Sunday, September 25
Cathedral, 9 p.m.
Interpreters on the Croatian organ scene
Ursa Ljuban, organ Tea Kulaš, organ
Programme: Johann Sebastian Bach Toccata and fugue in d minor, Dorian, BWV 538(Ursa Ljuban)
Julije Bajamonti Sonata in C major
(Tea Kulaš)
Johann Sebastian Bach Vater unser im Himmelreich, BWV 682, chorale prelude from the collection Klavierübung III
(Tea Kulaš)
Hans-André Stamm Pavana to the lyrics of Salley gardens by William Butler Yeats
(Ursa Ljuban)
Julije Bajamonti Sonata in F major
(Ursa Ljuban)
Johann Sebastian Bach Passacaglia, BWV 582
(Tea Kulaš)
Johann Sebastian Bach Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele, BWV 654, chorale prelude from the collection Eighteen Leipzig Chorales
(Ursa Ljuban)
Hans-André Stamm Toccata gaelica
(Tea Kulaš)
Luigi Boccherini Fandango, four-hand arrangement for the organ
(Tea Kulaš &Ursa Ljuban)
About the performer:
Ursa Ljuban (Trogir, 1990) finished her studies at the Academy of Music Zagreb, in the class of Mario Penzar. As a part of Erasmus program, she upscaled her organ playing skills at the Academy of Music in Stuttgart, in the class of Bernhard Hass and Jon Laukvik and in Leipzig in the class of Stefan Engels, where she finished her master studies in 2015. She attended seminars leaded by the prestige organ pedagogues, such as Michel Bouvard, Christoph Bossert, Jon Laukvik, Bernhard Haas, Aline Zylberajch, Margarete Hürholz, Jean Gillou, Ludger Lohmann, Peter van Dijk, Kimberly Marschall, Hans-Ola Ericsson.
Among the most important awards she has achieved are the first prizes at the regional and state competitions of HDGPP, the second prize at the State Competition of Chamber Ensembles in Opatija, the diploma for the most professional performance at the Vinko Lesić Competition and the Rector's special award for the performance at the 50th Music Biennale in Zagreb.
During her studies in Zagreb, Ursa Ljuban held the position of the organ player at the St. Peter's parish, where she was also conducting the girl choir Kefa. She also cooperated with The HRT Symphony Orchestra and Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra and she also performed in the Virtuoso cycle. As a soloist, she performed with Brass Ensemble by the Academy of Music in Zagreb, on Samobor Music Autumn Festival, in Salon Očić, Days of “Pasionska” inheritance in Zagreb, Mag Festival in Split, Days of Saint Donat in Zadar. She performed at international organ festivals, such as Sonores organs in Zagreb, Zadar Organ Festival, Organum Histirae, Bach Days in Split, the 1st OrgOs organ festival in Osijek, International Organ Cycles in Ljubljana, Freiberg, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Leipzig, Stuttgart, Požega, Hvar, Zagreb and with the Choir and Orchestra of the Croatian National Theater in Split and the Pro Musica orchestra in Stuttgart. In addition to numerous concerts throughout Croatia, she has also performed on tours in Italy, Russia, France, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. During her stay in Germany, she worked as a cantor at the Hospitalkirche in Stuttgart and led the men's choir Stella Maris. She is a member of the academic trio Lur, with whom she released the audio carrier Cor Mundum in 2020 under the publishing house Cantus and was nominated for the Porin discography award in the category of best composition - Ante Knešaurek's vocals.
Since September 2016, she has been working as a piano and organ teacher, and since 2021, as the head of the regional department of the Josip Hatze Music School in Split in Trogir.
Tea Kulaš (Zadar, 1994.) finished her master's degree in organ and musicology at the Academy of Music in Zagreb. Her artistic journey started at the age of 6 at the Blagoje Bersa Music School, where she studied piano, organ, contemporary dance and music theory. Her organ teacher in Zadar was Martina Lazar, Pavel Mašić at the Music School of Pavel Markovac in Zagreb and Ljerka Očić at the Music Academy in Zagreb. As part of the Erasmus program, she spent two years in Graz, which was followed by training in Gunther Rost's class. Under the mentorship of Pavel Mašić and Ljerka Očić, she won a number of prizes at regional and national competitions in the categories of organ and chamber music, while in Graz she won prizes at the Martha Debelli Competition for two years in a row. As part of the artistic and scientific project Religiofonija, in 2016 she performed as a soloist with the orchestra of the Academy of Music (Zagreb, Čakovec and Ljubljana) and with her colleague Daniela Perković, she held lectures under the title Josip Štolcer Slavenski – composer on the margins.
She is regularly having concerts all over Croatia and abroad, and also takes part in several croatian and foreign festivals: Ars organi Sisciae, Anabasis, Organ of St. Marka, PagArtFestival, Petar Nakić, Organum, Klingender Adventkalender (Austria), Orgelfrühling Steiermark (Austria), Orgelets (Norway). In 2019, she performed as a soloist with the Zadar Chamber Orchestra and the HRT Choir.
She is actively participating in organ music interpretation seminars (H. Fagius, M. Schmeding, T. Ospital, R. Prieto Ramirez, K. Volostnov, T. Sevšek Šramel, N. J. Laube, S.-Y. Lee, W. Reisinger, H. Fairs).
She is the founder and artistic director of the Zadar Organ Festival and the Zara Art Organization.