound of rustic bagpipes,

Nymphs and shepherds lightly dance

Beneath spring’s beautiful canopy

 

–       Summer:

Allegro non molto

Under a hard season, fired up by the sun

Languishes man, languishes the flock and burns the pine

We hear the cuckoo’s voice:

Then sweet songs of the turtledove and finch are heard.

Soft breezes stir the air, but threatening

The North Wind sweeps them suddenly aside.

The shepherd tremble,

Fearing violent storms and his fate.

Adagio e piano – Presto e forte

The fear of lightning and fierce thunder

Robs his tired limbs of rest

As gnats and flies buzz furiously around.

Presto

Alas, his fear were justified

The Heavens thunder and roar and with hail

Cut the head off the wheat and damages the grain.

 

–       Autumn:

Allegro

Celebrates the peasant, with songs and dances,

The pleasure of a bountiful harvest.

And fired up by Bacchu’s liquor,

Many end their revelry in sleep.

Adagio molto

Everyone is made to forget their cares and to sing and dance

By the air which is tempered with pleasure

And (by) the season that invites so many, many

Out of their sweetest slumber to fine enjoyment

Allegro

The hunters emerge at the new dawn,

And with horns and dogs and guns depart upon their hunting

The beast flees and they follow its trail,

Terrified and tired of the great noise

Of guns and dogs, the beast, wounded, threatens

Languidly to flee, but harried, dies.

 

–       Winter:

Allegro non molto

To tremble from cold in the icy snow,

In the harsh breath of a horrid wind;

To run, stamping one’s feet every moment,

Our teeth chattering in the extreme cold

Largo

Before the fire to pass peaceful,

Contented days while the rain outside pours down.

Allegro

We thread the icy path slowly and cautiously,

For fear of tripping and falling.

Then turn abruptly, slip, crash on the ground and,

Rising, hasten on across the ice lest it cracks up.

We feel the chill north winds course through the home

Despite the locked and bolted doors…

This is winter, which nonetheless

Brings its own delights.

 

Through this work, Vivaldi truly and faithfully grabbed the essence and feelings of each season making The Four Seasons a unique and genuine piece. Also, through this work, Vivaldi’s talent for storytelling was inevitably displayed.

But storytelling was not his only talent, so let’s take a quick focus on who was Antonio Vivaldi. Born in 1678 and died in 1741, the latter was an Italian composer. But his history with music doesn’t start with this. His father was a violinist and taught him how to play the violin. And because himself was a violinist, it explains the fact that most of his concerti are written for violins. Throughout his flourishing career he wrote more than 470 concerti and 100 cantates, aries, serenates, but also 45 operas and more.

By the time he composed the Four Seasons, he was also teaching music at the girl’s Orphanage “Conservatoria del’’ Ospedale della Pietà” as violin master and composer in residence.

His boldness and virtuosity led him to become an inspiration and influence for many other composers such as Haydn or Bach. The latter was especially fond of Vivaldi’s work and transcribed several of his concerti for keyboard, strings, organ and harpsichord.

Fun fact : Vivaldi let his imagination and creativity run freely and let quite original instructions for violinists on how to interpret The Four Seasons such as: playing like a “sleeping goatherd” or even to imagine “a barking dog ».

We hope you will enjoy Tuesday’s concert!

Davor Bobić

DSO is absolutely delighted to welcome to its team one of the most performed Croatian composers: Davor Bobić. Throughout his career, he has always been passionate and involved in his multi-layered work. The latter is in fact performed by renowned musicians on domestic and foreign concert stages. And for the year 2022 & 2023, he became a residential composer of the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra.

Let’s take a closer look at his remarkable career, filled with work, devotion and talent which led him to the path he’s on today, and to occupy this status at the orchestra which himself qualified as “one of life’s successes”.

Davor Bobić was born in Varaždin, Croatia in which he received his musical education, and then pursued his studies in composition, musical theory and classical accordion at the Tchaikovsky State Conservatory in Kiev. His first choice was Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) but was sent to Kyiv and never regretted it because he got there the best education he ever could have hoped for. Becoming a student of the Tchaikovsky State Conservatory in Kiev was a great honor and a source of indescribable joy. On top of that, he ended up working as a professor at the Academy of Arts and Culture in Osijek for twenty years.

