Monday, October 3
FFranciscan Church, 8.00 p.m.
Zagreb Soloists
Klasja Modrušan, soprano
Programme:
Johann Sebastian Bach
Brandenburg concerto no.6 in B flat major for two violins, viola and cello, BWV 1051, arranged by Tony Kime
(Allegro)
Adagio ma non tanto
Allegro
Julije Bajamonti
Per quel paterno amplesso, aria of Arbacea from the opera Artaserse
Antonio Vivaldi
Concerto for strings in G minor, RV 152
Allegro molto
Andante molto e sempre pianissimo
Allegro molto
Antonio Vivaldi
Nulla in mundo pax sincera, RV 630, motet for soprano, two violins, viola and basso continuo
Arija: Nulla in mundo pax sincera
Recitativ: Blando calore
Arija: Spirat anguis Inter flores
Alleluia
Antonio Vivaldi/Geminiano Giacomelli
Sposa son disprezzata, aria of Irene from the opera Bajazet
Georg Friedrich Händel
Concerto grosso in G major op. 6 no. 1, HWV 319
A tempo giusto
Allegro
Adagio
Allegro
Allegro
Georg Friedrich Händel
Oh, had I Jubal’s lyre, aria from the oratorio Joshua, HWV 64
Antonio Vivaldi
Concerto for strings in D minor, RV 128
Allegro non molto
Largo
Allegro
About the performer:
Klasja Modrušan completed her cello studies in Ksenija Janković’s class and solo singing and Lied and oratorio studies in Zdenka Žabčić’s class at the Academy of Music in Zagreb. She upgraded her singing education with Eva Bláhova (Bratislava) and Ruža Pospiš Baldani. She performed with the Croatian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra in Munich’s Max-Joseph Saal at the charity concert For the Children of Croatia (1992) and in the premiere of Leo Leonard’s Oratorio per il santo Natale (2006). She has performed with the Zagreb and Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, the St. Petersburg State Academic Orchestra, the South Bohemian Philharmonic, the Croatian Chamber Orchestra and with the chamber ensembles Zagreb Soloists, Cappella Istropolitana, etc. She has performed at the festivals: Dubrovnik Summer Games, Varaždin Baroque Evenings, Musical evening in St. Donat, Osor Music Evenings, Passion Heritage, Piran Music Evenings, Rovinj Summer Festival, Papandopulijana Tribunj, Croatian Music Festival in Vienna, with conductors such as Pavle Dešpalj, Nikša Bareza, Vladimir Kranjčević, Mladen Tarbuk, Ivan Repušić, Miran Vaupotić, Frank Shipway, Daniel Lipton, Klaus Arp, Johannes Wildner, Michael Helmrath, Mihael Sinkevič, Dejan Savić.
She performed in the productions of the Croatian Nation Theatre in Zagreb and in stage productions of the operas Dido and Aeneas, The Magic Flute, Don Giovanni, Don Carlos, Rigoletto, Hänsel und Gretel, Carmen, Nikola Šubić Zrinski, Mirjana, Adel and Mara. At the end of 2016, she sang the title role in the premiere production of the opera Jelka by composer Blagoj Bersa. She combined her vocal lyrics on the double sound carrier Snovidjena with the works of Croatian composers, some of whose compositions are dedicated to her, published by the publisher Cantus (2011). She toured in Austria, Slovakia, Germany, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Russia. In October 2006, she performed in the USA at Andrews University, Kalamazoo College (Michigan), Temple University (Pennsylvania) and in the building of the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in Washington D.C. At the end of 2019, in the organization of the Komitas State Conservatory and the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia in the Hellenic Republic, she performed with colleague Eva Kirchmayer Bilić in Armenia (Ereven) as part of the promotion of secular and sacred works by Croatian composers. She is a member of the Croatian Society of Music Artists, and is the artistic director of the Croatian Sacred Trio ensemble. She is a professor at the singing department of the Blagoj Bersa School of Music in Zagreb.
The Zagreb Soloists Ensemble was founded in 1953 as part of Radio Zagreb, under the artistic direction of the famous cellist Antonio Janigro. For more than six decades – under the artistic direction of equally famous concert masters, such as Dragutin Hrdjok, Tonko Ninić, Anđelko Krpan and Borivoj Martinić-Jerčić – Zagreb soloists reflect the quality of music at an enviable level, which they regularly present on prestigious world concert stages. Since 2012, the Ensemble has performed with the famous violinist Sreten Krstić as its concert master, and at the same time the concert master of the Munich Philharmonic.
Zagreb soloists have been awarded many high prizes and recognitions, among which are: first prize in Mar del Plata (for the album Concerts of the 18th century), Pablo Casals Medal, Elisabeth Sprague Coolidge Medal (for performing contemporary music), Vladimir Nazor, Milka Awards Trnina, Josip Štolcer Slavenski for the best performance of a work by a Croatian composer; then Ivan Lukačić awards of the Varaždin Baroque Evenings, Villa Manin, UNESCO, City of Zagreb Award, Silver CD of the record company Croatia Records, Order of Merit of the People with Silver Rays, Plaque of the City of Zagreb, several Croatian Porin discography awards (1994 for lifetime achievement) , Silver Plaque of the Croatian Music Youth and many others. In 2010, the Ensemble was awarded the Orlando Grand Prix for outstanding artistic contributions in the realization of the entire program of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival.