Sunday, September 28
Cathedral, 8:00 p.m
Croatian Baroque Ensemble
Akademski zbor Ivan Goran Kovačić
Hana Ilčić, soprano
Franko Klisović, countertenor
Mislav Lucić, tenor
Marin Čargo, bass-baritone
Ivan Ščepanović, conductor and choirmaster
On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Croatian Baroque Ensemble
Dedicated to our dear Maestro Saša Britvić
Georg Friedrich Händel
Messiah
oratorio, HWV 56
Part I
1. Sinfonia
2. Accompagnato: Comfort ye my people (T)
3. Aria: Ev’ry valley shall be exalted (T)
4. Coro: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed
5. Accompagnato: Thus saith the Lord (B)
6. Aria: But who may abide the day of His coming (A)
7. Coro: And He shall purify the sons of Levi
8. Coro: For unto us a child is born
9. Pifa
10. Recitativo: There were shepherds abiding in the field (S)
11. Accompagnato: And lo, the angel of the Lord (S)
12. Recitativo: And the angel said unto them (S)
13. Accompagnato: And suddenly there was with the angel (S)
14. Coro: Glory to God in the highest
15. Aria: Rejoice greatly (S)
16. Recitativo: Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened (A)
17. Aria: He shall feed His flock like a shepherd (S)
18. Coro: His yoke is easy
Part II
19. Coro: Behold the Lamb of God
20. Aria: He was despised (A)
21. Coro: Surely He hath borne our griefs
22. Coro: And with His stripes we are healed
23. Coro: All we like sheep have gone astray
24. Accompagnato: Thy rebuke hath broken His heart (T)
25. Arioso: Behold, and see (T)
26. Accompagnato: He was cut off out of the land of the living (T)
27. Coro: The Lord gave the word
28. Aria: Why do the nations so furiously rage together (B)
29. Coro: Let us break their bonds asunder
30. Recitativo: He that dwelleth in Heav’n (T)
31. Aria: Thou shalt break them (T)
32. Coro: Hallelujah
Part III
33. Aria: I know that my Redeemer liveth (S)
34. Coro: Since by man came death
35. Accompagnato: Behold, I tell you a mystery (B)
36. Aria: The trumpet shall sound (B)
37. Recitativo: Then shall be brought to pass (A)
38. Aria: If God be for us (S)
39.Coro: Worthy is the Lamb
The Croatian Baroque Ensemble is the country’s foremost ensemble specializing in historically informed performance of Baroque and related repertoire, played on period instruments or their replicas. Founded in 1999, the ensemble brings together a younger generation of musicians passionate about the authentic sound and stylistically conscious interpretation that reflects the spirit and poetics of the era in which the music was composed. The ensemble's artistic director is the renowned violinist Laura Vadjon. In addition to its regular concert cycles at the Croatian Music Institute and the Satirical Theatre Kerempuh in Zagreb, the ensemble frequently performs at major festivals throughout Croatia and internationally, including in Austria, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Finland, Sweden, France, Belgium, Slovakia, Estonia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Argentina, Cuba, Bolivia, Spain, and Portugal. Over the past quarter-century, the Croatian Baroque Ensemble has collaborated with some of the world’s leading early music specialists—its guest artists and close musical partners—a circle that continues to grow. The ensemble also regularly collaborates with the vocal ensemble Antiphonus and with choirs Cantores Santi Marci and Ivan Goran Kovačić. Its concert programs feature Croatian composers and those who were active in the historical territories of Croatia, including F. (Sponga) Usper, G. Usper, T. Cecchini, V. Jelić, I. Lukačić, G. Puliti, L. Sorkočević, M. Stratico, and I. M. Jarnović. The ensemble is responsible for producing the first permanent recordings of many of these composers’ works on period instruments, using urtext scores free of editorial alterations. The Croatian Baroque Ensemble has received numerous awards, including the Milka Trnina Diploma of the Croatian Association of Music Artists (2001), the Orlando Award of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival (2014), the Ivan Lukačić Award at the Varaždin Baroque Evenings (2016 and 2024), and the City of Zagreb Award (2020).