Bobić also initiated the establishment of Osijek Music Wednesday, a concert cycle that began to complement the cultural offer of the city of Osijek, ten years ago. In the previous nine seasons they have performed almost two hundred concerts, including performances of soloists and ensembles such as: The Howard Gospel Choir, Soloists of Catherine the Great, Nikola Fabijanić & Zagreb Soloists, our residency Jazz Orchestra of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia, Martina Filjak, Ivan Konev, Pannonian Philharmonic, Brno Cantilena Choir, The Wing Singers Gospel Choir, ZZ Quartet, Oberton String Octet, Borut Zagoranski and Feguš Quartet, Evgenia Koncar with organist Edmund Andler Borić, Varaždin Chamber Orchestra, Camerate Garestin Carnival Concert, Alexei Tanovitski, Cantus Ensemble, HRT Tamburitza Orchestra, Katarina and Vladimir Krpan, Papandopulo Quartet, Marco Graziani and Danijel Detoni, Mario Zlatkaski, Mario Zlatka Peljhan and Mia Elezović, Trio Solenza, Anđelko and Martin Krpan, Zagreb Wind Trio, Ensemble Oktos, Marija Bašić and Petra Gilming, Tamara Coha Mandić and Diana Grubišić Ćiković, Ladislav Vrgoč, Piano Duo Dalibor and Zrinka Cikojević, Capella Zriniana, Edin Karamazov, Konstantin Krasnitsky with the Osijek quartet Opus Mundi…

His Osijek musical story followed many years of experience in organizing Varaždin Baroque Evenings. He is indeed the director of one of the most prestigious and longest-running festivals in Croatia. Varaždin Baroque Evenings are stylistically defined by the Baroque musical epoch, which is based on the authenticity of early music interpretation, intensive care for Croatian musical heritage and, of course, the concept of a partner state that remains prominent worldwide, as it is unique among similar festivals Europe.

Despite the major impact the global pandemic has left on the artistic and cultural aspect of the world and paralyzed the music industry, Davor Bobić didn’t let himself feel discouraged by the situation. Instead, he overcame his negative feelings and started to write every single day “out of spite and defiance”. As a result of this highly productive work, it led him to an amazingly successful year in 2021, with as many as ten incredible premieres, six of which were orchestral compositions.

This year, D. Bobić expressed his sincere enthusiasm of composing the first work he dedicated to the Croatian cellist Vid Veljak and the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, all under the heavy impression of war destruction and human suffering in Ukraine and Kiev. His deep connection to this city explains the fact that he felt terribly impacted emotionally and psychologically. He, therefore, tries to help and contribute to the organization of temporary arrivals of students from the Tchaikovsky Conservatory to continue their studies at higher music institutions in Osijek and Pula, Ukraine.

His new piece will be premiered on Friday, 26th of May at Rector’s Palace (9pm), and conducted by Maestro Marc Tardue.

Get your tickets here.

We hope to see many of you there!

Luka Sorkočević

As the programs of the concerts organized by DSO are carefully thought out, it is not by chance that pieces by composer Luka Sorkočević are included. We care to highlight and put forward the work of Croatian personalities, thus emphasizing the rich tradition and culture of the country and City of Dubrovnik.

So, let’s take a few steps back in time and discover more in-depth who was Luka Sorkočević. 

Born in 1734 and died in 1789, Luka Sorkočević was a composer from the Republic of Ragusa, today’s City of Dubrovnik. He was part of one of the most powerful patrician families in Dubrovnik. Therefore, he got to receive a complete musical education, which led him to choose a path where music was a huge part of his life.

Since his love for music was clearly important, he went to Rome in 1756 to continue his education and hence studied musical composition with Rinaldo di Capua.

However, his life was not entirely dedicated to music, though he loved it very much. On top of that, he also took part in the political life of Dubrovnik. He occupied several political posts in the city after he came back from Rome in 1763. 

His position as a politician allowed him to go to Vienna as an ambassador in 1781. But during his stay, he met numerous important people in the musical world of his time, like Gluck, Metastasio, and even Haydn. These encounters influenced him greatly and gave him valuable experiences for his musical pieces.

His most exciting works are the eight symphonies, the violin sonata, and the overture trio for the flute. These works belong to the transitional period between baroque and classicism. His style announced the Vienna classical style.     

He composed works that are considered the first symphonies in the history of Croatian music, which makes him undoubtedly, one of the most well-known Croatian composers. He constitutes the traditional identity of Croatian, and more particularly, Dubrovnik classical music.

Fun -not so fun- fact: In 1789, at the age of 55, he committed suicide because of health problems that caused him depression and threw himself from the third floor of his house.

 You will be able to hear one of his pieces (Symphony No. 1 in D major) for the concert on May 13th!

