Sunday, October 2
Cathedral, 8.00 p.m.
Croatian Radio and Television Choir
Varaždin Chamber Orchestra
Valentina Fijačko Kobić, soprano
Nina Tarandek, mezzo-soprano
Mislav Lucić, tenor
Jurica Jurasić Kapun, bass baritone
Plamena Nikitassova, baroque violin
Tomislav Fačini, conductor
Programme:
The Varaždin composition circle from the end of the 18th century
Jan Křtitel Vaňhal
Symphony in C minor (Bryan c2)
Allegro moderato
Andante
Menuetto
Allegro molto
Ivan Werner
Benedictus for alt, two violins, bass and organ
Jan Křtitel Vaňhal
Koncert za violinu i orkestar u B-duru ( Weinmann IIb:B)
Allegro moderato
Adagio
Allegro
Leoplod Ignacije Ebner
in D major for 4 voices, choir and orchestra (new edition of HAZU)
Kyrie
Gloria
Credo
Sanctus
Benedictus
Agnus Dei
About the performer:
Valentina Fijačko Kobić is one of the most expressive artistic personalities on the current Croatian opera scene and she is equally present on the concert stage. Her brilliant singing and acting skills and exceptional interpretive spontaneity are equally well known by visitors to national theaters in Split, Zagreb, Rijeka and Osijek, as well as by the audience of all-important music festivals held in Croatia. She started learning singing in her hometown, Varaždin. She studied singing at the Academy of Music of the University of Zagreb, where she graduated and mastered in the class of Lidija Horvat Dunjko and furthered her education in Vienna under the pedagogical guidance of Olivera Miljaković. During her education, she participated in numerous Croatian and foreign competitions and she won the first prize at the Music and Dance Music and Dance Competition (Dubrovnik, 2001 and 2003). During her studies, she was awarded the Dean’s Award of the Academy of Music and the Rector’s Award of the University of Zagreb and as the most successful student of the Singing Department of the Academy of Music in Zagreb, she received Marija Borčić award. Two more awards should be added to the mentioned awards: the Ivo Vuljević Award for the most successful young musician in 2003 and the Zagreb Philharmonic and PBZ American Express Award for the most successful young musician in 2004. Her opera achievements were also recognized early on and confirmed by three significant professional awards: the Croatian Actor Award (2007), the Antun Marušić Award, which was awarded to her by the Croatian National Theater in Split for exceptional success in the 2007/2008 season, the Milka Trnin Award (2008). She is also the winner of the annual Marijana Radev Award of the Croatian National Theater in Zagreb in 2014 and 2018 for the best artistic achievements. In 2019, she was awarded the Order of Danica Hrvatska with the image of Marko Marulić for her exceptional and creative work in the field of musical art. She is the winner of the Vladimir Nazor Annual Award for 2020. She made her debut in 2001 on the stage of the Croatian National Theater in Zagreb as Lauretta in the opera Gianni Schicchi by Giacomo Puccini. From September 2003 to the end of 2006, she was a soloist of the Opera of the Croatian National Theater in Osijek, and from January 2007 to June 2018, she was a member of the Opera of the Croatian National Theater in Split. Since June 2018, she has been the champion of the Opera of the Croatian National Theater in Zagreb. He often performs on the concert stage, collaborating with leading Croatian conductors and symphony ensembles, performing a series of suggestive solo parts in stylistically very diverse vocal-instrumental scores by G. B. Pergolesi, W. A. Mozart, G. Rossini, G. Verdi, J. W. Morgenstern, R. Strauss, L. Janáček, A. Honegger, B. Britten and I. Kuljerić. In the role of Jelena, she participated in the recording of the soundtrack of the opera Nikola Šubić Zrinjski, which won the Porin discography award for the best classical album of the year. With the orchestra of the Bavarian Radio in Munich, she recorded the role of Đula in the opera Ero the Joker.