The Ivan Goran Kovačić Academic Choir was founded in 1948. Since its inception, it has been led by some of Croatia’s most distinguished musicians, including Duško Prašelj, Lovro Županović, Adalbert Marković, Dinko Fio, Vladimir Kranjčević, Saša Britvić, and Luka Vukšić. Since 2022, the choir’s artistic director has been Ivan Šćepanović, with Stjepan Vuger serving as assistant conductor. The choir has toured extensively throughout the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Italy, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Portugal, the United States, China, and Korea. It has performed at prestigious festivals both in Croatia and abroad, often in collaboration with leading European orchestras, including the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Moscow State Philharmonic, the Orchestra of the Teatro Comunale di Firenze, the Orchestra of the Monte Carlo Opera, the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, the Bari Symphony Orchestra, the German Youth Orchestra, the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, and the philharmonic orchestras of Zagreb, Sarajevo, and Slovenia, as well as the Croatian Radiotelevision Symphony Orchestra and the Croatian Army Wind Symphony Orchestra. Renowned conductors who have led the choir include Kurt Masur, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Dmitri Kitayenko, Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Hans Graf, Pinchas Steinberg, Gustav Kuhn, Kazushi Ono, Gerd Albrecht, Alun Francis, Patrick Fournillier, Uroš Lajovic, Nicola Luisotti, Yakov Kreizberg, Krzysztof Penderecki, Marko Letonja, Lovro von Matačić, Milan Horvat, Pavle Dešpalj, Nikša Bareza, Ivo Lipanović, and Vjekoslav Šutej. The choir’s high artistic standards have been recognized with numerous awards, including the Rector’s Award of the University of Zagreb, the City of Zagreb Award, and the Vladimir Nazor Award.
Ivan Šćepanović completed his studies in organ and conducting at the Zagreb Academy of Music. During his studies, he received the Dean’s Award for Excellence or Outstanding Achievement three times, as well as the Rector’s Award. As the overall winner of the Croatian HDGPP National Competition, he was awarded first prize in the organ category. He has conducted numerous student and professional projects, including Amphitryon by Boris Papandopulo (Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, 2023) and Verdi’s Rigoletto (HNK Zagreb, 2025). In 2024, he made his debut with the Zagreb Philharmonic, the Croatian Radiotelevision Symphony Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of the Croatian National Theatres in Rijeka and Split. He is a regular collaborator with the Croatian Radiotelevision Choir and has also worked with the Karlovac Chamber Orchestra, Croatian Chamber Orchestra, Zadar Chamber Orchestra, and the Croatian Baroque Ensemble. In 2020, he became assistant conductor of the Ivan Goran Kovačić Academic Choir, and in 2022 its artistic director. With the choir, he has led numerous acclaimed performances, including Handel’s oratorio Israel in Egypt with the Croatian Baroque Ensemble at the Varaždin Baroque Evenings, and Papandopulo’s Croatian Mass at the Papal Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome. He is currently the conducting fellow at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb (2023–2026).
Violinist Laura Vadjon is the first Croatian artist specializing in the Baroque violin and a leading figure in the field of historically informed performance in the country. She is the artistic director and concertmaster of the Croatian Baroque Ensemble, with which she has performed since 1999, both in Croatia and abroad, presenting numerous Croatian premieres of works by forgotten composers and great masters of the Baroque and Classical eras. She regularly collaborates with some of the most prominent artists on the international baroque music scene and has performed with various ensembles in Croatia and across Europe, including the Zagreb Soloists, L’arte del mondo, London Handel Players, Florilegium, Le Concert Spirituel, Helsinki Baroque, Oh Orkiestra, and the Orquestra Barroca Casa da Música. She is a member of the London Handel Orchestra, with which she frequently performs in the UK, particularly at the London Handel Festival. As a soloist and chamber musician, she has participated in numerous acclaimed concert and recording projects, especially noted for her interpretations of early Italian Baroque music, as well as works by Händel and Mozart. She performs on an original historical instrument made by Italian luthier Giovanni Battista Guadagnini in 1751. She is the recipient of the Rector’s Award and Dean’s Award, the Award of the Society of University Teachers and Scholars, the Milka Trnina Award, and the Porin Award, along with numerous other professional accolades earned in collaboration with the Croatian Baroque Ensemble, including the Orlando Award (Dubrovnik Summer Festival 2014), the Ivan Lukačić Award (Varaždin Baroque Evenings 2016 and 2024), and the City of Zagreb Award (2020). She has performed in over twenty European countries, as well as in Russia, Japan, and South America. Since 1995, she has taught at the Academy of Music in Zagreb, where she is a professor of 17th- and 18th-century chamber music. She is also the artistic director of the Korkyra Baroque Festival.