B&P SEPTET AT VGBRASS FESTIVAL

The opening of the 16th edition of VGBrass festival was a success with the performance given by the Brass & Percussion septet of DSO, with the guest soloist Vid Veljak on cello!

VGbrass festival offers high quality concerts with leading artists who are not only leaders in the world of “brass”. But also music of different genres (classical, jazz, blues, rock…) on their brass instruments.

The following members : Karmen Pervitić – glockenspiel, Džemal Cakić – flugelhorn, Toni Kursar – horn, Martin Hrćan – horn, Damir Butigan – euphonium, Ivan Kušelj – trumpet and Alan Polzer – drums and percussion, together are forming the Brass & Percussion septet of DSO. Due to the unusual composition of the group, they are qualified as a unique ensemble thus creating and showing a variety of charming and captivating sounds colors.

If you want to find out more about VGBrass Festival, check out their Facebook page or website.

Dubrovnik-Neretva County Day Concert

As you might know, next Tuesday (May, 10th 2022) is Dubrovnik-Neretva County Day. And for this special occasion, DSO partnered up with Dubrovnik-Neretva County to celebrate and offer the audience a memorable concert.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Therefore, Eva Šulić (violin) and young musicians from the county musical schools: Elena Lazarević (flute), Nela Bulum (clarinet), Ivana Đanić (violin), Marta Kekez (cello) and Josip Hađinac (tenor) will deliver a lovely performance conducted by maestro Ivan Hut.

For the program you will be able to listen to classic pieces such as:

–       P. I. TchaikovskyViolin Concerto in D major, Op. 35

–       E. Elgar: Concert in E minor Op. 85, 4. Paragraph,

–       P. de Sarasate: Zigeunrweisen

–       L. Sorkočević:  Symphony No. 3, 2. Paragraph.

And much more!

DSO and Dubrovnik-Neretva County are really thrilled and impatient to show the audience the unique performance they have organized for the third concert of Dubrovnik Musical Spring festival.

Rendez-vous at Rector’s Palace at 9pm next Tuesday!

It is a celebration you don’t want to miss…

W.A. Mozart: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik…

For the second concert of “Dubrovnik Musical Spring”, on Friday the 6th of May, DSO String Chamber Ensemble and maestro Uroš Lajovic will present to the audience three notable pieces. 

 

 

 

 

 

Among them, you will be able to listen to one of the most popular pieces created by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (A little night music).

This short serenade, composed in 1787, was not published until 1827, long after Mozart’s death. Besides, this serenade is considered as a short one because of the fact that it only lasts 20 minutes, instead of the usual 50 minutes. However, its length doesn’t reduce the quality of the piece, and is truly appreciated for its joyous and light tone.

The purpose of serenades like this one was, and still is, purely to entertain the audience during social occasions. Its breezy and bright melodies allow people to relax and light-up their mood for a moment. 

So don’t hesitate, book your ticket (click here) for Friday’s concert at 9pm and simply enjoy!

Fun fact: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik is listed in Mozart’s work for having five movements, but one was lost. Therefore, to this day only four movements remain!

Dubrovnik Musical Spring

Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra is proud to launch the 5th edition of its music festival: Dubrovnik Musical Spring!

Throughout the months of April, May and June (from April 29th to June 17th), the citizens of all ages have the possibility to enjoy a total of 13 concerts.

Dubrovnik Musical Spring is a festival where you can enjoy classical music played by numerous of talented and renowned artists from DSO and other places, in a beautiful location in Dubrovnik: Rector’s Palace.

This festival was created in 2017 to celebrate and gather culture and tradition during spring, before high season. This year makes no exception! Find out the list of the different concerts and book your tickets to experience the special programs prepared for the occasion.

They all take place at Rector’s Palace and start at 9pm.

  • Friday, 29th April 2022
  • Friday, 6th May 2022
  • Tuesday, 10th May 2022
  • Friday, 13th May 2022
  • Tuesday, 17th May 2022
  • Friday, 20th May 2022
  • Tuesday, 24th May 2022
  • Friday, 27th May 2022
  • Friday, 3rd June 2022
  • Tuesday, 7th June 2022
  • Friday, 10th June 2022
  • Tuesday, 14th June 2022
  • Friday, 17th June 2022

 

You can buy tickets here : https://ulaznice.hr/web/regular/13647985

These are the conductors :

 

 

 

 

 

These are the soloists:

 

 

 

 

 

 

We hope to see many of you there!