Nina Tarandek began her musical education at the Varaždin School of Music – music theroy and solo singing in the class of Darija Hreljanović. She received her master’s degree in opera singing in 2011 at the Conservatory of the City of Vienna in the class of Julia Conwell and Uta Schwaba and majored in solo singing and oratorio with prima donna KS Birgid Steinberger. In 2006, she won first prize at the Fidelio Competition in Vienna, and in 2018 Fachmagazina Opernwelt nominated her in the category of singer of the year. As a freelance artist in 2022, she performed as Beppa in the opera L’Amico by Fritz P. Mascagni and as Waltraute in Wagner’s opera Walküre at the Tyrolean Festival in Erl. She was also a guest there in 2021 at an Easter concert in Bach’s Matthew Passion in co-production with the Austrian national television ORF. This year, in 2022, her CD will be released with the entire oeuvre of 57 songs by the Italian composer Franco Alfano in cooperation with the Basstille musique publishing house and Deutschlandfunk Kultur radio and television. Until 2020, she was a member of the ensemble of the prestigious Opera in Frankfurt, where she sang with great success a number of important roles, such as Cherubino (The Feast of Figaro), Angelina (La Cenerentola), Sesto (Giulio Cesare), Dorabella (Cosi fan tutte), Waltraute (Walküre), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Tebaldo (Don Carlo), Flora (Traviata), Wirtstochter (Die Königskinder), Kate (Owen Wingrave). She achieved great success in the role of Cherubino (Pierre de Figaro) at the summer festival of the Klosterneuburg Opera and in the same role with maestro Ruben Dubrovski at the Theater Darmstadt. In 2012, she made her debut at the Semperoper in Dresden in the role of Dido (Dido and Aeneas) and at the summer festival of St. Margarethen in the role of Mercédès (Carmen). Other engagements lead her to the Theater Freiburg where she sang the role of Sesto, to the City Opera in Vilnius and to the Teatro Teresa Carrano in Caracas where she performed with the Simon Bolivar Orchestra in the role of Dorabella. At the Cantiere Internationale d’Arte festival in Montepulciano in 2010, she sang the extremely demanding main role (La Malaspina) in the opera Luci mie traditrici by the contemporary composer Salvatore Sciarrino, and the video recording published by Euro Arts and the CD published by Stradivarius are sold worldwide. Even during her studies, she sang the extremely demanding main role in the opera Mae Mona by C. Ehrenfellner, which the composer dedicated to her, and which she performed at the world premiere in the Musikwerkstadt in Vienna. This was followed by his debut performance at the famous Theater an der Wien in the opera Der Prinz von Homburg with maestro Marc Albrecht and director Christof Loy.
Among the numerous concert performances throughout Europe, the performance with the hr-Sinfonieorchester at the traditional New Year’s concert in the Wiesbadener Kurhaus, a song recital in Abu Dhabi, a national tour with the Landesjugendorchester NRW with Verdi’s Requiem, the role of Anna Kennedy in the concert production of Marie Stuarde at the Alte Oper Frankfurt, a performance with the Salzburger Mozarteum Orchestra under the direction of Leopold Hager in Mozart’s Mass in C minor and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony at the Festival De Musica Religiosa de Cuenca in Spain, a concert tour with the Vienna Philharmonic in the largest cities of China, an opera gala concert Tribute to Jarmil Novotn in the Rudolfinum ( Prague) with the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra and an opera gala concert with the Zagreb Symphony Orchestra and conductor Pavlo Dešpalje. There is also a concert performance of the opera The Sly Fox, which leads her to a guest appearance in Munich’s Gasteig with the BR-Sinfonieorchester under the direction of maestro Franz Welser-Möst, then a guest appearance at the Kassel Music Days, a performance in the Hessen Radiotelevision Concert Hall where she sang Wagner’s Wesendonk Lieder accompanied by the Frankfurt string sextet, a performance at the Musikverein in Vienna where, accompanied by the Wiener Virtuozen Philharmonic Orchestra, she participated in the performance of Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater.
Mislav Lucić received his primary and secondary education in Varaždin. In secondary music school, he attended two main subjects – singing in Darija Hreljanović’s class and organ in Natalija Imbrišak’s class. In 2020, he enrolled in singing studies at the Academy of Music in Zagreb in the class of Tomislav Mužek. During his musical life, he was a member of many vocal ensembles with which he performed numerous capital works of the European musical heritage and made numerous performances in Croatia and abroad. On four occasions, he also participated in the Æstas Music Summer School of Baroque Music and Dance under professors Catherine Denley and Julia Gooding, and under the artistic direction of Laurence Cummings and Andreas Helm. Of the student projects so far, the role of the Evangelist in the performance of J.S. Bach’s Passion according to Mark (2021) and the tenor solo section in the performance of the cantata Carmina burana by C. Orff as part of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Academy of Music in Zagreb (2022) certainly stand out. From 2017 to 2021, he served as the second organist of the Varaždin Cathedral. From the 2021/2022 season. regularly cooperates with the Choir of Croatian Radio and Television as an external collaborator.
