Tuesday, September 22

Zagreb Soloists
Renata Pokupić, mezzosoprano

 

Programme:

Johann Sebastian Bach
Sinfonia from the cantata Am Abend aber desselbigen Sabbats,  BWV 42
Laudamus te, aria from the Mass in B minor, BWV 232
Sinfonia from the cantata  Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt, BWV 18
Et exsultavit spiritus meus, aria from the Magnificat in D major, BWV 243
Sinfonia from the cantata Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, BWV 12
Ich will dir mein Herze schenken, aria from the St Matthew Passion, BWV 244
Concerto from the cantata Geist und Seele wird verwirret, BWV 35
Sinfonia from the cantata Falsche Welt, dir trau ich nicht, BWV 52

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Johann Sebastian Bach
Sinfonia from the Christmas  Oratorio, BWV 248
Sinfonia from the cantata Bach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150
Sinfonia from the cantata Uns ist ein Kind geboren, BWV 142

Georg Friedrich Händel
Come nube, che fugge dal vento, aria from the opera Agrippina, HWV 6

Johann Sebastian Bach
Sinfonia from the cantata Die Elenden sollen essen, BWV 75

Antonio Vivaldi
Gelido in ogni vena, aria from the opera Farnace, RV 711

Johann Sebastian Bach
Sinfonia from the cantata Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dich, BWV 29

Georg Friedrich Händel
Dopo notte, atra e funestra, aria from the opera Ariodante, HWV 33

 

About performer:

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 baton of equally famous concert masters, such as Dragutin Hrdjok, Tonko Ninić, Anđelko Krpan and Borivoje Martinić-Jerčić – Zagreb soloists reflect the quality of music at an enviable level, which is regularly presented on prestigious world concert stages. Since 2012, the Ensemble has been performing with the famous violinist Sreten Krstić as its concertmaster, who is also the concermaster 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 the Ivan Lukačić Awards of the Varaždin Baroque Evenings, Villa Manin, UNESCO, the City of Zagreb Award, the Silver CD of the record company Croatia Records, the Order of Merit of the People with Silver Rays, the 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 to the realization of the entire program of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival.

Sreten Krstić was born in 1953 in Belgrade. He started playing the violin at the age of seven, and since 1980 he has been the concertmaster of the Munich Philharmonic. He has held this position since working with the legendary chief conductor Sergiu Celibidache. He was also the concertmaster of the World Youth Orchestra and performed with soloists such as Henry Schering and Pierre Fournier and under the direction of conductors such as Jean Martinon and Bernard Klee. As a soloist, he has collaborated with famous conductors, including Sergiu Celibidache, James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Hiroshi Wakasugi, Horst Stein, Václav Neumann or Dmitry Kitayenko, and his career has taken him to almost all European countries, Japan, USA and Russia. He recorded for all radio and television stations of the former Yugoslavia, Bavarian Radio, West German Radio, BBC (Manchester), Greek Radio (Thessaloniki) and for record companies PGP, Thorofon, Arte Nova Classics, etc. For them he made several compact discs, as solo as well as chamber music. In 1985 he founded the Gasteig-Trio München, in 1996 the Philharmonic String Sextet, and in 1999 the Chamber Orchestra Philharmonic Soloists, of which he is also the artistic director. In the same year he became a member of the Piano Trio Gelius. He plays the violin built in 1760 by Nicola Gagliano.

Renata Pokupić’s recent opera roles include Cherubim of Figaro’s Feast, Siebel of Faust, and Irena of Timur Lenk at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden; the title role of Cinderella at the Lille Opera, Dorabella from Cosi fan tutte for the Washington National Opera and Nero at Agrippina performed at opera houses in Antwerp, Lille, Dijon and Beaune. Cherub has also performed for the Washington National Opera, the Flemish Opera, the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon and the Los Angeles Opera, and many others. Highly sought after as a concert performer, she recently made her Australian debut by singing Margarita from Faust’s Curse with the participation of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. She then sang Berlioz’s Romeo and Juliet with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Dvorak’s Stabat Mater with the Collegium Vocale from Ghent and the German Symphony Orchestra from Berlin.

As a successful soloist, she regularly collaborates with the internationally acclaimed pianist Roger Vignoles. They have performed at Wigmore Hall in London, at The Frick Collection in New York, at the Danube Festival, the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, the Petworth Festival, the Mozartfest in Bath, the Delft Chamber Festival and at the Great Hall in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland. Their recent repertoire includes works by Mahler, Tomašek, Brahms, Britten, Schumann and Faure. They recently released an album of songs by Vaclav Tomašek released by Hyperion Records.