Hana Ilčić completed her primary and secondary music education in Varaždin, studying solo singing with Darija Hreljanović. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Vocal Performance at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester under Mary Plazas. Since 2021, she has been a student at the Academy of Music in Zagreb, first with Tomislav Mužek and, since 2022, with Helena Lucić Šego. She is the winner of numerous national and international competitions, including Gena Dimitrova (2025), Stojan Stojanov Gančev (2023), Daleki akordi (2022), Bruna Špiler (2016) and Vera Kovač Vitkai (2015). As a prizewinning student, she regularly appeared at the Varaždin Baroque Evenings with the Varaždin Chamber Orchestra. As a soloist, she has collaborated with prestigious orchestras such as the Zagreb Philharmonic, Slovenian Philharmonic, Croatian Radiotelevision Symphony Orchestra, Pleven Philharmonic, and the Varaždin Chamber Orchestra, under the baton of conductors including Antonio Allemandi, Stephen Layton, Ivo Lipanović, Simon Krečić, Grigor Palikarov, and Davor Kelić. She also performs with the Projekt Lazarus Ensemble, with whom she presented contemporary transcriptions of Gabriello Puliti’s Madrigali concertati in Varaždin, Zagreb, Burgenland, and Venice. Her operatic debut came in 2022 as Susanna in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (Croatian Opera Academy, CNT Varaždin). She has also appeared in Missy Mazzoli’s opera Songs from the Uproar. In the 2024/2025 season, as a scholarship holder of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, she performed the roles of Georgette (La rondine, Puccini), Ida (Die Fledermaus, Strauss), and the Page (Rigoletto, Verdi).
Dina Jularić Ivančić graduated in both piano (under Ante Milić) and voice (under Renata Pokupić) at the Zagreb Academy of Music, and is currently continuing her vocal development under the mentorship of Eva Blahová. She has appeared as a soloist with the Budafok Dohnányi Orchestra, the Prussian Chamber Orchestra, the Karlovac Chamber Orchestra, the Ivan Goran Kovačić Academic Choir, Ensemble ASMANGU, and the Baroque Orchestra of the Zagreb Academy of Music. At the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, she has performed the roles of Fenena (Verdi: Nabucco), Maddalena and Giovanna (Verdi: Rigoletto), Kate Pinkerton (Puccini: Madama Butterfly), the Third Lady (Mozart: The Magic Flute), Charis (Papandopulo: Amfitrion), and Abra (Parać: Judita). She has collaborated with conductors such as Pier Giorgio Morandi, Gábor Hollerung, Marcello Mottadelli, Vinzenz Weissenburger, Berislav Šipuš, Josip Šego, Luka Vukšić, Veton Marevci, and Simon Dešpalj. She has also appeared in Handel's oratorios Messiah (at Müpa Concert Hall in Budapest) and The Resurrection (at Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall in Zagreb), and at the Osor Musical Evenings alongside Trio Eusebius.