Jurica Jurasić Kapun is a young baritone who has performed in all spheres of classical music as a vocal soloist. He obtained his MA degree (singing) at the Zagreb Academy of Music, where he studied with Professor Vlatka Oršanić. Before enrolling at the Zagreb University, he spent one year at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz (Austria) studying with Professor Ulf Bästlein. Beyond his formal education, he participated in international masterclasses with recognized musicians such as Krešimir Stražanac, Marius Vlad, Melanie Diener, Thomas Hampson and others. During his education he won two awards in singing competitions, the first prize in the HDGPP national competition and the second prize in the 23rd Mikuláš Schneider-Trnavský International Singing Competition in Slovakia. He was also awarded the Dean's Award at the Academy of Music and is a three-time recipient of the Rector's Award at the University of Zagreb. He made his first significant opera performances in student and professional productions on the stage of the Croatian National Theater in Zagreb, the Zagreb Academy of Music and the Zagreb City Theater „Komedija“with roles such as Guglielmo (WA Mozart: Così fan tutte), Pandolfe (J. Massenet: Cendrillon), Le Dancaïre (G. Bizet: Carmen) and others. He also distinguished himself as a concert performer with the Zagreb Philharmonic, the Symphony Orchestra of the Academy of Music, the Tamburitza Orchestra of the Croatian Radiotelevision, the Choir and Symphony orchestra of the Croatian Radiotelevision, the Stuttgart Philharmonic and other ensembles, which include successful collaborations with Croatian and other conductors. He has achieved a number of successful concert collaborations in his own organization with the support of Međimurje County and Zagreb County, with the Cristoforium concert series, the 54th „Darko Lukić “Forum and the Čakovec Chamber Music Festival. He also performed in opera productions at the Music Biennale Zagreb, Split summer festival and Savonlinna opera festival.
The telos of the violinist Plamena Nikitassova rests on her occupation with the violin repertoire of the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods. Her goal here is to en- gage in the performance of works from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries on the basis of the discovery of theoretical source material and the exploration of special practices in playing technique from that epoch. Nikitassova studied classical violin at the Geneva College of Music and at the Vienna College of Music. She received her soloist’s diploma in Geneva in 1999 with distinction and the »Premier Prix de Virtuosité« and then dedicated herself to a concert career in the world of the Romantic repertoire. In 1999 she was honored with the coveted Fondation Leenaards Prize in Lausanne. Following her encounter with the violinist Jaap Schröder (Amsterdam), Nikitassova turned to Early Music and completed a study program in Renaissance and Baroque violin with Chiara Banchini at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in 2005. Since then concerts and recording projects have taken her to Europe’s most prestigious stages and performance venues. Her CD recordings – Violin Sonatas by Carlo Zuccari (2012, Diapason d’Or Découverte), Violin Sonatas by Gaspard Fritz, 1747 (2014), The Violin’s Delight – A Garden of Pleasure (2017, Diapason 5), Beethoven, Debussy, and Ravel (2016), Mozart and his Contemporaries (2018), and Johann Sebastian Bach’s Sonatas (2021) – have reaped her the highest praise in the international press. Jörg-Andreas Bötticher, Dirk Börner (harpsichord), Rudolf Lutz, and Aline Zylberajch (piano) have accompanied her on these releases. The violinist’s solo CD, Suites for Solo Violin with suites by Johann Paul von Westhoff, was awarded the Diapason d’Or Prize in April 2020 and included on the Best List of the Prize of the German Record Critics in August of the same year. On this release she demonstrates her special interest in a historical playing style for the violin rarely practiced today (in which the instrument is held low on the chest). Nikitassova’s activity as a concertmaster and en- semble leader with various European orchestras such as the J. S. Bach-Stiftung of St. Gallen, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, and La Cetra of Basel is richly documented. In 2020 Nikitassova founded the chamber music series »Im Wandel der Zeit« in Basel for the purpose of presenting familiar and unknown compositions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in their original stylistic-aesthetic context on instruments in old scaling.