Franko Klisović was born in Šibenik, where he completed both primary and secondary music education, and served as an organist at the Cathedral of St. James. He graduated in vocal performance from the Academy of Music in Zagreb under Martina Gojčeta Silić, and is currently completing his conducting studies with Tomislav Fačini at the same institution. As a soloist, he has performed with numerous renowned ensembles, including the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra (Doha), Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra, Opera Frankfurt Orchestra, the Philharmonic Orchestras of Heidelberg and Dortmund, the Baroque Orchestra of Seville, the Croatian Baroque Ensemble, the Croatian Radiotelevision Choir and Symphony Orchestra, Antiphonus, Wrocław Baroque Ensemble, Teatro La Fenice (Venice), among others. He has collaborated with distinguished conductors and directors such as Tomislav Fačini, Laurence Cummings, Aapo Häkkinen, Ivor Bolton, Hervé Niquet, George Petrou, Markus Stenz, Dora Ruždjak Podolski, Marin Blažević, Claus Guth, Julia Burbach, and many others. His operatic repertoire includes roles in works by Händel, Mozart, Monteverdi, Donizetti, Britten, and others, performed on stages such as Teatro Real in Madrid, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Oper Frankfurt, the Savonlinna Opera Festival, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, and the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Audience Award at the Premiere Opera Foundation International Vocal Competition (New York), First Prize at the Tullio Serafin International Competition (Vicenza), First Prize in the musica sacra category at the 4th San Colombano International Singing Competition (Piacenza), First Prize in the Mahler Songs category at the Gabriela Beňačková International Competition (Jihlava), the Young Artist of the Year Award presented by Mirjana Bohanec Vidović (Zagreb), and the Croatian Theatre Award for Outstanding Achievement by a Young Artist (Zagreb).
Mislav Lucić began his musical education at the Music School in Varaždin and continued at the Institute for Church Music at the Catholic Faculty of Theology in Zagreb (organ studies), before enrolling in the Zagreb Academy of Music where he studied voice, first with Tomislav Mužek and later with Helena Lucić Šego. He has given numerous acclaimed performances both in Croatia and abroad, particularly in oratorio and concert repertoire. Highlights include J. S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, St Mark Passion, and Magnificat; G. F. Handel’s Messiah, Judas Maccabaeus, Israel in Egypt, and The Resurrection; W. A. Mozart’s Requiem and Coronation Mass; G. Puccini’s Messa di Gloria; and C. Orff’s Carmina Burana. He has collaborated with numerous distinguished conductors and ensembles, including Tomislav Fačini, Laurence Cummings, Ivan Repušić, Gábor Hollerung, the Croatian Baroque Ensemble, the Zagreb Soloists, the Croatian Radio and Television Choir, the Varaždin Chamber Orchestra, Orquestra Barroca Casa da Música, Capella Savaria, Ensemble Antiphonus, and the Ivan Goran Kovačić Academic Choir. He also performed the role of Goro in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, a co-production of the Croatian National Theatre in Varaždin and the Marin Držić Theatre in Dubrovnik, under the baton of Ivan Hut. He further refined his interpretation of Baroque music under the mentorship of Catherine Denley and Julia Gooding at the Æstas Musica summer course. He is the recipient of the Ivan Werner Award of the Varaždin Baroque Evenings and HGM Varaždin for outstanding artistic achievement by a young performer.
Marin Čargo graduated in solo singing from the Academy of Music in Zagreb, in the class of Martina Zadro. During his academic studies, he received the Dean's Award and was a three-time recipient of the Rector's Award. He has performed numerous operatic roles at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, including Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Baron Duphol and Marquis D’Obigny (La traviata), Marullo (Rigoletto), Sacristan (Tosca), Morales (Carmen), Speaker (The Magic Flute), Commissioner (Madama Butterfly), Fiorello (The Barber of Seville), Perichaud (La rondine), Benoit (La Bohème), Levi (Nikola Šubić Zrinjski), and Vagav (Judith). He appeared at the Korkyra Baroque Festival in the role of Uberto (La serva padrona). In concert settings, he has performed works by Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Charpentier, Gounod, Duruflé, Saint-Saëns, Schubert, Fauré, Händel, Papandopulo, and Michael Haydn. He has participated in a masterclass with Thomas Hampson and in the Laboratoire Lyrique workshop in Luxembourg. He has worked with numerous conductors, including P. G. Morandi, L. Passerini, E. Boncompagni, I. Repušić, S. Dinić, A. Kalajdžić, I. Hut, S. Krečič, I. Lipanović, and I. Šego, as well as with stage directors such as H. de Ana, P. F. Maestrini, M. Pontiggia, K. Dolenčić, and A. Bernard. He is a soloist with the Opera Studio of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb. Currently, he is in the final year of his doctoral studies in biomedicine at the Faculty of Medicine in Split, where he is researching vocal pathology among voice professionals and singing students.