Tomislav Fačini (Zagreb, 1975) completed his conducting studies at the Academy of Music in Zagreb cum laude. In the same year he won second and special prize at the Antonio Pedrotti International Conducting Competition in Trento. After continuing his education in Milan at the Accademia Hans Swarowsky and the Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe, he was employed at the Academy of Music in Zagreb, where he is currently a full professor. In addition to symphony concerts, he has had a number of opera premieres in Zagreb, Sarajevo, Varaždin, Dubrovnik and Rijeka (Verdi, Puccini, Salieri, Zajc, Bizet, Pergolesi, Purcell). He is a frequent guest of the Zagreb Music Biennale and a promoter of contemporary music. From 2005 to 2009, he conducted the Zadar Music Evenings in St. Donat. In addition to frequent appearances at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, he also directed the opening of the Games in 2003 and 2013; since 2018 he has been an assistant for the music program of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival. From 2004 to 2009, he was the chief conductor of the Croatian Army Orchestra, with which he performed several symphony and chamber concerts. He has collaborated with almost all domestic and many foreign ensembles and recorded sound carriers and permanent recordings with the symphony orchestras of RTV Slovenia and HRT. From 1993 to 2008 he was the conductor of the Oratory Choir of the Church of St. Marko in Zagreb, and since 2004 he has been leading the vocal ensemble Antiphonus. From 2014 to 2017 he was the chief conductor of the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra. From the 2017/2018 season he is the chief conductor of the HRT Choir.
He won the Jurica Murai Award for the best artistic interpretation at the 51st Varaždin Baroque Evenings for the concert whose program included Missa Papae Marcelli by G.P. da Palestrina and instrumental diminutions by Italian composers, and which also featured the HRT Choir and violinist Ana Vasić.
The Croatian Radio and Television Choir was founded in 1941 for the needs of the then radio program. Acting primarily as a chamber ensemble, over time it grew into the first large professional choir in Croatia. From the very beginning, the HRT Choir, which has borne that name since 1991, has performed both independently and with the Symphony Orchestra. The choir performed publicly for the first time on September 8, 1942 in the Zagreb Cathedral with the then Circle Station Orchestra. It was also the first public concert of the ensemble of the radio station, and was conducted by Lovro pl. Matačić. A concert with almost the same program was held ten days later at the Croatian Music Institute. The Choir also held its first independent public concert at the Croatian Music Institute on January 30, 1943. In the first years of operation, the choir’s repertoire was formed by conductors Mladen Pozajić, Dragan Gürtl and Boris Papandopulo, and then continued by the chief conductors Sergije Rainis, Slavko Zlatić, Vladimir Kranjčević and Igor Kuljerić, whose work and long-term leadership left a strong mark and whose the compositions are today a permanent part of the Choir’s repertoire, and Tonči Bilić. It was at the instigation of Tonči Bilić that the independent subscription cycle Sfumato was launched in 1998, as part of which numerous compositions by Croatian authors and anthological choral opuses of world heritage were presented for the first time. Also at the initiative of maestro Bilić, the HRT Choir was admitted in 2016 to the association of the most prestigious European chamber choirs Tenso. Performing a wide repertoire, ranging from Renaissance to contemporary music, and the a cappella with instrumental accompaniment, he shows exceptional versatility, which brought him tours throughout Europe (Rome, Moscow, Salzburg, Milan, Paris, Venice, Berlin, Vienna, Munich) and collaborations with a number of prominent conductors of the 20th and 21st centuries, among whom are Lovro pl. Matačić, Milan Horvat, Pavle Dešpalj, Nikša Bareza, Vladimir Kranjčević, Claudio Abbado, Lorin Maazel, Igor Markevič, Valerij Poljanski, Niels Schweckendiek, Martina Batič, and with many soloists of world renown. The HRT Choir won the Milka Trnina Diploma of the Croatian Society of Music Artists for outstanding artistic achievements in 2004 based on the performance of Boris Papandopulo’s Croatian Mass, and a series of Porin discography awards. From the 2017/2018 season Maestro Tomislav Fačini is the head of the Choir as the chief conductor.
The Varaždin Chamber Orchestra continues the long-standing tradition of chamber and orchestral music in Varaždin, especially strong in the 1950s and 1960s. The main activity of the orchestra is a cycle of five concerts in the season in the Concert hall of the Croatian National Theater in Varaždin. In addition, the Orchestra regularly participates in the Varaždin Baroque Evenings and performs throughout Croatia: in Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Split, Zadar, Opatija, Osijek, Karlovac, Čakovec, and has also performed in Slovenia, Germany, Austria and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The orchestra is the winner of a series of awards, such as the Ivan Lukačić Award for the best performance and the Jurica Murai Award for the best interpretation given by the Varaždin Baroque Evenings, as well as the Milka Trnina Award of the HDGU (Croatian Society of Music Artists) and the City of Varaždin Plaque. The Orchestra received the Judita Award for its performance at the Split Summer Games in 2008, and the Orlando Award for its performance at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival in 2007.